3 Japanese stars Dodgers can pursue in addition to Roki Sasaki

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After a lot of contract turmoil and complicated politics, the Roki Sasaki saga over in Japan's NPB seems to have come to a tentative close, for now. Before Sasaki and his NPB team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, came to a contract agreement for 2024 on Jan. 26, Sasaki reportedly withdrew from the Players Association, a highly unprecedented move, and was holding out on his team in order to force their hand after they refused to post him to MLB ahead of schedule.

With Sasaki only being 22 and having just three years of NPB service time under his belt, if he was posted to MLB tomorrow, he'd have to accept an "amateur" label, which would enable major league teams to severely underpay him (see: Shohei Ohtani's deal with the Angels) and, consequently, limit the amount of money the Marines would get for him as well. In order to get a full, uninhibited posting, he'll have to wait until he's 25 and has six years of service time.

Despite some apparent tension, Sasaki and the Marines did agree on a new contract, and have since remained tight-lipped about whether or not that agreement entailed the team acquiescing on Sasaki's early posting demands. This is a little disheartening for the Dodgers, who have clearly been targeting talent coming out of Japan and have had Sasaki on their radar since he was in high school.

3 NPB stars Dodgers can pursue in addition to Roki Sasaski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Sasaki won't be coming over to MLB this offseason, and might not even be coming next offseason. However, there's a font of talent playing in Japan at the moment, many of whom we got to see during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto now, and their recruitment tactics seem to be refined. If they're looking to the future for more Japanese phenoms to sign around/before/after Sasaki, here are three who could make a real splash in MLB.

Munetaka Murakami, INF

Going into the 2023 WBC, Murakami, who was barely 23 at the time, was expected to break out as one of the biggest heroes of the tournament for Team Japan alongside Sasaki as NPB's premier slugger. He had already won two league MVPs in 2021 and 2022, the batting Triple Crown in 2022, and his league's Rookie of the Year award in 2019 with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. However, his bat was largely quiet during the tournament — until it mattered most.

In an absolute nail biter of a semi-final against Team Mexico, Murakami came up in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first on second and Japan down by one before smashing a long double to deep center to win the game for Japan. His one and only home run during the tournament came in the championship game against Team USA with Merrill Kelly pitching, a solo homer to tie the game in the bottom of the second and give Japan some momentum that would lead them to win, 3-2.

Murakami's 2023 season with the Swallows wasn't as stellar as his previous years. He hit .256/.375/.500 in 140 games with 31 home runs and 84 RBI — not numbers to sniff at, but notably worse than the ones from his mammoth 2022 season, when he hit .318/.458/.711 with 56 home runs and 134 RBI. He still has two years to go before he can be posted at full-price to MLB, and if he can get back to his 2022 ways during that time, he'll be an incredibly hot commodity if he does receive a posting.

Hiroto Takahashi, SP

Takahashi, only 21, might be one of the most exciting up-and-coming pitchers in NPB. He opened his career with a rocky start with the Chunichi Dragons in 2021 at 18, but has since found his feet, pitching 266 2/3 innings over the past two seasons for a 2.53 ERA with 212 strikeouts. He also pitched for Japan in the WBC at only 20 years old, pitching three innings over three games, including one in the final, when he got Mike Trout swinging on a full-count splitter. It was one of five strikeouts across his appearances; he also gave up three hits, only one of which turned into a run.

In his last start of 2023, he pitched six innings, only gave up one hit and one run, two walks, and struck out eight, mowing through batters with a diverse pitch mix that includes a forkball that looks just as impossible to hit as the one Kodai Senga introduced to the majors in 2023. He also threw a complete game shutout in 2023, giving up only five hits and two walks, and striking out nine batters on the way.

Takahashi has been spotted wearing Padres gear, which Yu Darvish reportedly gifted to all of the players on Team Japan during the WBC, but he has also been seen with Yamamoto since his signing with the Dodgers in December. The Dodgers clearly rely heavily on their star power to net them even more stars, and they could employ Yamamoto in the same way Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman were used to recruit him. If Takahashi can keep excelling in NPB until he's old enough to be posted, expect Darvish's Padres-loving heart to be broken once again.

Shugo Maki, INF

Maki, a power threat like Murakami, is the oldest of anyone on this list but is still a few years from being posted. Per posting system regulations, restrictions are placed on the amount of money a free agent can make in the international pool unless they're 25 and have a minimum of six years of NPB service. Maki is 25, but he also got his start in the same year as Murakami and Takahashi -- 2021 -- so he still has three seasons to go. However, his 2023 was even better than Murakami's in many ways. He played in 143 games, hit 29 home runs, and drove in 103 runs for a .293/.337/.530 line on the season, earning him his second All-Star appearance.

Funnily enough, Maki has gotten the better of Sasaki during their few matchups, including a three-hit day for Maki in June, which featured a triple and two RBI. If Sasaki comes over to MLB first and chooses the Dodgers, they might also want to make sure that they don't let a hitter who already knows how to get the better of their new, young ace play for another team.

NPB is a relatively small league, made up of only 12 teams with players who frequently play together on the international stage and know each other well. If the Dodgers are really looking to cement themselves as the place to be for Japanese players coming over to MLB, the recruitment might be easier than you think. Although some competition will always exist, the Dodgers have already set themselves up well for the next decade or so, and they have a lot of great options who could come over in the next few years.

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3 NPB stars Dodgers can pursue in addition to Roki Sasaski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Munetaka Murakami, INF

Hiroto Takahashi, SP

Shugo Maki, INF

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