Sasaki says joining Dodgers 'best' decision; agent denies early deal talk - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Roki Sasaki donned a No. 11 Los Angeles Dodgers jersey atop a makeshift stage Wednesday afternoon and called it the culmination of «an incredibly difficult decision.»

When Sasaki was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in the middle of December — a development evaluators have spent years anticipating — 20 major league teams formally expressed interest. Eight of those clubs were granted initial meetings at the L.A. offices of Sasaki's agency, Wasserman. Three were then named finalists in the middle of January, prompting official visits to their ballparks. And in the end, to practically nobody's surprise, it was the Dodgers who won out.

The Dodgers had long been deemed favorites for Sasaki, so much so that many viewed the pairing as an inevitability. In the wake of that actually materializing, scouts and executives throughout the industry have privately complained about being dragged through what they perceived as a process that already had a predetermined outcome. Some have also expressed concern that the homework assignment Sasaki gave to each of the eight teams he initially met with, asking them to present their ideas for how to recapture the life of his fastball, saw them provide proprietary information without ultimately having a reasonable chance to get him.

Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, admitted he has heard some of those complaints over the past handful of days.

«I've tried to be an open book and as transparent as possible with all the teams in the league,» said Wolfe, who has vehemently denied claims of a predetermined deal from the onset. «I answer every phone call, I answer every question. This goes back to before the process even started. Every team I think would tell you that I told each one of them