Dodgers fans will be disappointed to hear Shohei Ohtani won't be an influence for Roki Sasaki

On Thursday night, Shohei Ohtani won his third MVP award (first in the National League) by unanimous vote. The win was less surprising than the unanimity; it seemed inevitable that at least a small minority of BBWAA members would make Francisco Lindor their first place pick, given the historical bias against pure DHs in voting.

After the win, Ohtani fielded questions about his return to the mound, the Dodgers offseason, and the future of his Samurai Japan teammate Roki Sasaki, who will be posted by his NPB team sometime this offseason, and whose free agency is currently shrouded in mystery and conflicting reports.

The Dodgers have been thought of as the obvious destination for Sasaki, but new rumors suggest that he may be inclined to take a deal with a small-market team instead of jumping into the deep end in LA. The Padres could also be a threat, given Sasaki's connection to Yu Darvish (and Darvish's reported frustration with LA attracting Japanese stars).

Ohtani was instrumental in tempting Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the Dodgers last December, when Yamamoto ended up signing less than two weeks after Ohtani, so it just stands to reason that Ohtani would be involved in the recruitment for Sasaki.

However, Ohtani claimed he hasn't been actively trying to tempt Sasaki to LA (yet), and said he would "respect his decision wherever he wants to sign."

Shohei Ohtani reportedly not actively recruiting Roki Sasaki to Dodgers

Ohtani knows firsthand that going into free agency as an amateur can be a sticky situation to navigate. When he did it in 2017, he entertained meetings with some of the bigger clubs, but ultimately went to the Angels because they were the only club that would let him be a two-way player. Besides, money was hardly an object when amateur free agents are limited to league minimum/however much is in a team's international bonus pool.

Details of Sasaki's free agency have seemed closely guarded, up to this point, as he hasn't been posted yet and may not be posted until next year's international signing window opens on Jan. 15. Any rumors of a technically-illegal handshake agreement with the Dodgers were shot down by Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe, who called them "poor sportsmanship."

The Dodgers do still have a chance at signing Sasaki but, then again, it seems that everyone else does. too. If they really are invested in getting Sasaki despite the noise, then using Ohtani (and Yamamoto) to get to him will almost certainly be a card they need to pull when he's officially posted.