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San Diego Padres Reportedly Eliminated From Roki Sasaki Chase

According to multiple reports, the Padres are out on Sasaki and it's down to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

Brady Farkas

A detailed view of a San Diego Padres hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park in 2024.
A detailed view of a San Diego Padres hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park in 2024. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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According to a report from Francys Romero (and others), the San Diego Padres are no longer in the running for Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, leaving the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers as only other suitors.

Per Romero on social media:

Hearing from multiple sources that the Padres are out in Roki Sasaki.

They will begin their international signings of Jhoan De La Cruz and Carlos Alvarez in the next few hours.

This is a surprising development considering many people thought that the Padres were the favorites for Sasaki. The smaller market size, coupled with the Yu Darvish connection, were thought to be factors in the Padres favor.

If Sasaki lands with the Dodgers, it will be a crushing blow for San Diego, who is already one step behind Los Angeles in the National League West. Sasaki would pair with Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and several others as rotation options.

The Padres, on the other hand, would be in flux. Darvish is now 38 years old, and Dylan Cease and Michael King are both free agents at the end of the 2025 season. Joe Musgrove is out for the remainder of 2025 with Tommy John surgery.

The Padres will have to hope that Sasaki chooses Toronto, where they will only have to see him once a year (at most). If he goes there, he'd likely join Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis in the rotation, with Yariel Rodriguez moving to the team's bullpen.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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