DUNEDIN, Fla. — Midway through January, when the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes were intensifying, Myles Straw would occasionally check for news on the Japanese phenom.

Straw’s focus at that point was on off-season workouts as he prepared to head to Cleveland Guardians camp in Arizona, but he likes staying up-to-date on baseball news so he was aware the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays were finalists.

He was intrigued, but only from afar. The idea that this process could somehow impact an outfielder in Cleveland was far-fetched.

“Zero thought about it,” Straw said. “Didn’t come to my head at all.”

So when he heard the news from Guardians teammate Steven Kwan, he was blindsided. Soon afterward, he was on the phone with Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins in quick succession, and they confirmed what Kwan had read online: he’d been traded to Toronto for $2 million in international bonus pool space designed to improve the Blue Jays’ chances of acquiring Sasaki.

“I was shocked, and pretty excited about it,” Straw told Sportsnet. “New beginnings are always nice, especially with this team. I think it’s a fantastic team to be playing for, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”

Before long, Sasaki chose the Dodgers and the Blue Jays were left with $11 million committed to Straw but no pitching phenom. The move was a calculated risk on the part of the Blue Jays, and when it didn’t result in a deal with Sasaki, a challenging moment followed for the organization and its fans. Thankfully for his own peace of mind, Straw isn’t one to spend too much time reading comments on social media.

“I try to stay off that as much as possible,” Straw said. “It’ll pop up here and there, but at the end of the day it’s like whatever, it is what it is. Come here, play baseball and try to prove myself again with a new team. Control what you can control. Everyone’s always going to say stuff. Every fan base has their thoughts, and it is what it is. I try not to look into that too much.”

A month and a half later, Straw is making a strong impression in Blue Jays camp with a .474 batting average and strong defence through nine Grapefruit League games. He’s not on the team’s 40-man roster, which makes his path to a roster spot more challenging, but with Daulton Varsho still rehabbing from shoulder surgery, it’s possible Straw will be needed sooner rather than later.

“We all know what he can do in the outfield and on the bases,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said recently. “And I think his at-bats have been pretty consistent. He’s been better than we had hoped in the batter’s box.”

That’s something, and the $2 million in international bonus space is valuable, even if the Blue Jays won’t use it the way they’d hoped. Already, they’ve been scouting internationally in the hopes of spending that pool money on young international players.

Of course, the hope was that the Blue Jays could use that money on Sasaki, and their plan didn’t work as intended. Some rival executives felt the Blue Jays took on risk needlessly with the Straw trade, while others noted that the risk was actually rather modest in scale.

“We’re obviously disappointed that we didn’t land the player,” Jays GM Ross Atkins said in a recent interview. “But there was a lot to be proud of being in that position. Our entire baseball operations department approached it from a leave-no-stone-unturned perspective. And in the end, recognizing that we were competing with the West Coast, competing with some very strong and successful markets, we knew we had to be creative and exhaustive.”

To be fair to the Blue Jays, the $11-million Straw commitment didn’t prevent them from continuing to spend in free agency on the likes of Anthony Santander and Max Scherzer. Knowing they were fighting uphill against the Dodgers for Sasaki, it’s a risk they were prepared to take. And various sources familiar with the process are convinced the pitcher’s interest in Toronto was genuine.

In 2024, as his free agent decision approached, some of Sasaki’s most trusted people spent considerable time and effort evaluating Canada and specifically Toronto as a possible landing spot. Presumably, he wouldn’t have gone to these lengths trying to understand this market if he wasn’t legitimately intrigued. He also spent more time visiting the Blue Jays in person than he did the Dodgers or Padres — visits that the Cubs, Yankees and Rangers pushed hard for but didn’t receive.

This was a product of years of work from a group including Atkins, Pacific Rim coordinator Hideaki Sato, front office execs Andrew Tinnish and Ryan Mittleman plus Frank Herrmann, the former MLB pitcher who pitched with Sasaki in Japan before joining the Blue Jays as a pitching acquisitions specialist. All contributed to the team’s strategy, but Sato’s impact has been described as particularly significant, and his continued presence should help with future pursuits.

The Blue Jays wouldn’t have gotten this far along with Sasaki unless they had a deeper understanding of the Pacific Rim than many of their rivals. Afterward, they had various executives from other teams poke around for their secrets. Of course, the Blue Jays will keep their approach to themselves and prepare for their next forays into the international market starting next winter (for those inclined to look ahead, 25-year-old third baseman Munetaka Murakami projects as the biggest star available and it would be stunning if the Blue Jays didn’t show some interest).

Regardless, you either get the player or you don’t. Beating 28 teams doesn’t impact the roster if the Dodgers still swoop in at the end. In this case, the Blue Jays didn’t land Sasaki, and Straw doesn’t offer that same franchise-changing upside no matter how well he plays. But for whatever it’s worth, it appears that Sasaki’s interest was as real as it ever could have been, considering the Dodgers were likely always in the lead.

As for Straw, he wants to make sure the Blue Jays get something back for their troubles.

“You come out here and try to prove yourself,” Straw said. “Just having a nice, fun atmosphere makes it all just a little bit easier. So, I’m just enjoying every day.”