The bridesmaids of baseball with a wallet ready to open, the Toronto Blue Jays have been overlooked by multiple major free agents over the last couple of years. They thought they were getting Shohei Ohtani. Kyle Tucker to Toronto was a real rumor. Juan Soto was another. More often than not, they've been left at the altar.
In recent years, all of the top free agents have been Blue Jays targets. One they’ll be glad they missed out on is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki. Sasaki chose the Dodgers in what was described a cruel parallel to Ohtani. Sasaki’s rookie year with the Dodgers barely registered. He pitched in 10 games, made 8 starts, and looked every bit a rookie. A 4.46 ERA with a 5.4 BB/9 and 6.9 K/9 rate just to confirm he wasn’t the victim of bad luck, his second spring training is reminding the Blue Jays how lucky they were to take that 30-day yoga challenge and have the sheer luck of dodging this bullet.
Roki Sasaki is a free agent the Blue Jays will be glad they missed out on
At 24, there’s plenty of time for Sasaki to figure things out, but maybe not with the Dodgers. After the hype and experience in Japan, he should be further along than he is. The issue the Dodgers can run into, among other things, is how quickly Sasaki's time on the major league roster can run out. Using up his minor league options now, because he wasn't ready for the majors, can put them at a disadvantage with how they handle him. Before you know it, he's four years into his career, unsuccessful, and a DFA candidate.
This spring has included seven earned runs in 3.1 innings of work. He has five strikeouts and has as many walks.
Baseball-Reference’s Opponent Quality, which measures opponents on a scale of talent based on where they played the previous year, is at 7.7. This translates to the average hitter Sasaki has faced as a player not quite at the Triple-A level.
Despite multiple starting pitcher injuries at the moment, the Blue Jays have restocked themselves with several options. Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, and Jose Berrios make up their projected starting five, with Max Scherzer back for an additional arm. They also have Shane Bieber who could ride in on a white horse for a couple of months later this year.
So far this spring, two of the more unknowns have done well. Berrios has pitched to a 2.70 ERA following an offseason of trade speculation. Ponce comes back to North America from the KBO with an early 3.00 ERA performance. On this Blue Jays team, Sasaki’s poor spring would have had him packing his bags for Buffalo already.
The almighty Dodgers don’t have quite as much leeway. They’re going to need him to deliver. Last spring, Sasaki pitched seven shutout innings. Spring training results didn’t matter then. Will it matter this time? Blue Jays fans hope so.