Roki Sasaki's first Dodgers presser made painfully clear why he spurned the Padres

Right until the very end, the San Diego Padres thought they had a real shot at landing Roki Sasaki, doing everything possible — from giving him a star-studded tour of the city to ensuring they had as much international bonus pool money as possible — to give themselves the edge over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which is why it has to sting the organization and its fans so badly to discover that, from the sound of it, they never really had a chance.

Sasaki made his first appearance in a Dodgers uniform on Wednesday afternoon, taking questions from assembled media at Chavez Ravine. And while plenty of his answers appeared to insult our intelligence — really, playing with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn't factor into things at all? — one in particular carried the ring of truth. And it's one that really, really doesn't reflect well on San Diego or its chances to compete with L.A. moving forward.

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.

Roki Sasaki valued 'stability,' something the Padres can't offer

Sasaki had plenty of nice things to say about all of the teams that pitched him over the past few weeks. But the Dodgers in particular offered one thing that no one else could: stability from top to bottom.

Maybe San Diego never really had a shot here. Los Angeles has been scouting Sasaki when he was in high school, and they're the defending World Series champions with a loaded roster which checks every single one of the righty's boxes. But the fact that he invoked the idea of stability at the top has to sting, especially considering all the drama swirling around the Padres' ownership situation right now.

With the late Peter Seidler at the helm, San Diego consistently punched above its weight financially and never failed to be aggressive in pursuit of contention. Since Seidler's untimely passing in November of 2023, however, the Padres have been feeling the squeeze, steadily trimming payroll amid a legal battle between Seidler's widow, Sheel, and his brothers over who really should have control of the team. That ongoing dispute, as well as uncertainty surrounding the team's TV rights, have taken their toll on the roster, with Juan Soto the first but certainly not the last domino to fall.

None of which seems to have escaped Sasaki's notice. The Dodgers, by contrast, are run by Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm with hundreds of billions in assets currently under management. Combine that with a president in Andrew Friedman who's at the top of the sport before his 50th birthday, and L.A. is set up for success for the long haul. If Sasaki really was evaluating which team could support him for the remainder of his career, it's hard to argue he made the wrong choice.