Ross Atkins puts Blue Jays at risk with latest risky trade to lure Roki Sasaki north

In recent days, it seems like all the momentum has been with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the three-team race to land Japanese ace Roki Sasaki. L.A. got the righty's final visit a few days ago, a meeting in which the team got to trot out its cavalcade of stars like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts. And early Friday morning, the team that was thought to be the Dodgers' primary competition for Sasaki's services — the San Diego Padres — were reportedly told that they were out of the running.

So given everything that the Dodgers have going for them, and given that the Padres are apparently no longer under consideration, then this is just about a done deal, right? Well, not so fast: Though everyone wants to jump the gun, Sasaki has yet to actually make an official decision (so far as we know, at least). And the other team still in the hunt, the Toronto Blue Jays, seems to be under the impression that they have a shot — a very good shot, if their recent behavior is to be believed.

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Latest Blue Jays trade puts all of Toronto's eggs in Roki Sasaki basket

The Blue Jays made a surprising trade on Friday morning, sending a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for outfielder Myles Straw — and, most importantly, some $2 million in international bonus pool money.

Dollar for dollar, Straw might be one of the worst contracts in baseball right now. The outfielder signed a five-year, $25 million deal with Cleveland ahead of the 2022 season, but he hit to a .580 OPS over the next two years and appeared in just seven games this past season despite the Guardians' thin outfield depth chart. Despite his speed in center field, he's simply not a Major League hitter at this point, and the two years left on his deal are essentially a sunk cost.

But Toronto didn't make this trade for Straw. Rather, Straw was the cost of doing business: Ross Atkins knows that the Jays need as much international bonus pool money as possible if they hope to bring Sasaki to Toronto, and they're so desperate to land the righty that they were willing to take on Straw's albatross of a contract to do it. (As a refresher, teams are allowed to increase their initial bonus pool by up to 60 percent; per Ken Rosenthal, this deal takes Toronto's total up to $8.26 million, and the team can get as high as $10 million.)

This is, to put it mildly, a major risk. Sure, Straw's money isn't massive, and Cleveland is sending over some $3.75 million to help defray the cost. But it's still some $15 million in dead money that the Jays are willingly acquiring, and it's hard to imagine that they'd do that unless they felt like Sasaki was seriously considering coming to Toronto. Maybe Atkins and Co. are misreading the room, making one last Hail Mary pitch for a player who has his sights set on L.A. If so, this deal will go down as yet another mistake that helped usher Atkins and president Mark Shapiro out the door. At this point, Blue Jays fans have to trust that the team's intel is solid, and that Sasaki really is still available.