It was yet another offseason full of whiffs for Ross Atkins and the Toronto Blue Jays. Not only did the Blue Jays miss out on the most expensive free agents, but they also failed to sign perhaps the most coveted free agent available not named Juan Soto, Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki's age (23) and inability to sign anything larger than a minor league contract with bonus money made him such a fascinating free agent. He was a player all 30 teams could afford and wanted to sign, knowing he came with the potential of being one of the best pitchers in the league in short order.
The Blue Jays, surprisingly, were dubbed one of three finalists for Sasaki's services. They even went out of their way to take on Myles Straw's albatross contract in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians with the goal of acquiring more international bonus money to throw Sasaki's way. Unfortunately, their attempt to sign the Japanese phenom came up short, as the right-hander wound up picking the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This was just the latest of a series of painful whiffs Toronto has had to endure over the past couple of offseasons. As crushing as Sasaki's decision was for Blue Jays fans, his MLB debut gave that fan base some hope that the organization's whiff might not have been as painful as expected.
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Roki Sasaki's shaky MLB debut gives Blue Jays fans hope that he might not be generational star he is expected to be
The stuff was certainly there for Sasaki, who got to make his debut in the Tokyo Series. He hit triple digits with his fastball numerous times, threw some nasty splitters, and even got out of a jam by throwing an un-hittable slider. Sasaki allowed just one hit in his three innings of work and struck out three. His problem, though was with his command. As ESPN's Alden Gonzalez noted, his command was erratic all day.
Roki Sasaki has been erratic today, but his stuff is overwhelming. And an encouraging sign came at the end of the third inning, with this slider to escape trouble.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) March 19, 2025
That’s the pitch he needs to lock in. pic.twitter.com/xmbh7M22kR
Despite pitching only three innings, Sasaki issued five free passes. Only 25 of his 56 pitches were strikes, and that's including some that were out of the zone that Cubs hitters swung at.
There's no disputing that Sasaki has the stuff to dominate for years to come, but does that really mean much if his command will be this shaky? Yes, I know it's important not to overreact to one start, especially when this was Sasaki's MLB debut, but Wednesday's outing did show he has a long way to go to come close to meeting his lofty expectations.
The whiff still stings and will for quite a while, but if Sasaki's command is going to be this erratic, perhaps it won't hurt seeing him in Dodger Blue as much as Blue Jays fans expected it would.