"Yu Darvish is a mentor to Roki Sasaki" - Justin Verlander's brother believes Padres are in the mix with Dodgers for Japanese ace in free agency
Roki Sasaki is the latest buzz on the free agency market as teams line up to acquire the NPB star who was posted by Chiba Lotte Marines last week. The Japanese pitcher will be hearing from many teams, especially those who already have Japanese players in their ranks.
Both the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers have faces that would feel home to Sasaki. Yuki Matsui and Yu Darvish plays for the Padres, while Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are key players for the Dodgers.
Justin Verlander's brother and MLB analyst Ben Verlander feels the Padres should be among the mix for Sasaki's sweepstakes this offseason.
"I have him going to the Dodgers," Verlander said (21:06 onwards) on his podcast. "I think the Padres are really in play here. Roki Sasaki and Yu Darvish are very close—Yu Darvish is a mentor to Roki Sasaki. Roki Sasaki’s slider was developed with the help of Yu Darvish. They also have the same agent, which you can take with a grain of salt because, you know, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki have the same agent as well.
"But there are a lot of signs pointing to the Padres—obviously, a very close relationship with Yu Darvish, a mentor of sorts, but they have become very good friends. They play on the West Coast, which I think a lot of Japanese players like for easier viewing from Japan."
Ben Verlanders shares why Roki Sasaki may not sign with Dodgers, citing Ichiro Suzuki, Shohei Ohtani and media
What makes Roki Sasaki's free agency even more interesting is that the 23-year-old can only be signed to a minor league contract, so teams can't just pour $200-300 million to acquire him. They will have to use what's available in their international pool money.
After initially mentioning that the Dodgers are among the favorites to land the Japanese ace, Ben Verlander cited why the right-hander may not want to join the 2024 World Series champions.
"We don’t know what Roki wants, right? If he wants to build his own path, well, that's probably not with the Dodgers," Verlander said. "I mean, that’s what Shohei did—it’s not far-fetched. Shohei didn’t want to play with the Seattle Mariners because of Ichiro and the legacy Ichiro created there. He didn’t want to step on those toes and wanted to create his own path, and Shohei has certainly done that and more.
"The media that comes along with playing for the Dodgers—it’s intense. For all the reasons I think he’s going to the Dodgers, there’s absolutely an argument to the contrary: that Roki doesn’t want the spotlight, that Roki wants to create his own path, that he wants to play with Yu Darvish. Maybe Roki doesn’t want the media attention."
While it's true that the Dodgers players receive an intense spotlight, whether good or bad, than most MLB teams, Verlander thinks that no one but Sasaki knows what he's looking for in a team, making his free agency all the more intriguing.