Roki Sasaki received similar offers from every team he met with thanks to MLB rules. Sasaki elected to sign with an MLB team early, much like Shohei Ohtani, and thus was not merely available to the highest bidder. Money typically talks in MLB free agency, but that wasn't the case with Sasaki.
The Padres, Blue Jays and Dodgers were considered the final three for Sasaki. While all three franchises made trades for international bonus pool money with the hopes of gaining a slight edge for the 23-year-old Japanese ace, the Dodgers went the extra mile in ways none of us expected.
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Roki Sasaki got everything he could out of the Dodgers
In their initial negotiations with Sasaki, the Dodgers mentioned that they were trying to make the locker room more comfortable for their many Japanese stars. That includes toilets, and without going into too much detail, Sasaki was a fan.
“I was telling him about all the amenities we were adding. ‘We’re going to have this and this and this.’ And he asked, ‘Are you going to have Japanese-style toilets?’” Dodgers team president and CEO Stan Kasten said.
Comfort away from home is tough to find, especially when home it an ocean away. The Dodgers roster features three Japanese stars these days in Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Sasaki. There may be more to come, and every bit helps. If that means installing a special bathroom, then why not? The on-field payout is more than worth it.
“It sounds like a joke. But for me, it’s pretty important,” Sasaki said through an interpreter.
Anything important to Sasaki is important to the Dodgers. It's rate to land a 23-year-old starting pitcher who has already proven himself. Los Angeles did that, and managed to integrate him into their locker room on the fly.
“We have so many players from different cultural backgrounds and different standards for hygiene and privacy,” Janet Marie Smith, the Dodgers vice president of executive planning, said. “If we have the means to make them more comfortable, we should do it.”
While the Dodgers could not spend more on Sasaki thanks to international signing rules, they could upgrade their facility and spend more on amenities the 23-year-old holds dear. They clearly did that and then some, which helped convince Sasaki to sign in Los Angeles over other contenders with similar offers.
Comfortability goes a long way.