Japanese right-hander Shoki Oda is one of the most interesting names of the offseason, as the 18-year-old right-hander is meeting with MLB teams, including the Dodgers.
The lure of a larger bonus in the U.S. than what they might get in the NPB draft has led to some Japanese teenagers to jump stateside. Yuri Karasawa talked about this trend as well as Oda as a guest of Ben Lindbergh on an episode of the Effectively Wild Podcast last week.
Karasawa went deeper into Oda with Jordan Shusterman and Jake
Mintz on the Baseball Bar-B-Cast podcast.
Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs scouted several Japanese players available this winter, and wrote, “My sources tell me Oda is more likely to sign after the new international signing period begins in 2027 rather than try to sneak in before the end of 2026.”
Aaron Bates and the Dodgers couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension which led to the hitting coach and the team parting ways last week after a dozen years coaching in the organization. Bates told Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times he was initially surprised by the split, but otherwise took the high road:
“Processing it, I think that there’s always a time and a place, and I think that things run their course,” Bates said. “But I have nothing but amazing things to say about the Dodgers organization and people.”
Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic spoke to several baseball agents, who are aligned with one another on at least one thing — MLB should not have a salary cap. This quote is from Rafa Nieves, agent of Teoscar Hernández and others:
“The league proposals, and the way they are trying to bully the players, have united them,” Nieves said. “A year or two ago, I would have maybe answered differently. … But when you come up with these proposals, just insulting them, it is going to wrangle them together. Which is what I have noticed: They’re more united, they’re more together, they’re getting more informed.”
