Just in : MLB insider’s certainty over Roki Sasaki signing with Dodgers all but comfirmed after reaching out an agreement worth about $250m…

Just in : MLB insider’s certainty over Roki Sasaki signing with Dodgers all but comfirmed after reaching out an agreement worth about $250m…

As if this Hot Stove season needed any more juice, Roki Sasaki’s entry into this year’s free agent class has put yet another game-changing talent up for grabs. The Japanese righty already has some of the best pure stuff in the world, and at age 23, he’s yet to scratch the ceiling of his potential. Combine that upside with a bargain-basement contract, and you have the sort of opportunity that simply doesn’t come around very often.

But where will he wind up? Unlike, say, Juan Soto, Sasaki is something of a blank slate. He’s never played in the States before, and he doesn’t have MLB’s preeminent superagent calling the shots for him. We really don’t know what Sasaki might want out of his next team, and that makes it awfully difficult to speculate. Does he want to be on the West Coast? Does he want to be in a big market, or does he prefer relative anonymity? Does he want to be the biggest name on his team’s marquee, or would he be OK playing second fiddle to, say, Shohei Ohtani? Does he want to win a World Series right away, or will he opt for a team with a strong track record of pitching development?

At this point, we’re getting desperate for any piece of actionable information. But just when it seemed like all hope was lost, one bold MLB insider dared to step forward, providing some light in the darkness of the Sasaki sweepstakes … just in the exact opposite way he intended.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Bob Nightengale Jinx points to Roki Sasaki choosing anyone but the Dodgers

The insider in question is USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Perhaps you’ve come across his name before on the rumor mill. But what you may not know is that Nightengale has become notorious over the years as MLB’s foremost jinx: No matter what he says on any topic, odds are pretty good that the inverse will be true very soon.