This team would be biggest nightmare Roki Sasaki destination for SF Giants

After the SF Giants officially missed out on top international free agent Roki Sasaki, his potential suitors got narrowed down to just a few teams. The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of those teams, but the San Diego Padres would be a worse destination from San Francisco's point of view.

The fact that Sasaki is not going to join the Giants does not come as a huge shock. It always seemed like the Giants were longshots. However, it does not change the unfortunate fact that Sasaki seems very likely to land with an NL West rival.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Sasaki has narrowed the choice down to the Dodgers, Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays:

SF Giants should hope Sasaki stays out of NL West

No offense to the Blue Jays, but they seem to be just as much of a free agent bridesmaid as the Giants so it would be a bit of a surprise if Sasaki went there. The Dodgers definitely seem like the favorite to land Sasaki although the Padres would make sense given his preference for the west coast and the fact that Sasaki's hero Yu Darvish pitches for San Diego.

If the Dodgers signed Sasaki, no one would bat an eye. The overwhelming expectation for a long time is that Sasaki would join the Dodgers. However, him joining the Padres would hurt even more.

If the 23-year-old did choose San Diego, an already-good Padres team would become even more formidable. The Dodgers are already ridiculously talented. Adding Sasaki would make them better but not in the same way it would for the Padres. Adding Sasaki could solidify the Padres as the second-best team in the NL West.

It would just be a huge punch in the gut if three of the most sought after free agent starting pitchers going into this offseason each went to a different NL West team. Blake Snell already signed with the Dodgers, Corbin Burnes already signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and if Sasaki went to the Padres while the Giants only got Justin Verlander at the twilight of his career it would be tough to see how the Giants could compete at all in the NL West.

Plus, with San Diego's ugly ownership battle rendering them largely stagnant this offseason, it was starting to look like the Giants could be gaining on them a bit talent-wise. However, if they added Sasaki then it would be very difficult to argue that the Giants gained much ground on them this offseason.

Perhaps some fans are feeling so bleak about things that they would rather Sasaki go to the Padres just so they have a better chance at beating the Dodgers in the playoffs because these pessimistic fans have no hope in the Giants. Things are not that bleak yet, but the Giants do need to find a way to make up ground.

Of course, the best casse scenario would be for Sasaki to choose the Blue Jays. Let's hope for that but if the one of the worst case scenarios occurs, let's just hope Sasaki is not as good as everyone thinks he will be.