About 12 years ago, the Chicago Cubs, under the new stewardship of Theo Epstein and his lieutenant, Jed Hoyer, were trying to kick off an organizational rebuild with a bang. Knowing that building inroads in Japan were going to be critical for years to come, and knowing that youthful stars become available in free agency only so often, the Cubs pushed hard to sign Masahiro Tanaka that offseason.
The Cubs actually made it into the final two, according to many reports, ultimately losing out to the New York Yankees, who signed Tanaka to a seven-year, $155 million deal. The Cubs reportedly topped out at six years and $120 million. It was pretty understandable that, at the time, Tanaka chose the better-situated near-term organization that was offering him a lot more money, you know? If you’re going to compete with the Yankees for a star player, you have to be ready to do more than sell a vision.
Anyway, here’s a report about the Cubs and Japanese ace Tatsuya Imai:
Around five MLB teams have shown real interest in 27-year-old Japanese ace Tatsuya Imai, per industry sources. The New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs are expected to be finalists to sign Imai.
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) December 17, 2025Hey, wouldn’t it be “fun” if the Cubs and Yankees once again battled over a posted Japanese ace?
Earlier this week, reports had the Cubs still connected to Tatsuya Imai, who may be visiting teams this week. He has to sign by January 2, and the range of possible price tags is enormous, anywhere from sub-$100 million to upwards of $200+ million. If the Cubs and Yankees wind up competing on price, it’s possible one of them is simply going to bid way more than the other based on how they project his transition to the United States.
We’ll see if it winds up being true that these are the two finalists for Imai – it’s possible rumors of visits will circulate soon, and that might tip it off – which would be pretty exciting. I think we all know the Cubs are in a very different place now than they were heading into the 2012 season. The money will matter again, though.
As we’ve discussed, there are risks in going big on Imai, but the upside there is a potential front-two starting pitcher, in his prime, who also happens to be a star in Japan. That’s an extraordinarily valuable combination, and something the Cubs clearly dig in general.
If you missed Kiley McDaniel’s recent take on Tatsuya Imai as an MLB transition, I thought it was reasonably tempered. Here’s some of it:
“The 27-year-old projects as a third starter — think an ERA in the mid-3.00s — but there’s still some risk for him to even hit that projection since the big leagues are still a step up from Japan’s NPB.
Imai is not that big, standing 5-foot-11, and though he has above-average control now, that hasn’t always been the case. His walk rate was 5.1 BB/9 in 2022, then 4.1 in 2023, 3.6 in 2024 and 2.5 in 2025. That makes him sound like a soft tosser who gets by on his newfound feel, but his four-seam fastball sits at 93-97 mph and hits 99. There’s some real stuff here, too, as his splitter is an above-average pitch by nearly any metric and his slider also performs as an above-average pitch.
I worded it that way because his slider is a unique pitch as it doesn’t “slide,” or, in other words, it averages arm-side movement (like a splitter/changeup does) rather than glove side movement (like a slider/curveball does). That might sound bad, but pitching is all about deception, and hitters don’t expect a slider to move like that, which is part of the reason the pitch performed well last season, garnering a 45% miss rate and a .212 xwOBA allowed ….
Given Imai’s ability to improve his command and make an unusual approach work in addition to still being in his 20s for a few more years, teams see that he has the traits necessary to make continued adjustments when entering a league with a new baseball and new opponents. Maybe he’ll even tweak his pitch mix and locations a bit to optimize his arsenal; his fastball locations are too center-cut while the shape of his fastball would work better at the top of the strike zone.”
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