As the tide seems to have turned on L.A.’s recruitment of the free-agent ace, they’re not getting much help from their current Japanese superstar

World Series – Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees – Game 3 / Alex Slitz/GettyImages

The tide continues to be turning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in their pursuit of star Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki. As if dealing with the dreaded Bob Nightengale Jinx weren’t difficult enough, reports in recent days suggest that L.A. might actually be considered a long-shot for Sasaki’s services — with The Athletic MLB insider Jim Bowden pegging the team’s chances of landing the 23-year-old at somewhere between 10 and 15 percent.

While the Dodgers were considered prohibitive favorites after news of Sasaki’s posting broke, it turns out that what we thought were strengths of their recruiting pitch — a large market closer to Japan, having two Japanese stars already in tow in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — might in reality be working against Los Angeles. Even Sasaki’s own camp seems dubious, with his agent calling reports of a handshake agreement with the Dodgers nothing more than “poor sportsmanship”. That’s hardly something your representation would say if you had designs on signing with the team in question over the next few weeks.

Amid the deluge of bad news, the Dodgers are in desperate need of something — or someone — to turn the tide, a way to convince Sasaki that L.A. really can and should be the place for him. But while the team should have the ultimate trump card on its roster, Japan’s most famous athlete seems to be sitting this one out at the worst possible time.

Shohei Ohtani not making much of an effort to recruit Roki Sasaki to Dodgers

You might have assumed that Ohtani would be front and center in the Dodgers’ pitch to Sasaki. He’s the greatest baseball player his (or really, anyone else’s) country has ever produced, and he hit the ground running while helping to capture a World Series title in his first season with the team. Every Japanese player looks up to the now three-time MVP, and he even got to know Sasaki while playing with him on Team Japan during last year’s World Baseball Classic.

But despite all that, Ohtani doesn’t appear to be taking much of a role in trying to bring Sasaki to Los Angeles. Asked about the free-agent sweepstakes around the hard-throwing righty after receiving NL MVP honors on Thursday night, Ohtani told reporters that he hasn’t yet tried to recruit Sasaki to the Dodgers, saying only “I’ll respect his decision wherever he wants to sign”.

Which is all well and good; Sasaki is still just 23 years old, making a massive decision as he decides which organization to trust with his career in a new country against new competition. He deserves the right to gather as much information as possible before making that decision, and his unique free-agent status means that he can reasonably consider all 30 teams without money being a determinative factor. It’s understandable that a friend wouldn’t want to infringe on that process too much, or make it seem like they didn’t have Sasaki’s best interests at heart.

Still, this is hardly what Dodgers fans want to hear right now. Especially when the new odds-on favorite for Sasaki’s services, the division rival San Diego Padres, tout one of Sasaki’s closest friends and mentors in Yu Darvish. You’d hope that there’s a way to respect Sasaki’s decision-making process while also still making clear what you love about the Dodgers — it’s been great for you and all the ways in which it can be great for Sasaki, too. But for as spectacular as he is on the field, Ohtani has yet to really show much of an appetite for the trappings of superstardom off it. And it could cost L.A. its best chance at upgrading its starting rotation this winter.