On the first day of October, two Dodgers executives were on the other side of the world.

Shortly after the end of the regular season, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and vice president of player personnel Galen Carr were in Japan on a scouting trip.

The center of their attention: phenomenon pitcher Roki Sasaki.

In recent years, the Dodgers’ front office has loved Sasaki, enamored with a dazzling repertoire headlined by a triple-digit fastball. The only question was when the right-hander would encounter the Pacific.

Late Friday evening they finally got an answer.

The Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki’s team in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, announced they will position the 23-year-old star for Major League Baseball teams to sign this winter.

“From the moment he joined the organization, we were told by him that he dreamed of playing in America,” Chiba Lotte general manager Naoki Matsumoto said in Japanese in a press release. “Taking into account the past five years as a whole, we decided to prioritize his thoughts. We hope he does his best as a representative of Japan. We cheer for him.”

In Los Angeles, the Dodgers’ offseason just got a lot more interesting.

Although Sasaki doesn’t have the credentials of other top free-agent pitchers, he is seen as having tremendous potential. Thanks to MLB rules regarding international free agents, he can be signed for a fraction of the price.

If Sasaki had waited two more years, he would have had the freedom to sign as a normal free agent. Last winter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto received a record contract worth $325 million from the Dodgers, who came over from Japan. Sasaki would have been in a position to compete with it.

But because Sasaki is listed under the age of 25, he will be limited to a minor league contract with a modest signing bonus; similar to when Shohei Ohtani, then also 23, signed with the Angels before the 2018 season for just $2.3 million.

Like Ohtani, Sasaki will be under club control for six seasons with whichever team he signs with, just like any other rookie.

It makes Sasaki a dream target for the Dodgers; a gifted, young, cost-controlled arm to strengthen – if not drastically improve – their starting rotation.

Over the past few seasons, the Dodgers have made significant scouting efforts to evaluate Sasaki’s development. Last winter the team hoped he would be placed. But after a lengthy saga with his Japanese team, Sasaki ultimately stayed.

He had one of his most complete seasons, winning a career-high 10 games with a 2.35 earned run average. And one of his best starts came the day Friedman was present: a complete game with one run and 10 strikeouts.

“Well pitched,” was all Friedman would reveal a few days later.

Roki Sasaki will pitch for Japan in the World Baseball Classic in March 2023.

(Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)

As Sasaki’s team begins posting him – his maximum singing bonus will reportedly depend on whether he is assigned to the 2024 or 2025 international signing class, but would not be much more than Ohtani’s – it is expected that he one of the Dodgers’ main goals this offseason.

The team already has two Japanese stars in Ohtani and Yamamoto, who oppose the idea that Japanese major leaguers prefer not to play in the same team. And the Dodgers would give Sasaki a chance to immediately compete for a World Series title, which would see them enter 2025 as defending champions and favorites to repeat — especially if they can bolster their starting pitching.

“Obviously, we can never have enough pitching, as we’ve learned,” general manager Brandon Gomes said Wednesday after the Dodgers won the title despite having one of the most injury-plagued pitching staffs. “So pitching will be a priority.”

Gomes declined to discuss Sasaki during his media bash at the general manager’s meetings in San Antonio, as the pitcher had not yet been seeded. But Sasaki’s potential speaks for itself.

Although he had some durability issues in Japan, pitching more than 100 innings in only two of his four seasons, he had a 2.10 ERA while averaging 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

“From the time I joined the organization until now, I am nothing but grateful for the way they have consistently listened to me regarding my future challenge in the MLB and have now allowed me to be posted” , Sasaki said in a statement in Japanese.

“In my five years in the Marines, there were many parts that didn’t go well, but I was supported at all times by teammates, staff, the front office and fans, and I was able to get to this point by focusing solely on baseball. . To ensure that I have no regrets about my one and only baseball career, and to be able to respond to the expectations of those who pushed me in the right direction, I am doing my best to rise from a minor league contract to the Number 1 player in the world.”

To repeat: his goal is to become the top player in the world.

There will be a long line of teams trying to convince Sasaki. As with Ohtani, his low cost and highly touted skillset will lead to all kinds of potential suitors. But there has been a lot of speculation in the industry that the Dodgers are the favorites to land him.

They have Ohtani. They have Yamamoto. And they’ve been scouting Sasaki for several years, waiting for the moment when he could be next.

Staff columnist Dylan Hernández contributed to this report.