Worldwide free agent Tatsuya Imai has taken a transparent stance in opposition to becoming a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason, and made one other remark relating to the World Collection champions on Tuesday.
“With the variety of pitchers they have already got, they don’t want me,” Imai mentioned.
Earlier within the offseason, Imai mentioned he didn’t need to be part of a workforce with Japanese gamers and that beating the Dodgers to win a World Collection could be “essentially the most beneficial factor in my life.”
Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy responded to the Japanese right-hander’s feedback on the “Foul Territory” podcast earlier in December.
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“I imply, to be sincere, it’s no totally different than another beginning pitcher on the market — all of them need to take us down,” Muncy mentioned. “I haven’t appeared into this man in any respect. I don’t know what his stuff is. I’m certain he’s wonderful, as we’ve seen quite a lot of Japanese pitchers come over and be extraordinarily good — together with the blokes on our employees.
“So I’m certain he’s very gifted. Each pitcher not on our workforce is saying the identical factor: they need to take us down, they need to be the one to beat us. That’s what makes it enjoyable to play for the Dodgers — you’re going to get everybody’s greatest each single evening.”
Imai is without doubt one of the prime worldwide free brokers accessible in the mean time, and is one among three large names crossing over from Japan — the others being Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami.
The 27-year-old has performed 9 skilled seasons in Japan, and has a profession ERA of three.07. He broke out over the previous handful of years, recording an ERA beneath 3.00 in every of the final three seasons. His greatest season of the three got here in 2025, the place he had a 1.92 ERA by way of 163.2 innings and 178 strikeouts.
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Imai has been closely linked to big-market groups throughout MLB, and an thrilling showdown with the Dodgers is certain to return in some unspecified time in the future in 2026.
Picture Credit score: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports activities
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