And, to replace the offense of Soto, they traded for outfielder Cody Bellinger and signed first baseman Paul Goldschmidt .” Yankees fans might argue with that thinking after watching Soto bolt to the New York Mets and Japanese fireballer Roki Sasaki tell the Yankees “no thank you” in the first round of his cuts.

For some teams in Major League Baseball, the chase for Roki Sasaki could not be measured in mere months. It lasted for years. One of those teams, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, concluded that pursuit on Friday night by landing the star pitcher from Japan.