Until this morning (Friday), the market for Japanese star Roki Sasaki was reduced to three teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays.
But now the fight is now one between two, since according to what sources told the Cuban journalist Francys Romero, the Fathers have been informed that they are now excluded from the derby to acquire the services of the Japanese thrower.
We know this because the club would start signing international prospects with the budget planned for Sasaki.
This is a somewhat surprising development in this matter given that many people thought the Padres were the favorites to get their hands on Sasaki. The smaller market size, coupled with the Yu Darvish connection, was seen as a factor in San Diego’s favor.
So that leaves the Dodgers and Blue Jays as the two finalists for Gunner and based on the latter’s disastrous off-season, we can expect Toronto to be out of the picture in a matter of hours.
But you never know…
-If a miracle happened, Sasaki would join Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis in the starting rotation, while Yariel Rodriguez would go to the bullpen.
Coming back to the Padres, this is undoubtedly a big blow to their hopes of competing with the Dodgers in the National League West. Not to mention the fact that Dylan Cease, Luis Arraez and Jake Cronenworth, to name a few, are reportedly on the trade market.
The problem is that cuts to baseball operations’ budgets related to their television problems and ownership infighting mean they can’t spend as they should.
San Diego will have to hope that Sasaki chooses Toronto, where they will only have to see him once a year at most.
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