Los Angeles Dodgers Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki and his highly anticipated rookie MLB season took another hit when he landed on the 15-day injured list earlier this week due to a shoulder impingement, per MLB.com's Kyle Glaser. The Philadelphia Phillies were heavily interested in Sasaki's services over the winter, but may have dodged a temporary bullet as his season hits another speed bump.
Sasaki was touted as a young star coming from the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league in Japan and at just 23 years old, it seemed like a no-brainer. Eight starts in, the feeling couldn't be more different as he has pitched to a 1-1 record with a 4.72 ERA, accumulating just 24 strikeouts compared to 22 walks through 34 and 1/3 innings pitched. Sasaki could turn it around, but after the start he's had and now injured, the Phillies may have gotten lucky.
Phillies dodged a temporary bullet thanks to Roki Sasaki snub
Like every team, the Phillies were interested in Sasaki to upgrade their rotation. Him coming over to MLB so young guaranteed them years of team control while paying the league minimum. Taking a chance on a talented young pitcher at the time seemed worth it, considering the Phillies had already lost Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the Dodgers the previous offseason.
However, Sasaki wasn't interested in the Phillies, and they never got to meet him or his agents during the courting process. It might be a good thing, at least for this season.
In a surprising turn, Sasaki has not been effective at all in an already crowded Dodgers rotation. The Phillies, on the outside looking in, knew they were out of the Sasaki sweepstakes early. That led them to trade for left-hander Jesús Luzardo who has been nothing short of sensational (subscription required), per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. In nine starts, Luzardo has pitched to a 4-0 record with a 2.00 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 54 innings. His ERA currently ranks second-best in the National League, while his 2.6 bWAR leads all MLB pitchers heading into action on Saturday.
The Dodgers in the long run could be just fine with having another young arm to work on with such little financial obligation. The Phillies, on the other hand, may have been glad they passed on him given how Sasaki has fared. Sasaki's output would have strained the bullpen even further and obviously wouldn't have Luzardo pitching lights out for them. It stinks not to have another talented young arm, but the Phillies are more than happy how they've built the rotation without Sasaki.