In the wake of Roki Sasaki’s announcement Friday that he was signing with the Dodgers, it didn’t take long for grumbles about his free agency to emerge.
Over the last year, there had been speculation around the sport that the Dodgers had a possible handshake agreement in place with Sasaki, before the 23-year-old phenom was even posted by his Japanese club — the process by which players from foreign professional leagues are made available for big league teams to sign.
Leading up to this offseason, there were rumors that the Dodgers possessed some sort of advantage in the star pitcher’s sweepstakes — a unique situation in its own right since Sasaki is under the age of 25, and was therefore limited to signing a minor-league contract as an international amateur with a modest signing bonus.