Andrew Friedman Slams Those Saying Dodgers Had Handshake Agreement With Roki Sasaki

Jan 22, 2025; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Andrew Friedman, President of baseball operations assists Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) with his jersey during a press conference at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers were always the favorites to sign Roki Sasaki, but it wasn't because there was a deal already in place like many critics speculated.

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President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke about the the Japanese phenom's free agent process. He also denied there was any sort of previous agreement in place between the Dodgers and Sasaki.

"You can ask my cardiologist. We definitely did not," Friedman said via AM 570 Sports.

Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Freidman absolutely owns people who thought Roki Sasaki already had his mind made up pic.twitter.com/U7kvxOG9RU

— Doyers FR (@DoyersFR) January 23, 2025

"There's going to be noise, it's so ridiculous. The funniest for me is people who said before the process started 'Oh, he's going to go to the Dodgers' and then he went to the Dodgers and they're like, 'See, the fix is in!' It's like, no, the reasons you thought he was going to come to the Dodgers were pretty compelling reasons and he agreed and felt like we would be the best place to partner with.

"Our city, our fans, our ability to help make players better, friends and familiar faces that he already knows, there are so many reasons that we felt like, and obviously were biased, that it made sense. But we weren't sure how it was going to land with a 23-year-old."

The Dodgers had been scouting Sasaki since he was in high school, but there was never any guarantee he would wind up in Los Angeles.

The process was long and arduous. The Dodgers are not afraid to spend money, but the Sasaki sweepstakes were unique in that the team could not beat the highest bidder.

Signing Sasaki was about presentation. Which organization could show Sasaki theirs was the place to be?

At his introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium, Sasaki said via translator Will Ireton that he chose a place “purely based on where I can grow as a player the most.”

“I had the opportunity to speak to a lot of teams and they have a lot of appealing features but overall when I looked at the general consensus, I thought that the Dodgers were at the top,” Sasaki said.

The rumors can be put to rest. There was no unwritten deal between the Dodgers and Sasaki. The 23-year-old pitcher joined the team he felt would help him become the greatest Japanese pitcher ever — and that happened to be the Dodgers.

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