Before Roki Sasaki signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres were among the frontrunners for his signature.

The Padres have dropped out on the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes and MLB fans are speculating that the Dodgers will win the race.

There's a strong precedent in the LA Dodgers camp for giving up jersey numbers to new star signees. Last year, Joe Kelly's family received a Porsche for relinquishing the No.

Sasaki named them one of his three finalists, joined by the Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. If nothing else, such recognition plants a larger Padres flag in Japan, where Sasaki commands national attention. Coming Japanese stars won’t say “who?” when Padres team-builder A.J. Preller and scouts come calling.

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish wants an answer from Roki Sasaki about why his misled the organization.

But the signing of free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki may have been the best addition of the winter. The young right-hander from Japan comes to the Dodgers as a low-cost addition but with high-reward upside.