{"id":126848,"date":"2025-11-30T12:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=126848"},"modified":"2025-11-30T12:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:24:15","slug":"yankees-should-prioritize-signing-japanese-phenom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=126848","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Should Prioritize Signing Japanese Phenom"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the offseason already starting to ramp up, the New York Yankees have remained relatively quiet in terms of making big moves. Their only signings thus far have been minimal, bringing back left-handed reliever Ryan Yarbrough on a one-year deal and center fielder Trent Grisham on a qualifying offer. This doesn\u2019t mean, however, that a blockbuster move isn\u2019t on the horizon.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

New York is one of the favorites to land highly coveted outfielder Kyle Tucker, as well as one of the top contenders to bring back Cody Bellinger. But, according to ESPN\u2019s Kiley McDaniel , the Yankees are also one of the top landing spots for one of the top free agents coming out of Japan this winter: Tatsuya Imai. The right-handed pitcher is generally considered the best hurler out of this year\u2019s class of NPB players coming over to the big leagues, and for good reason. The 27-year-old tossed 163 \u2154 innings for the NPB\u2019s Saitama Seibu Lions, striking out 178 batters with a 1.92 ERA.<\/p>\n

Yankees Should Heavily Pursue Tatsuya Imai<\/h2>\n

Never Enough Starters<\/h3>\n

Starting pitching is, on paper, perhaps one of the biggest strengths in the Yankees\u2019 roster. With Gerrit Cole returning next spring, Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil, New York arguably has too many starting pitchers. It looks like adding Imai would only make a crowded room even fuller, but there are actually a couple of reasons why bringing in another pitcher like Imai would be a huge move for the Yankees, and could make them an instant contender in the American League.<\/p>\n

\n

The Yankees are expected to \u201cearnestly pursue\u201d Tatsuya Imai this offseason as they search for another starter, according to Brendan Kuty\ud83d\udc40#Yankees pic.twitter.com\/MbDmOaWXaS<\/p>\n

\u2014 Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) November 26, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Firstly, the Yankees should know how vital it is to have backup starting pitching. Last season, Cole, Schmidt, and Luis Gil all missed either most of or the entire year, leading to young guys like Warren and Schlittler stepping up to take their spots in the rotation. Cole, Rodon, and Schmidt won\u2019t even be ready to start 2026, so there is already an open spot in New York\u2019s rotation to start the year.<\/p>\n

Lacking Internationally<\/h3>\n

But, perhaps most importantly, the Yankees have not signed a player out of Japan since Masahiro Tanaka in 2014. The Yankees had a solid history of bringing in Japanese players, with Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Tanaka all donning the pinstripes in the late 2000s to early 2010s. But since signing Tanaka, the Los Angeles Dodgers have become the league\u2019s juggernaut of Japanese talent, winning the sweepstakes for Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all within the past three years. The landscape of MLB\u2019s free agency is changing, and the Yankees clearly have not caught on to the fact that they\u2019ll have to compete with the Dodgers in the international market if they want a chance to evenly match up against them.<\/p>\n

Imai, unlike many of his predecessors, might not be joining the Dodgers. Rather, he has stated that he wants to \u201ctake them down\u201d, implying that he would prefer to join a competitive team that could stack up well against Los Angeles. Teams like the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants have also been named as the top suitors for Imai, but the Yankees would arguably be the best place for him to go, as long as both parties are willing to put their money where their mouths are.<\/p>\n

\n

Tatsuya Imai has his eyes set on beating the Dodgers \ud83d\udc40 pic.twitter.com\/t71jOG9J7S<\/p>\n

\u2014 FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 24, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Making a huge move like signing Imai would benefit the Yankees in more ways than one: it would not only solidify arguably the league\u2019s deepest starting rotation, but it would also send a message to the league that the Yankees are not going to lie down and let their rapidly closing World Series window slip away from them.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the offseason starting to ramp up, the Yankees have remained quiet in terms of making big moves, but they’re linked to Tatsuya Imai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":126854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nYankees Should Prioritize Signing Japanese Phenom - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=126848\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yankees Should Prioritize Signing Japanese Phenom - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the offseason starting to ramp up, the Yankees have remained quiet in terms of making big moves, but they're linked to Tatsuya Imai.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=126848\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-30T12:24:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/avtnew-2025-11-30T192354.018.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=126848\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=126848\",\"name\":\"Yankees Should Prioritize Signing Japanese Phenom - 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