It has been a rather quiet offseason despite plenty of big names still on the market, ranging from Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger to J.T. Realmuto and Alex Bregman. One free agent who does not have as much time to find a new home is Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai.
Initial reports linked the Philadelphia Phillies to the right-hander, along with the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs, as potential suitors. Since then, there has been noticeable silence surrounding the 27-year-old.
That will more than likely change as the week progresses, with Imai’s 45-day posting window expiring on Friday at 5 p.m. ET. He will be required to sign with an MLB team by then, or he could be returned to his team, the Seibu Lions, in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
Imai, represented by Scott Boras, reportedly met with teams in Los Angeles, according to The Athletic’s Katie Woo and Will Sammon. According to a recent report from Yahoo Japan, the Chicago White Sox are “rapidly emerging as strong contenders” for Imai just a week after they surprisingly inked slugging infielder Munetaka Murakami to a two-year, $34 million contract.
There has not been much noise surrounding the Phillies’ involvement regarding their attempts to acquire Imai since the first week of December.
Could the Phillies possibly swoop in and make a surprise deal for the starting pitcher who posted a 1.92 ERA with 178 strikeouts in 163.2 innings last season?
Where would Imai fit?
The Phillies seem to be quite eager to break into the Japanese market. Their willingness to offer Yoshinobu Yamamoto $300-plus million two offseasons ago before he dominated in the postseason and World Series indicates that.
However, you don’t want to throw money at any player, especially ones coming stateside to test their skills in MLB, just for the sake of getting in on the Japanese market.
Imai publicly said that he prefers to play for a team to beat the Dodgers. Playing for the Phillies in the National League would give him chances during the regular season and potentially the postseason to do just that.
But where would he slot into the rotation?
Entering the 2026 season, the Phillies are looking at a projected starting rotation of Zack Wheeler, who is on track to return from thoracic outlet syndrome; Cristopher Sanchez, who finished in the NL Cy Young voting; Jesus Luzardo; Aaron Nola and prized pitching prospect Andrew Painter, who is expected to be given ample opportunities to be the fifth starter out of Spring Training.
They also have Taijuan Walker as a swingman.
Signing Imai would congest a rotation that already cannot entertain a resigning of Ranger Suarez because of a numbers game in terms of roster construction and financially.
However, if the Phillies were to strike a deal, Imai could slot in as a middle-of-the-rotation arm and bump Painter out as the top prospect in the organization, who did struggle in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery in Low-A and in Triple-A, mainly with his command.
According to FanGraph’s Steamer projections, Imai is projected to pitch to a 4.29 ERA in 148 innings with 138 punchouts with a 1.38 WHIP. Is that an improvement over what Painter could provide with less pressure as a rookie finding his way in the bigs? That remains to be seen.
With a market that seems to be much cooler than Imai and Boras were anticipating, perhaps the Phillies end up coming out of left field and make a potential offer lower than what had been projected due to the apparent lack of movement regarding his market.
Nonetheless, it would be surprising if Imai does not sign with an MLB team by the Friday deadline, given his track record, especially over the last three seasons with Seibu, yielding a respectable 2.18 ERA in 470 innings on the mound. He is not as dominant as Yamamoto, but Imai is expected to be a reliable middle-of-the-rotation type arm stateside in a pitching market that is rather scarce with frontline talent.
