Brandon Gomes’ Roki Sasaki-Paul Skenes comment is aging like milk for Dodgers

Let's wind the clocks back a bit. In late January of 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated their long-presumed victory in the Roki Sasaki Sweepstakes, introducing the Japanese phenom to the media as the latest free-agent superstar in a long-running lineage.

The vibes were good, to say the least. They beat out the Padres and Blue Jays for Sasaki's services, arming the Dodgers with a ridiculous, high-profiled trio of Japanese stars in Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the young pitcher.

Toward the end of the press conference, though, general manager Brandon Gomes made a rather loud declaration about the expectations he and the team had for Sasaki: “If he continues to develop, it’s Cy Young contender. I mean, I’ve seen the Paul Skenes comp. I think it’s definitely Cy Young caliber. To have done what he was able to do in Japan at this age and there’s room to get better, it’s really exciting and impressive.”

It's safe to say that Gomes may have set the bar a little high for the then-23-year-old.

How should Dodgers fans feel about Roki Sasaki's future in LA?

In a word, Sasaki's MLB career has been uneven. He fell out of favor while dealing with injuries last year, then emerged as a big-time bullpen weapon in October. Now, he's back in the rotation, and his performances are more inconsistent than ever.

Through four starts this season, the right-hander has surrendered a 6.11 ERA, which is backed up by a 6.38 FIP. He's already given up four homers in less than 18 innings, and his walk rate has spiked all the way to 14.1%. He just isn't fooling hitters with nearly the same frequency as he did in Japan.

In short, Sasaki is struggling to the point that even Bill Plaschke's takes are starting to sound reasonable. His brilliance as a reliever for most of the Dodgers' postseason run provided a Plan B for his development, giving Los Angeles an alternative route to get star results out of their marquee pitcher.

But to give up on his potential as a member of the rotation right now would be organizational malpractice. He's 24 years old and just 12 starts into his MLB career. If he were a prospect who had climbed through the minor leagues, it would sound baffling to suggest that the Dodgers would be better off changing his role.

Instead, he's an NPB legend who has a history of dominating one of the best pro leagues outside of the United States. This guy can be a good starting pitcher, provided he's given enough time to adjust to the best hitters in the world.

More than anything, this is an expectations problem. Sasaki isn't Ohtani nor Yamamoto nor Skenes. He'll likely never ascend to that level either, because those are the best players in the world.

Let's all reset the bar for what he should be. If he can give this rotation some quality innings, then that's a win. Asking him to do more than that right now is just asking to be disappointed. His potential isn't going anywhere, but we may need to exercise some patience before he gets there.

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