Padres 'emerge' as 'new choice' for Roki Sasaki in nonsensical Dodgers downer

When the 2025 international signing period opens on Jan. 15, all eyes will be on Roki Sasaki. Although agent Joel Wolfe has said he doesn't expect Sasaki to sign immediately on Wednesday, he'll only have eight days from that point to make a deal official.

The Los Angeles Dodgers already seem to be bunkering down and preparing to sign Sasaki. On Jan. 11, they let go of two prospective members of the 2025 class — shortstop Darrell Morel and outfielder Orlando Patiño, due to make a combined $1.5 million out of the Dodgers' bonus pool — and Morel was quickly scooped up by the Pirates.

LA has $5,146,200 in bonus pool money for 2025, tied with Giants for the lowest in the league, and it's clear they're willing to give all of it to Sasaki, even if it means sacrificing some potential future stars. But how good a position are the Dodgers in, really? Conflicting reports about Sasaki's preferences have been rife ever since he was posted, but despite implications that he'd prefer to go a smaller market team with less of a media following, the Dodgers have still been consistently named favorites to get him.

However, Bob Nightengale wrote last week that "the San Diego Padres have emerged as the new choice among executives."

Dodgers rival Padres named 'new choice' to land Roki Sasaki as free agency reaches fever pitch

Basically, no one really knows what's going on. The day before Nightengale's report, Pat Ragazzo called the Dodgers the "clear-cut favorites" for Sasaki amid all of the Padres' recent ownership woes. And this is how things have been going ever since he was posted at Winter Meetings. Maybe Wolfe has gotten some kind of sadistic satisfaction out of keeping all interested teams on the edge of their seats, taking turns believing they'll be the ones to get him in the end.

The Dodgers are clearly battening down the hatches for Sasaki, and letting go of top international prospects doesn't seem like a move they'd make if they weren't confident that they were putting their bets on the right horse. Fans should be reassured that the Dodgers still have a very good shot here, but then, so do the Padres. However, the same could probably be said about any of the other teams that Sasaki's had in-person meetings with, which include the Mets, Cubs, and Rangers. It's really anyone's guess at this point.