Early Saturday morning, MLB Trade Rumors‘ Anthony Franco reported that the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league have posted 23-year-old right-hander Roki Sasaki, thereby making him available for MLB teams to court.

This, of course, suggests that Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman has already been in contact with Sasaki’s agents and representatives.

As the entire baseball world knows, the Dodgers are among the leaders when it comes to acquiring Japanese-born players. As such, and if Friedman and the Dodgers are indeed already in on Sasaki, the Rikuzentakata, Japan native would join Dodgers superstar designated hitter (and fellow former right-hander) Shohei Ohtani and current Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto as yet another soon-to-be former NPB player for Dodgers Japanese interpreter Will Ireton to translate for.

In his 69 NPB appearances and 414.2 innings pitched over his four seasons with Chiba Lotte, Sasaki owns an outstanding 30-15 record and Cy-Young-caliber 2.02 career ERA. Along the way, the 6’2″/187-pound hard-throwing right-hander struckout 524 while walking only 91. He is also what Franco calls “…one of the most talented pitchers on the planet.”

Hope to see you in Dodger Blue soon, Roki.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *