Roki Sasaki rumors: Best argument for 3 finalists to land coveted pitcher

We've reached the stretch run of the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. The Japanese phenom can sign with his MLB team as soon as Wednesday, Jan. 15 when the international amateur signing window opens and needs to decide as soon as Thursday, Jan. 23. Sasaki will make his decision sometime within the next nine days.

When Sasaki's free agency process began, he considered any and every team willing to send him a presentation. He met with a group of those teams, and began eliminating several of them on Monday. Now, he is down to just three potential suitors - the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Each of these three teams has at least one argument to make to convince Sasaki, although some look better than others.

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The Blue Jays can convince Roki Sasaki they'd keep him healthy

Easily the most surprising team on Sasaki's list of finalists is the Toronto Blue Jays. MLB fans had no idea that the Jays were even involved until a report emerged on Monday saying that they met with him in person in Toronto.

Obviously, the Jays can offer Sasaki the ability to represent an entire country, but they can offer virtually any free agent that ability and have not been able to close the deal. Fortunately, they have another thing to offer the right-hander to help push him north of the border.

Staying healthy is paramount for Sasaki, a pitcher who has missed some time in Japan due to injury and is not cashing in the same way Yoshinobu Yamamoto did last offseason. One major injury can prove to be very problematic when it comes to earning a massive free agency contract six years from now.

The Jays have as good of a track record as any team in that regard. Three of their starting pitchers made at least 31 starts this past season, and they would've had four starters accomplish that feat had they not traded Yusei Kikuchi away at the trade deadline. Four starters made at least 31 starts for the Jays in 2023. Another three did that in 2022. That's three consecutive years of most of their rotation not missing a single start.

Sasaki clearly believes he's as good as anyone by choosing to come over now instead of when he could've earned more money. His ability combined with Toronto's ability to keep pitchers healthy could prove to be a great match, while he also would get to pitch for an entire country and earn all kinds of off-field money as a result of that. It probably isn't likely that Sasaki ends up with the Blue Jays, but Toronto's sales pitch is definitely stronger than most give it credit for.

Roki Sasaki can feel as important as any player in the league by signing with the Padres

The arguments for the San Diego Padres are fairly obvious as well. He'd get to play on the West Coast, where he'd probably prefer to live, and would get to play with Yu Darvish, a pitcher he is incredibly close with. There's more to San Diego's argument, though.

The Padres should pitch Sasaki on being the guy. Yeah, the Dodgers are cool and all, but he'd be overshadowed by Shohei Ohtani and potentially Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Those two Japanese superstars are making over $1 billion combined, while Sasaki would be making the MLB minimum in each of his first three years.

In San Diego, he can lead a team that was one win away from knocking Ohtani and Yamamoto out while filling a major position of need. The Padres clearly don't have much money to spend based on how they've acted all offseason, and have a gaping hole in their rotation, thanks to Joe Musgrove's injury.

In San Diego, Sasaki can be among the hunters trying to dethrone MLB's super team instead of joining them. Winning in San Diego with a team that has never won a World Series while also beating the Dodgers would be a whole lot sweeter than winning with a team that has already proven they can win without him.

Plus, Sasaki being in a different market than Ohtani and Yamamoto can open him to some potential endorsement opportunities that he wouldn't have in Los Angeles. Sure, San Diego is not close to Los Angeles in terms of media markets, but there's some opportunity there away from Ohtani and Yamamoto.

The Dodgers offer Roki Sasaki virtually everything he could want

At the end of the day, there's a reason that the Los Angeles Dodgers have been favored the entire time to sign Sasaki. They have virtually everything Sasaki could want.

If he wants to be on the West Coast, the Dodgers have that box checked. If he wants to join a team with great pitching development, Mark Prior is as good of a pitching coach as there is. If he wants to be on a contender, the Dodgers are as good of a team as there is to join. It'd be harder to make arguments against joining the Dodgers than for joining them, showing just how desirable of a landing spot they would be for Sasaki.

The best argument going for the Dodgers outside of the obvious is to just look at what Yoshinobu Yamamoto was able to accomplish. Yamamoto did miss some time due to injury and had that brutal first start, but wound up posting a 3.00 ERA in his 18 regular season starts. If you take out that ugly first start, he had a 2.53 ERA in 17 appearances. That's as good as it gets. He had a rough first postseason start, but then posted a 1.72 ERA in his next three outings. He allowed three runs in 15.2 innings in that span including surrendering just one run in 6.1 innings in his lone World Series start.

If the Dodgers were able to get that kind of first season out of Yamamoto as he acclimated to MLB, who knows what they can do with Sasaki, a pitcher who might be even more talented.

By joining the Dodgers, Sasaki can play on the best team in his optimal location with the best pitching development alongside Ohtani and Yamamoto. It doesn't get much better than that.