Sketchy nature of Roki Sasaki signing confirms Dodgers as new Evil Empire

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Roki Sasaki on Friday, marking the end of an international free agent chase that ended, well, predictably. Sasaki met with several teams and supposedly took the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres seriously, as well as the Dodgers. However, Los Angeles has the Japanese free agency market cornered – or so it seems right now.

Sasaki is a 23-year-old righty with ace potential. He's from the same part of Japan as Shohei Ohtani, which surely made his connection to the Dodgers all the more obvious. There was a consensus prior to Sasaki's posting that he'd be a Dodger when all was said and done, which reportedly led to an MLB investigation.

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Roki Sasaki investigation proves Dodgers are the evil empire

As Ken Rosenthal and friends at The Athletic ($ required) noted, MLB's investigation didn't solely involve the Dodgers, but Sasaki's former team, Chiba Lotte Marines.

"The primary focus of the probe, however, was not Sasaki, but his team. When Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in December 2017, his Japanese club, the Nippon Ham Fighters, received a $20 million posting fee. A new posting system then went into effect. The Marines only would receive 25 percent of Sasaki’s bonus, which would be capped by baseball’s international signing rules. Their fee would be a fraction of what the Fighters got for Ohtani, raising concern about the potential for kickbacks."

The difference in capital was obvious to Chiba Lotte Marines, but evidently MLB did not find any wrongdoing by the part of the Dodgers or the NPB organization. Sasaki's entire process was off-putting and predictable to anyone who doesn't root for the Dodgers or work for the organization.

Prior to Sasaki's posting, there was a general assumption that opposing teams shouldn't waste their time. Then, once Sasaki started meeting with teams, he was coveted and taken seriously as a top-level free agent with ace potential. And yet, it all ended the exact way most of us thought – with Sasaki signing in LA.

Players this talented (and this young) only come around so often. In the past two winters, the Dodgers have solidified themselves as THE organization to beat as it pertains to top-tier NPB free agents. Sasaki was just the latest in what should be a long line of Japanese stars to sign in LA. The only difference this time is, for some reason, he had us fooled.