In an outcome that shocked absolutely nobody in the baseball world (except maybe the Toronto Blue Jays front office), Roki Sasaki, the most recent Japanese phenom to bring his talents to MLB, chose to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. While Major League Baseball fans are united in angst and anger over the Dodgers' latest victory, Philadelphia Phillies fans are left especially confused and scratching their heads at information that came out immediately after baseball social media lit up with the Sasaki news.
We learned after the fact that the Phillies were somewhat complicit in the Dodgers' newest signing. On Friday, the Phillies traded international bonus pool money space to Los Angeles in return for minor league outfielder Dylan Campbell, as reported by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel.
The Dodgers have traded Dylan Campbell to the Phillies in a trade that includes international bonus pool space, per source.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) January 17, 2025
Campbell, 22, was the Dodgers' fourth-round pick (136th overall) in the 2023 Draft and played the full season at High-A last year. The right-handed batter hit .251 with a .703 OPS with 10 home runs and 42 stolen bases in 115 games for the Great Lakes Loons in the pitcher-friendly Midwest League.
Phillies' trade gave the Dodgers extra money to sign Roki Sasaki
The Phillies were never really in on Sasaki, although they did sign Koyo Aoyagi, their own Japanese All-Star, on Friday. Sure, they sent an information package to Sasaki's camp but were never invited to meet the 23-year-old right-hander, one of the best pitchers in Japan over the last four years. That isn't an excuse to go out of their way to help a National League rival World Series contender.
Restricted by MLB international bonus pool rules, teams were only able to offer Sasaki money from their 2025 bonus pool allotment. The other reported finalist, the Blue Jays, added $2 million to their pool on Friday via a trade for Cleveland Guardians outfielder Myles Straw and wielded $8,261,600 — over $3 million more than the Dodgers' $5,146,200.
According to Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors, the Phillies sent the Dodgers either $750K or $1 million in bonus pool money. Between the deal with the Phillies and another trade with the Cincinnati Reds, the NL West juggernauts added enough to reportedly sign Sasaki to a minor league contract with a $6.5 million bonus.
Why would the Phillies help an NL rival like the Dodgers to sign Sasaki? Planning on making another run to the Fall Classic, the Phillies, in all likelihood, will have to go through Los Angeles at some point in the postseason.
Roki Sasaki's stuff will terrorize the Phillies along with the rest of MLB
Sasaki has said he wants to be one of the best pitchers ever. The scary thing is he has the tools to do it, per Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline.
“He’s as good as advertised,” one international scouting director said, per Mayo. “He has an ideal projectable, lean and athletic frame. He has excellent arm action and delivery, with three plus power pitches with control over command. He has No. 1 upside.”
In four seasons in Japan, Sasaki posted a 2.02 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 11.4 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. He has a blistering four-seam fastball that averaged 100.3 mph in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and already features what might be the best splitter in the world, according to MLB.com's David Adler.
Now, thanks in part to the generosity of the Phillies front office, Sasaki will be terrorizing MLB and the National League for years with the Dodgers.