'Snell and Yankees held hands with Dodgers shortly after visiting them", Unfinished hunting...The next target is Sasaki and his player

Nov 28, 2024

The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Blake Snell for five years and $182 million. Photo = Blake Snell SNS

Snell was a two-time Cy Young Award winner in San Francisco this season. AP Yonhap News

The Los Angeles Dodgers are poised to attract top-class FA players with strong power and capital this offseason.

The Dodgers agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract with FA starter Blake Snell on the 27th (Korea time). According to MLB Network reporter John Heyman, if the Sinning Bonus reaches $52 million and is traded instead of having no opt-out and trade veto, bonuses will be paid, and some amounts will be designated as payment deferral. The payment grace period is reported to be about $60 million.

It is the first contract made by the Dodgers this winter and the first contract of more than $100 million in all light squads. Starting with Snell, the contracts of big-name FA are expected to continue, and it is expected to peak at the Major League Winter Meeting in Dallas, Texas, on December 10-13.

Last year and the year before last, the FA market was released belatedly and a big contract continued even after the opening of spring training, and local media reported that most top-class FA will decide their future before the year passes as clubs rush to execute their budgets.

Snell was ranked 5th to 8th in the FA rankings. There are six to seven players who are certain to sign more than $100 million worth of contracts across pitching, including No. 1 Juan Soto and No. 1 pitcher Corbin Burns, large shortstop Willie Adames, big gun first baseman Pete Alonso, left-hander Max Fried and Gold Glove third baseman Alex Bregman.

Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki is emerging as the next target for the Los Angeles Dodgers. AP Yonhap News

Then, who is the next target of the Dodgers. Local media are pointing to Loki Sasaki. The Dodgers have been monitoring Sasaki for a long time, and it is known that Sasaki also has a good interest in the Dodgers. Sasaki is said to be able to throw as the ace of most teams even if he goes to the U.S. now.

Although he has slowed down this year due to injuries to his arm and radiating muscles, it is expected that if he fully recovers his health, he will be able to overwhelm batters with more than 100 miles of fastballs, variable splitters and sliders. Sasaki began attracting attention from major league clubs at the World Baseball Classic in March last year, and after shaking the Chiba Lotte Marines for two years, he was allowed to enter the U.S.

However, since he is an international amateur FA under the age of 25, he must sign a minor league contract that receives a down payment within the full range of international signings bonuses set for each club. In short, it means that he cannot enter the Major League for a large amount of money. Two years later, Sasaki decided to give up the hundreds of millions of dollars she would earn if she filled the age of 25 and crossed the Pacific Ocean this time. In other words, local media predict that he is most likely to sign with the Dodgers or San Diego Padres.

Shohei Otani will return to the rotation next year and resume his pitching career. AFP Yonhap News

The Dodgers confirmed the strong first to fourth starters by recruiting Snell. It is a rotation that leads to Shohei Ohtani, who will start the opening game and resume pitching and hitting by completing pitching rehabilitation after Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Tommy John Surgery. The Dodgers invested a total of $1.343.5 billion (about 1.8764 trillion won) in these four recruits last year and this year. In other words, it is a rotation built with money.

It should be noted that none of the four players are from Dodgers Farm. If Sasaki succeeds in recruiting, it will be like bringing all five starters outside. The tradition of the Dodgers, which formed a rotation through a farm-oriented fostering system when the O'Malley family was running, has long collapsed, but there are very few examples of such a new year of main starters being recruited from outside.

The Dodgers had no choice but to find a big starting pitcher from the outside as Walker Buehler (FA) and Bobby Miller, who believed they would be established as ace after receiving Clayton Kershaw's baton, failed to continue their growth and Julio Urias left due to unsavory reasons.

Walker Buehler is enjoying the joy of opening his arms after he became the closing pitcher in Game 5 of the World Series on the 31st (Korea time) of last month. AFP Yonhap News

In the end, it can be seen as a management strategy of Guggenheim Baseball Management, an owner group that solves everything with money. It is no exaggeration to say that the result came to fruition of winning this year's World Series.

Last winter, the Dodgers spent more than $1.2 billion on Otani ($700 million for 10 years), Yamamoto ($325 million for 12 years), and Glasnow ($136.5 million for 5 years). Ahead of the 2022 season, first baseman Freddie Freeman was acquired for six years and $162 million, and Mookie Betts, who had been traded to the Boston Red Sox in 2020, signed a 12-year, $365 million extension. All of them have won the regular season and the World Series this year.

For this reason, experts believe that the Dodgers' investment stance will continue this offseason. There is no pressure on Sasaki because she only needs to give him about $5 million in the Saining Bonus. In the end, the Dodgers are likely to fill the outfield and vulnerable shortstop, which Teoscar Hernandez will be missing, with Soto and Adames.

Reporter Hayman said 'Snell had video negotiations with the New York Yankees through a video call just before reaching an agreement with the Dodgers. But their focus is all on the soto. Plan B needs to wait a little longerJuss doesn't seem to be out of the scramble for soto. However, the Soto contract was viewed negatively, saying, 'Even this giant with a great business model and huge income will inevitably have limitations.

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