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Neither Shohei Ohtani nor Yoshinobu Yamamoto were part of the Dodgers’ initial in-person pitch to Japanese pitching star Roki Sasaki, a meeting that took place at the Westwood offices of the Wasserman Media Group before the holidays, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The reason for their absence? They weren’t invited.
“One of the criteria for the meetings is that Roki asked that no players were to attend,” Joel Wolfe, the agent representing the 23-year-old right-hander, said in a 20-minute video call with reporters to update Sasaki negotiations on Monday.