There has been no shortage of speculation that Roki Sasaki's decision to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers wasn't the result of a meticulous free-agent process, but rather a handshake deal made months or even years earlier.

For some teams in Major League Baseball, the chase for Roki Sasaki could not be measured in mere months. It lasted for years. One of those teams, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, concluded that pursuit on Friday night by landing the star pitcher from Japan.

Over the last year, there had been speculation around MLB that the Dodgers had a possible handshake agreement in place with pitcher Roki Sasaki.

Roki Sasaki is joining the Los Angeles Dodgers! After the Chiba Lotte Mariners of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball announced they planned to post their 23-year-old star pitcher in November, he immediately became the No.

The Padres will sign left-hander and international amateur free agent Carlos Alvarez, according to The Athletic's Will Sammon. That's an intriguing development given that the Padres are considered one of the three finalists (alongside the Dodgers and Blue Jays) in the running for Japanese ace Roki Sasaki.