Tatsuya Imai: It is unclear whether he has an offer with just a few days left until the deadline

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Tatsuya Imai: It is unclear whether he has an offer with just a few days left until the deadline
Credit: Newsweek

Does Tatsuya Imai have an offer on the table right now?

The Japanese pitcher, who has until January 2 to sign (failing which he'll have to return to his Japanese team for the 2026 season, given that the Japanese who are made available have a 45-day window in which to sign), sees time working against him.

In recent hours, there have been rumors that the pitcher had no offer on the table as of yesterday. The NY Post, however, retracted the story, deleting its tweet in favor of another.

And in the text, instead of saying the Japanese player has no offer, it says it's unclear if there's an offer on the table.

But either way, it's weird. Imai was tipped to sign in the nine figures (we were potentially talking $150M), but he wouldn't have anything on his table right now?

Beware: some teams are talking to the pitcher. But there's a difference between talking and making an offer.

Is there collusion with the Japanese this year? You have to wonder, since Munetaka Murakami also went from a huge projected contract to a two-year deal with the Chicago White Sox.

Is the deadline working against the Japanese? Perhaps. But it didn't stop guys like Yoshinobu Yamamoto from hitting the jackpot before…

Let's not forget that some people want to see Major League Baseball implement a deadline for signing free agents. We can see in December 2025 that this isn't necessarily good for players.

Imai's agent is Scott Boras.

PMLB
  • Joe Kelly retires.

  • Zach Eflin to Baltimore.

  • Andrew Heaney retires.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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