The Boston Red Sox traded for Garrett Crochet last offseason, and Craig Breslow recently said the team would consider adding another pitcher to their deep rotation if they could land a frontline arm. One of the best pitchers available this offseason is Japanese phenom Tatsuya Imai.
Imai was a star in Japan, and many fans may be expecting him to follow in the footsteps of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Rōki Sasaki and join the Los Angeles Dodgers after being posted. However, Imai recently told Daisuke Matsuzaka on the show, “Hodo Station,” that he does not want to join his countrymen.
“Of course, I’d enjoy playing alongside (Shohei) Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki,” Imai told Matsuzaka, according to The Athletic, “But winning against a team like that and becoming a world champion would be the most valuable thing in my life. If anything, I’d rather take them down.”
Imai has been pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League since 2018. He has a 3.15 ERA in 159 games, but was just posted by the Saitama Seibu Lions. He had a 1.92 ERA in 163 2/3 innings of work last season. He threw five complete games, three shutouts and notched 178 strikeouts.
The Dodgers being off Imai’s list increases the Red Sox’s chances of signing him. There are still plenty of big market teams that could bid for his services, but he has another wish as well. He noted he does not want to join a team with other Japanese players.
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“If there were another Japanese player on the same team, I could just ask them about anything, right?” Imai told Matsuzaka. “But that’s actually not what I’m looking for. In a way, I want to experience that sense of survival. When I come face-to-face with cultural differences, I want to see how I can overcome them on my own — that’s part of what I’m excited about.”
While the Red Sox can fulfill his desire to be on a team that allows him a chance to defeat the Dodgers, they do have a Japanese player on their team in Masataka Yoshida. That may hurt the Red Sox’s odds, but Imai has not indicated these conditions are concrete.
