Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki will make his MLB debut in Tokyo on Wednesday morning. Sasaki is just 23 years old, but was eager to play in the United State. Because of this fact, Sasaki forfeited millions of dollars in potential earnings by playing overseas earlier than expected.
While Sasaki made a decision on his own, his opinion alone was not the only relevant factor. Rather, a merch company called Dentsu – which is prominent in Japan – irked MLB teams during the Sasaki chase. Tomoki Sakai is in charge of Dentsu, and they were present at meetings with teams. Hence, they surely played a role in Sasaki's decision. Per Ken Rosenthal, Sakai had plenty of influence during the meetings.
"When Sasaki wanted to share a private thought, he turned to Sakai, and not simply because they spoke the same language. Wolfe later told one of the team executives present that, aside from making opening and closing remarks, Sasaki instructed him not to ask questions during the meeting, not to speak," Rosenthal wrote in a recent piece.
MLB teams use Roki Sasaki chase as a lesson
Executives quoted in Rosenthal's story spoke under the condition of anonymity. Those same executives did not feel as though Sasaki or Wolfe were running the meeting purely based on body language.
“Dentsu had an agenda and it just never felt like we truly fit with whatever that agenda was,” said one head of baseball operations who pursued Sasaki. “We’re skeptical moving forward when they represent a player.”
In MLB, teams are not used to dealing with private companies in negotiations. While the likes of Nike and Adidas may have an opinion on where a player signs, they are not literally at the negotiating table. That was unique to Sasaki, and teams are rightly worried moving forward.
“There’s no comparison here. I can’t even give you an analogy,” an MLB official said. “They’re ubiquitous.”
Blue Jays don't have an excuse for whiffing on Roki Sasaki despite sketchy Dodgers negotiations
From an MLB perspective, Sasaki's case is a warning. For the Blue Jays, it serves as both relief and a reason for ownership not to blame Ross Atkins. The latter point isn't helpful for Toronto fans. Atkins has failed to make significant additions to the big-league roster for the past few winters, striking out on the likes of Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani, among others.
While Toronto did sign some high-profile free agents to big-league deals, those were not the Plan A or even Plan B. The Blue Jays have money to spend, but Atkins hasn't made the most of that spending.
Sure, Sasaki's free agency was sketchy, as we now know. The same can be said about Ohtani, as Blue Jays fans thought the now-Dodgers star had boarded a plane for Canada just hours before he signed in LA. The end result is the same – the Jays are lacking a playoff-caliber product, and it could cost them everything.