Tatsuya Imai’s Candid Free Agency Admission Creates Ideal Cubs Opportunity

The Chicago Cubs should pounce on Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai after his recent comments about free agency.

Jed Hoyer | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs have been linked to star Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai for much of this offseason.

On December 17, MLB reporter Francys Romero asserted that the two finalists to sign Imai (who posted a 1.92 ERA in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league last season) are the Cubs and the New York Yankees. While this was seen as good news among Cubs fans, it also sparked some worry, given the offseason spending habits of these two franchises.

The Yankees are always almost the biggest spenders on free agents, and have a reputation for sparing no expense to field the best possible team each season. The Cubs, on the other hand, are notoriously frugal when pursuing baseball's best free agents each offseason, and have never spent more than $155 million on a starting pitcher (a number that Imai is expected to surpass), which they gave to Jon Lester over a decade ago.

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester (34) reacts against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Therefore, some Chicago fans believe that if both the Yankees and the Cubs submit a formal contract offer to Imai, there's no question that the Yankees' offer will surpass their own team's, thus resulting in Imai taking his talents to the Bronx.

But that won't be an issue if the Yankees never make Imai an actual offer.

Tatsuya Imai's candid market take gives Cubs opportunity

Imai did a recent interview with a Japanese outlet. At one point, he got honest about where his current market stands.

"It seems that there aren't really many specific candidates coming up unexpectedly, and having interest from a team and a formal offer are apparently completely different things, so in that situation, I'm thinking of trying to make the best choice, with family to consider as well, and make a good decision," Imai said in translated Japanese, per an X post from @NekoSuke5_5_2.

代理人と3時間の面会を終えて

西武・今井達也
「意外とあまり候補は具体的に挙がっていないらしくて、興味を持っている球団と正式オファーというのは、全く別の話らしいので、そんな中でベストな選択、家族もいますし、いい選択ができるようにしようかなとは思っています」#今井達也 #有働タイムズ pic.twitter.com/jJsuW9OKAO

— ねこすけ⚾️新アカ (@NekoSuke5_5_2) December 28, 2025

MORE: Nico Hoerner Responds To Cubs Trade Rumors With Surprising Honesty

A December 28 article from Mark Suleymanov of the New York Post also quoted Imai as saying, “Apparently, there actually aren’t many concrete options on the table yet."

While it's unknown whether any teams have given Imai contract offers, his comments made it clear that he's underwhelmed with the volume of offers received. This creates a clear opportunity for the Cubs to give him a solid offer that, given Imai has to sign before his posting window closes on January 2, might be foolish for him to refuse — even if it isn't the lucrative deal he had imagined.

It will be fascinating to see how Imai's market takes shape in the next couple of days. Cubs fans can expect a resolution before the end of this week.

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