Giants Predicted to Sign Corbin Burnes, Roki Sasaki to ‘Juice’ Dodger Rivalry

Free agent righty starting pitcher Corbin Burnes remains the most sought after player still unsigned, and according to senior baseball writer for The Athletic Ken Rosenthal, the native of Bakersfield, Calif., would like to play for a team on the West Coast. San Francisco is just a 4 1/2-hour drive from Bakersfield, and only about 40 minutes from Moraga, where Burnes pitched at St. Mary’s College.

That would make the San Francisco Giants a “nice fit” for Burnes, according to Rosenthal.

In a Christmas Day podcast, however, a Bay Area sports media personality did Rosenthal one better, predicting the Giants could not only sign Burnes, even at his reported asking price of around $250 million — similar to the contract bestowed on Stephen Strasburg at the MLB Winter Meetings in 2019 — but also land 23-year-old Japanese pitching phenomenon Roki Sasaki.

On his podcast “The Krueg Show,” longtime sports talk host on San Francisco’s KNBR radio Larry Krueger said adding both star pitchers would “juice up” the once-heated rivalry between the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the Dodgers’ dominance, winning the National League West in 11 of the last 12 seasons, the dormant rivalry needs to be reignited, Krueger said. In addition, the Dodgers currently have the two highest-profile Japanese stars on their roster.

“If you could juice it up by putting Sasaki — a dominant Japanese phenom — in San Francisco opposite (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto and (Shohei) Ohtani, with Corbin Burnes?” Krueger said. “Now we’re talking. Now, I’m not saying you’re beating the Dodgers, but at least it’s interesting. At least I’m watching it, you know?”

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Combining the Burnes contract with a Sasaki acquisition would not present any significant additional financial issue, because the young righthander under MLB rules is considered an international amateur even though he has pitched four professional seasons for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League.

Under the rules, Sasaki’s contract will likely land in the $5 million range and cannot exceed a seven-figure sum, in contrast with the $325 million, 12-year deal the Dodgers shelled out to land Yamamoto last year. Whichever team signs Sasaki will be required to pay the equivalent of 20 percent of his contract figure to his Japanese team, the Marines. In Sasaki’s case that would entail a payout likely between $1 million and $2 million.

To acquire Yamamoto, the Dodgers paid his former team, the Orix Buffaloes, more than $60 million.

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