Report: White Sox Have ‘Emerged as Frontrunners’ for Tatsuya Imai

This would have seemed ludicrous two weeks ago, maybe less, but the White Sox surprising everyone by landing Munetaka Murakami has changed the calculus a bit. Even with copious amounts of salt being applied to Google’s translation of a Yahoo Japan article, it’s hard to dismiss the report that the White Sox “have suddenly emerged as the frontrunners” to sign righty starter Tatsuya Imai.

The same article names the Yankees and Phillies as “likely candidates,” also noting the Mets and Cubs among the teams expected to compete for Imai’s services. Earlier reports had the Yankees out on Imai as their attention turned to Cody Bellinger and other options, and this latest piece says other teams have been reluctant to extend offers to Imai (see Ed. note below for more on that). The Sox, however, “are taking a proactive stance.”

This could very well be a product of the pending ownership change on the South Side, with Justin Isbia agreeing to a deal that allows him the chance to buy future controlling interest from Jerry Reinsdorf. Whether it’s an infusion of Ishbia’s cash or just the knowledge that Reinsdorf won’t be on the hook for the later years of a long-term deal, things may be changing on the South Side.

Then again, this could just be a matter of the Sox trying to capitalize on what they hope is a lighter market than expected. The Yahoo Japan report says they are “approaching [Imai] with a contract of around three years, rather than a long-term one of seven years.” They managed to land Murakami with a two-year, $34 million contract that came in at around 20% of some projections, so they might be coasting on the confidence of that coup. At just 27 years old, Imai could look to capitalize on a shorter deal that would allow him to hit free agency again with several prime years left.

It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen Scott Boras, who represents Imai, work out such a deal. And with just three days to go before the hard-throwing righty’s posting window closes, getting a deal done in time for him to complete a physical could be putting a time crunch on negotiations. As hard as it is to believe the White Sox could pull this off, I wouldn’t put it past them to swoop in and shock everyone again.

And if they do manage to land him on a much shorter deal for much less money than expected, which I don’t think is likely, I’m going to have serious questions for Cubs leadership. But hey, maybe the Phils come in with $200 million over eight years. We’ll find out soon enough.

Ed. note: Per Yakyu Cosmopolitan, Imai shared an update on his situation with Japan’s TV Asahi. Below is a paraphrased translation:

I wanted to personally visit every team that expressed interest in me, but I was told it would be difficult if there were so many, so Mr. Boras said to narrow it down to just 3 or 4 before I go to the U.S […] I think that’s where we’re at now in terms of teams.

That tracks with what was reported above and previously, and it makes sense that his list would be short at this point. Imai went on to say that no teams have made formal offers, though that doesn’t mean Boras hasn’t discussed different terms with clubs. Again, this seems to me like a situation in which the Sox are looking to be opportunistic.

The same thing was true of the Cubs and Shōta Imanaga, who generated strangely little interest before the Cubs signed him for much less than expected shortly before his own signing deadline two years ago. I think this is trending more in that direction than what we saw when the Dodgers blew everyone out of the water by going to $325 million for Yoshinobu Yamamoto.