This Roki Sasaki Dodgers press conference quote will crush Padres fans

On Jan. 22, the Dodgers officially welcomed Roki Sasaki into the fold with an introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium. He donned No. 11 in Dodger blue for the first time (Miguel Rojas has switched back to No. 72), took questions from the press, and infuriated all other baseball fans.

Sasaki's signing with the Dodgers always felt a little bit preordained, no matter how much dissenting insiders and experts wanted to argue that the Padres were the real favorites. At the presser, Andrew Friedman confirmed that the Dodgers had been scouting Sasaki for six years, and details of LA's courting have made it clear that they took full advantage of their time with him (sushi dinners, a 10-minute monologue from Mookie Betts, and so on).

While the majority of baseball fans are generally angry at the Dodgers for getting everything they want, Padres fans' anger is at least a little more justified. For a moment during Sasaki's free agency, it really did seem like they were finally going to get their guy, only for San Diego to not even crack the top two.

Sasaki piled on more hurt during the presser, when he said of his decision to join the Dodgers, "The number one thing that stood out was the stability of the front office."

Roki Sasaki named "the stability of the front office" as the major reason he chose the Dodgers

The Padres are currently embroiled in a Succession-esque ownership battle involving late owner Peter Seidler's widow Sheel and his brothers Matthew and Robert. Sheel Seidler's full complaint alleges misogyny and racism, and alludes to Matthew and Robert Seidler's desire to move the team out of San Diego.

There's also the fact that the Padres still haven't spent a single cent in free agency or made a major trade acquisition this offseason, which could have a lot to do with the turmoil at the top of the food chain. The most notable addition they've made this offseason is Martín Maldonado on a minor league contract, which is almost guaranteed to amount to nothing.

It's yet another shot to the heart for Padres fans, some of whom were getting really ahead of themselves after Sasaki's visit to Petco. Meanwhile, the Dodgers have had Mark Walter at the very top since 2012, Andrew Friedman as their president of baseball operations for the last decade, and Brandon Gomes since 2022. Shohei Ohtani has so much faith in Walter and Friedman that his contract includes a "key man" clause that would allow him to opt out should either leave the organization. That's the kind of stability Sasaki was talking about.