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Report: Tatsuya Imai discusses free agency and his desire to be the lone Japanese player
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Photo credit: © Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Nov 24, 2025, 16:15 EST
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Tatsuya Imai, one of the top free agent starters, had a few interesting comments on Monday.
Appearing on TV Asahi to start the week, Imai had two interesting quotes. The first one is when asked about joining a team with fellow Japanese players, the right-handed pitcher said he prefers to be the lone player from the country. Full quote below.
“(If there were Japanese people) they’d just tell you anything if you asked, right? I don’t really want that; in a way, I want to experience that survival vibe, you know, and when facing cultural differences, making how I overcome them on my own one of the fun parts.”
One team that has quite a few Japanese players are the reigning World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Well, he also had a quote about them as well, noting that he’d prefer to beat them than join them.
“I want to take them down. (Playing together with players like Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, and others) of course sounds fun, but I think beating a team like that and becoming world champions would be the most valuable thing in my life.”
The Toronto Blue Jays fit both requirements. After trading Yusei Kikuchi ahead of the 2024 trade deadline for Will Wagner, Joey Loperfido, and Jake Bloss, they don’t have a Japanese player on their active roster. More importantly, the Jays were just two outs away from defeating the Dodgers in the World Series.
On the Blue Jays’ side of things, adding Imai to the rotation makes a ton of sense. Last season in Nippon Professional Baseball, the 27-year-old had a 1.92 ERA and 2.01 FIP in 163.2 innings pitched, with a 27.8 K% and 7 BB%. Aside from innings pitched, the right-handed pitcher set career bests all over the board.
Another benefit to adding Imai over pitchers like Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, or Michael King is the fact that signing Imai doesn’t come with the loss of a draft pick. Since the Blue Jays were over the competitive balance tax in 2025, signing any player who has declined a qualifying offer (like the starters listed) means that the Blue Jays will lose their second and fifth round picks. If they sign more than one player who has declined their qualifying offer, the Jays lose those two picks as well as their third and sixth round picks.
There have been fleeting mentions of the Jays being interested in adding a starter, but no concrete links have been made between the Blue Jays and Imai so far this off-season. It’ll be interesting to see where the right-handed pitcher ends up before his posting ends on Jan. 2.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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