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Former MLB pitcher starts wild Dodgers-Roki Sasaki rumor that will enrage Padres fans

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Friars On Base

World Baseball Classic Semifinals: Mexico v Japan / Gene Wang/GettyImages

The San Diego Padres offseason plans took quite a turn with the news that top Japanese pitching prospect, Roki Sasaki, was going to be posted by his team and make a move to MLB. Sasaki's tantalizing blend of youth, cost, and pure stuff put the brakes on the hype over any other potential offseason move as fans almost universally shifted their eyes to Sasaki's arrival stateside.

The Padres have been connected to Sasaki for a while due to his long-time friendship with Yu Darvish and the fact that San Diego has been a contending West Coast team. However, the consensus, even going back to when the timing of Sasaki's MLB arrival was unclear, was that the Los Angeles Dodgers were the prohibitive favorites to snag him.

While some cold water has been thrown on the Dodgers' momentum with Sasaki of late, one of Sasaki's former teammates and 2015 Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel suggested recently that he heard a deal between Sasaki and the Dodgers was already done.

Dallas Keuchel's suggestion that Roki Sasaki to the Dodgers is a done deal conveniently ignores Padres advantages

Most of Keuchel's comments were related to what Sasaki was like to watch, how talented he is, and how he thinks he will be a force on the mound in the big leagues. However, Keuchel's quotes about a potential landing spot for Sasaki got the most press by a wide margin.

According to Keuchel, he had already heard that Sasaki had a deal in place with the Dodgers. What is unclear is where he heard that, only saying there'd been "rumblings" about it. Keuchel did go out of his way to say that Sasaki himself didn't tell him that, but still said that he would bet on Sasaki going to LA if it was his money.

One certainly hopes this isn't the case. The Padres have been mentioned in connection to Sasaki over the last week. It is entirely possible that Keuchel was just referencing the same rumors that we've all heard for months now and was not necessarily sharing new information.

Given how the international bonus pool works, it's unlikely that Sasaki will sign before January 15. As we get closer to that date, Padres fans will learn a lot about San Diego's chances to sign Sasaki, especially if international prospects formerly connected to San Diego sign elsewhere in January.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.