Blue Jays front office swings and misses (again), losing out on Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki

It’s like the annual off-season World Series: The Toronto Blue Jays versus the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Unfortunately for Jays fans, the ending is all too familiar.

Despite being a finalist in the bidding for Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki — just as they were 13 months ago in the wildly expensive attempt to land Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani — the Blue Jays once again finished second in the running.

The gutting news for the Toronto front office came down early Friday evening when Sasaki’s Instagram account revealed that he would join his more famous Japanese compatriot with the World Series champions in L.A.

The blow to Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins and the rest of the front office came after what was shaping up to be a wild Friday in which the San Diego Padres clearly were removed from the final three suitors and the Jays seemed to load up to make one final pitch.

Earlier Friday afternoon, the Jays announced they had completed a deal with the Cleveland Guardians that includes “international bonus signing pool space for 2025.” With as much as $2 million available to top up their bid for Sasaki, it appeared that the Jays were ready to take the pursuit to extra innings. In that deal with the Guardians, the Jays also acquired outfielder Myles Straw, a salary dump from Cleveland that the Jays are now on the hook for.

Sasaki, the 23-year-old right hander, was in high demand from several MLB suitors prior to the international signing period opening earlier this week. The list was gradually whittled down to three, leaving the Jays front office and a frustrated fan base hopeful that they’d finally get to the finish line on a big signing.

Instead, another damning swing and a miss.

As captivating as the pursuit of Sasaki was in the final few days, it was always going to be a long shot for the Jays. Sure, they had a compelling pitch: Cash in financially on marketing opportunities for a whole country, get away from the considerable shadow and hype machine of Ohtani and the Dodgers, and take advantage of the Jays’ strong pitching structure under coach Pete Walker.

Alas, none of it was enough to surpass what the Dodgers had to offer.

Sasaki, who has a superb fastball and devastating splitter as part of his arsenal, announced the decision via his own Instagram account, ending days of wild speculation. He now joins a rotation that includes Ohtani (when he returns to pitching after recovering from elbow surgery), Blake Snell, Tyler Glasgow and a third Japanese starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

It’s an all-too-familiar transactional loss for the Jays, who remain stymied in their attempts to hit it big in improving their roster.

Under Atkins, the Jays have been diligent about working the Asian market, especially Japan. They made a concerted bid for Ohtani in 2017 before the two-way star ultimately decided on the Los Angeles Angels, and again a year ago.

Atkins had reportedly been to Japan on multiple occasions to watch Sasaki pitch live and the front office had quietly been courting the young pitcher for a while. Sasaki clearly reciprocated the interest and for a couple of days last week visited Toronto, where he reportedly had an opportunity to meet with team officials and staff as well as tour the Rogers Centre.

Sasaki may have been impressed — much as Ohtani reportedly was when he listened closely to the Jays pitch and visited the team’s Florida player development complex. But in the end, the draw of another Japanese great, the bright lights of L.A., and the prospect of starting his North American career with a World Series champion rather than a last-place team from north of the border proved to be too much.

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