Roki Sasaki addressed the elephant in the room while getting officially introduced as the Los Angeles Dodgers' latest star free-agent signing on Wednesday.
Sasaki, a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher from Japan, arrived to MLB as an amateur international free agent, meaning his first contract will include six years of club control and a rookie salary in 2025. That allowed every MLB team to be in the mix to sign Sasaki, but like so many other star free agents the past few years, Sasaki chose to sign with the defending World Series champions.
Sasaki was asked Wednesday about his decision to pick the Dodgers over his offers from other teams—a move that disgruntled many in the MLB world as Los Angeles added another high-profile star while many teams continue to sit on the bench in free agency.
"I think the No. 1 thing that stood out was the stability of the front office," Sasaki said Wednesday through a translator. "I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of teams, and they had a lot of appealing features. But overall, when I looked at the general consensus, I thought that the Dodgers were at the top."
About 20 MLB teams reached out to Sasaki back in December in hopes of luring him to its city. He reportedly met with at least eight teams in person in Los Angeles—the Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.
Teams were eliminated by Sasaki until it was down to three finalists: the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays. Sasaki opted to follow in the footsteps of Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto and Hyeseong Kim this offseason and choose the Dodgers above other offers.
"As I transition to the major leagues, I am deeply honored that many teams reached out to me with such enthusiasm, especially considering I haven't achieved much in Japan," Sasaki said. "I'm truly grateful to all the team officials who took the time to meet with me through this process.
"Every organization helped me in its own way, and it was an incredibly difficult decision to choose just one. ... I am fully aware that there are many different opinions out there, but now that I have decided to come [to Los Angeles], I want to move forward with the belief that the decision I made is the best one."
Sasaki now joins the Dodgers' loaded starting rotation featuring fellow Japanese stars in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, as well as Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May.
"It wasn't a priority to me if there was or was not a Japanese player on a team as I was looking at all the teams," Sasaki said. "Being able to play with Ohtani and Yamamoto—both exceptional players—I'm really looking forward to playing with them, and not just them, but the rest of the team that is incredible as well."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Roki Sasaki Explains Decision to Sign With Dodgers Over Other MLB Teams.