The Dodgers are already chasing a third straight World Series crown, but that hasn’t stopped their front office from keeping an eye on the next big name. According to MLB insider Jon Heyman of The New York Post, Los Angeles is among the teams tied to Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato.
Heyman also mentioned the New York Yankees, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies as clubs linked to Sato, who is 27 and could make the jump to the big leagues as soon as this offseason. That move would still require approval from his current team, the Hanshin Tigers, since he won’t have overseas free agent rights until 2029.
Sato has been on the radar for a while. In May, the Dodgers were one of several teams that sent scouts to watch him play, and the appeal is easy to see. He’s bringing real power to the table, and he’s backed that up with another big season in Nippon Professional Baseball, where he’s hitting .314 with 27 home runs and 76 RBIs while posting a 1.013 OPS.
Last year, he put together an even louder line for Hanshin, blasting 40 homers and driving in 102 runs. Scouts around the game view him as a potential major league impact bat once he arrives.
Defensively, Sato has spent most of his career at third base. Across his NPB career, he’s played 528 games there and 262 games in the outfield. Still, some evaluators think a move to first base could make sense, and there are questions about his work at the hot corner.
That creates an interesting fit for Los Angeles. The Dodgers have had a strong pipeline of Japanese talent in recent years, and Sato would be the latest high-profile name to enter that conversation.
The issue is the roster. Max Muncy and Freddie Freeman are already in place at first and third, which makes an immediate fit complicated.
Even so, both veterans are nearing the end of their careers. Muncy turns 36 this month and is under contract through 2027 with a club option for $10 million in 2028.
Freeman turns 37 later this season and has one year left on his deal. Both players have said they want to finish their careers in Los Angeles, though that could be only a few years from now.
If Sato waits until 2028 or 2029 to come over, the Dodgers could be positioned much better to make a run at him. If he does arrive this offseason, Los Angeles could always try him in the outfield until an infield spot opens up.
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