"We had a seat at the table."
The White Sox were reportedly one of the bidders for Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai, who recently signed a three-year contract with the Houston Astros that could be worth up to $54 million.
The deal includes player opt-outs after both the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
Imai, 27, is a three-time All-Star in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, and he had a career-best season with the Saitama Seibu Lions in 2025, going 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 163.2 innings.
The Astros are likely to lose left-hander Framber Valdez in free agency, so Imai fills a gap for them and joins Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier as the top options in the Houston starting rotation.
From a Sox perspective, I saw a whole bunch of fans on social media hopeful the team could land Imai, after the South Siders' surprise signing of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami earlier this offseason.
Alas, there were a few reasons to be skeptical:
- Scott Boras is Imai's agent, and there's probably a fair chance the Sox were being used as leverage.
- Imai was obviously interested in player opt-outs, a concept that causes Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to break out in hives.
- The Sox have a negative reputation that precedes them.
There was a report from Yahoo! Japan that said the Sox "are viewed internationally as a favorable destination barring one hurdle -- the delayed transition from owner Jerry Reinsdorf to Justin Ishbia."
Reinsdorf, the report continued, "represents a culture of shame misaligned with Japan's competitive integrity."
A culture of shame? That's an interesting way of saying it. We can't disagree with Japan on this point, can we? Reinsdorf's "culture of shame" and three consecutive seasons of 100 losses or more have prevented me from buying a season ticket package in each of the past two years.
But I digress. What can we take away from the Sox's failed bid to acquire Imai? At least they know they need to acquire another starting pitcher. They whiffed on this target. Let's hope they are now in contact with the next starter on their list, whomever that may be.
