The Japanese phenom will join countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in blue, but this addition isn’t about the Dodgers bludgeoning the rest of the sport with their financial might.

The addition of Sasaki only increases the urgency for the Dodgers to do better in preventing pitching injuries.

The Dodgers beat out basically all of MLB for Sasaki, who met with several teams to evaluate what they could bring to the table beyond money. The Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays were reported to be the finalists, with the Dodgers and Padres seen as the co-favorites for most of the process.