Miss Ohtani and miss Yamamoto, "I'll definitely catch Sasaki"...A prestigious club in the east, maybe in his heart
Nov 14, 2024
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The Athletic, a local media outlet, predicted that the living environment of the hometown, the stability of the club, and the player development system would be important criteria for Sasaki. It is not known which club satisfies all three, but as he has to join through a minor league contract, a team with conditions to maximize his skills over the next six years is likely to be the most likely team.
Meanwhile, ESPN reported that `the teams that are expected to do the best sales work for Sasaki are the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, and Tampa Bay Rays.' `Sasaki has yet to say what he thinks is important in evaluating the team. Because of that, each club has both speculation and hope, he said.
But one of the big market clubs is missing. It's the Philadelphia Phillies. As the winner of this year's National League East, Forbes ranked seventh with $2.92 billion in the Major League club value ranking evaluated in March, and ranked second after the Los Angeles Dodgers with 3,363,712 spectators entering the home game this season.
It is no exaggeration to say that Philadelphia is the most stable team in both leagues. His starting ERA, which led to Jack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Christopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez and Taijuan Walker, was 3.81, ranking eighth overall and third in the NL.
However, it was predicted that Philadelphia would be eager to recruit Sasaki.
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There is nothing new about Philadelphia jumping into the Sasaki scramble, but why did Ohtani and Yamamoto come out of the blue.
Philadelphia is a club that actively pursued the contract with sincerity when the two players first crossed the Pacific Ocean. When Ohtani was posted in December 2017, Philadelphia was preparing for a presentation, but failed to pass the first interview. At that time, Ohtani designated seven clubs as the final interview teams, centering on the Western Division team, and eventually chose the Angels.
At the time, Ohtani said, "When I go to the United States, I want to take a picture in front of Rocky BalboaIt was said that he might be interested in the Philadelphia club, but he flatly said, `I just want to visit there.' It meant he wasn't interested in the Philadelphia baseball team.
When Yamamoto posted in December last year, Philadelphia reportedly bet more than $300 million, but was also not selected. John Middleton, the owner of Philadelphia, will later be "Juss offered better terms than the 12-year $325 million he paid", but did not disclose the specific amount.
However, this time, he plans to win Sasaki's heart. Philadelphia general manager Sam Fuld told MLB.com `There are a lot of good players in Japan. From our team's point of view, we want to do our best to bring in top Japanese players."
MLB.com says 'Sasaki may have Philadelphia in mind, which has been pioneering the Asian market in recent years. Just because the Dodgers signed Ohtani and Yamamoto last winter does not mean that all Japanese players will continue to sign with LA.
jhno@sportschosun.com
