Dodgers' latest Roki Sasaki twist sounds like a Padres gut punch

It is becoming abundantly clear that this offseason for the San Diego Padres is going to come down to whether or not they can successfully land Roki Sasaki. There are just too many indicators right now that the Padres don't have the ability to spend much.

If they don't land Sasaki, it is decidedly unclear what impact moves they will be able to make at all without some AJ Preller magic or moving a key player like Dylan Cease.

On Monday, Padres fans got great news that Sasaki was spotted working out in San Diego in Padres gear, with a ton of San Diego bigwigs in attendance at the ballpark. While nothing about that indicated a done deal, to be sure (he worked out in Toronto, too), Sasaki getting that close of a look this close to the opening of international free agency felt like a great sign.

Unfortunately, bad news arrived on Tuesday ,as it was reported that not only is Los Angeles still very much in it, but Sasaki is meeting with the Dodgers on Tuesday. At that meeting, LA seems to be pulling out all the stops, much like they did for Shohei Ohtani last winter.

Dodgers meeting with Sasaki on Tuesday could make or break the Padres' offseason

Look, as soon as the field was narrowed down, it was inevitable that every Sasaki finalist was going to get a second meeting with the Japanese star pitcher. Sasaki and agent Joel Wolfe have been very deliberate throughout this entire process, and they were always going to want as much information possible before he made his decision.

Unfortunately, having the Dodgers (and the red carpet they are able to roll out) scheduled right after Sasaki's meeting with the Padres is not ideal. Not only is Sasaki going to get a full court press from the Dodgers' front office, but several LA stars are going to be in attendance as well to help with the pitch to Sasaki. As to which Dodgers players will be in attendance, that hasn't been revealed just yet.

The pace is clearly increasing and, as was reported by Jon Morosi earlier this week, the odds are extremely high that we will know where he is going to be playing by the end of the week. One just hopes that the Padres impressed Sasaki enough to get him to ignore the trappings of LA.

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