Now that Santa has put away the sleigh for another year, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on today…
1. The Athletics lock up Soderstrom
In a rare bit of major news breaking on Christmas Day, the A’s have agreed to a seven-year, $86MM extension with left fielder Tyler Soderstrom. Between his increasingly strong numbers at the plate and the successful transition to left field, Soderstrom cemented his place as a building block for an Athletics team as they approach their next era in Las Vegas. The Soderstrom extension highlights a busy week for the A’s that has also included the Jeff McNeil trade and the Mark Leiter Jr. signed. The next step might be adding starting pitching, as the A’s have yet to do much to address a rotation that was a weak link in 2025.
2. Imai’s posting deadline approaches
January 2 at 4pm CT marks the end of the 45-day posting window for Tatsuya Imai, as the right-hander will be spending the 2026 season with the Seibu Lions if he can’t finalize a deal with a Major League team within the next week. Such teams as the Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, Orioles, Giants, and Mets have been linked to Imai’s market, though in the case of the latter two clubs in particular, it remains to be seen if the Giants or Mets are willing to make a long-term commitment to any starting pitcher. MLB Trade Rumors projected a six-year, $150MM for Imai as he makes the jump from Japan to North American baseball, and given the number of larger-market teams reportedly interested, it would seem like Imai should be able to land a substantial payday. The Jan. 2 deadline creates a bit of urgency for Imai’s suitors, and his situation might be resolved before other free agent starters (i.e. Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Zac Gallen) come off the board.
3. A busy end to 2025?
The final week of the year tends to be relatively quiet in terms of transactions, as many front office executives take the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day as something of an unofficial break. Of course, as we just saw with Soderstrom’s deal, the hot stove can suddenly heat up at any given time, so you never know when a big extension, trade, or signing might be just around the corner. A big free agent who spent the holidays weighing offers, for instance, might be ready to make a decision now that Christmas is over. Besides Imai’s posting period, Kazuma Okamoto’s posting deadline is also coming up on January 4, so that’s another Japanese star whose arrival in MLB could be determined in short order.
If Detroit (unlikely) signs both Imai and Okamoto, it would put a nice finishing touch on the Tigers roster, a potential TOR starter to replace Skubal in the future, along with a RH hitting 3B, for less than the price of Bregman, whose younger than Bregman. Signing both might actually be a selling point.
That would be a great way to start the New Year! Fills two needs.
Quite surprised there isn’t more buzz around Okamoto and the Tigers. Seems like a natural fit…
Do u kno why they are cheaper options ? It’s bc there’s a high probability their game won’t translate to the MLB level. That’ll leave a huge portion of payroll being eaten by irrelevant players. Detroit doesn’t need either one
Everything I’ve read about Imai says otherwise. As for Okamoto, he has fewer red flags than MuRakami did and his profile as a hitter seems like it would fit better in MLB. The Tigers have to bank on Flaherty elevating his performance back to #2 status and Keith continuing to progress as a hitter at 3B. Having fallbacks with the potential to be stars is not a bad thing. The Tigers need another bat and another starter.
Keith is a good comp to these other guys as they are coming from leagues comparable to 3A ball. Keith excelled so well against that comp he graduated to the majors quicker than most. He looked like a sure big leaguer with the potential to break out upon call up. He hasn’t been able to do that vs mlb pitching and there was little and less on his profile to suggest otherwise.
If Detroit signs both and neither can perform they’d be wasting the majority of their FA dollars on contracts with no value over multiple years. Bad business strategy
Keith has been progressing just fine and is added value in the lineup.
It is always a crap shoot when you sign a free agent. It looked like a win for Arizona when they signed proven MLB starters like Burnes, Montgomery and Erod. None of those three worked out well. Signing players from Japan is a crapshoot too. The Tigers are excellent at evaluating young pitching talent and have found some real gems there. I don’t agree that they are wasting their FA dollars. No one can know that. Probably a moot point anyway. Cheers dude.
@bigwhiffa
I like Keith, too. Unfortunately, the Tigers have treated him as a utility player since they signed him to that extension. 2B to 1B, back to 2B, then DH, then 3B, then back to DH. Plus they give him limited ABs against LH pitching. I just don’t see him being given an everyday opportunity at 3B.
I wonder if things will be more stable for him this year with Torres and Tork getting the bulk of the at bats at 2B and 1B. Tork was not a sure thing at the start of last year. It seems 3B/DH should be where he plays most of the time. He was decent at 3B and I’d think he’d get first shot. Defensive metrics indicate McKinistry is better served elsewhere and Anderson and McGonigle would have to totally wow in the spring. I just hope they dont sign Bregman.
Gotta take a chance on somebody, and there’s a huge drop off in talent on the established MLB side of free agency after Bregmsn, Valdez, and Tucker. If the Tigers are adamant about sticking to a budget then Imai/Okamoto might be the best players available that could actually improve the club.
Big whiffa needs to quit whiffing before he even steps up at the plate.
Kurtz has not been forgotten. Rather, he was so good that he may not be willing to sign an extension. I do think Jacob Wilson might sign one. The conventional wisdom is that Shea will not because he is represented by Boras, but the player and not the agent makes the final decision.
The Tigers have never won the bidding for a Japanese player, getting two in the same offseason is unlikey when they never seem interested in getting one.
If the Tigers sign a starter i think it might be Gallen. If they don’t sign Bregman i could see them pivot to Suarez or just open the season with McKinstry and go from there
Keith is penciled in at 3B. I like the Gallen idea. Chees
Cheers not chees
I also like the Gallen idea. Cheese
@Rsox
Did you not see that I noted it was unlikely? Before LA did it, they had never signed one either. Every team has to have a first.
Every team “can” have their first if they choose to do so.
The first LAD from
NPB was about 30 years ago in Hideo Nomo.
Release the Rockies
Expect a protest season from Nick Kurtz because of this signing, because of being completely forgotten about by the organization (and the fans),
===========================
What a complete babble-thon.
Mr. Rockies… You’re being silly. There is no way a 2nd-year, 22-year-old, current ROY is going to “tank” his season. Now maybe a 29-year-old, over-paid, former 3B, pouty baby might threaten to do that and end up on another team in June, but not a kid who is on top of the world and just starting his career would not.
Hoping Hoyer picks up Imai right on New Year’s eve to end the year with a nice bow wrapped around it.
Not Hoyers style. He likes dumpster diving for short term wonders .
The goal for the Cubs should be to find a SP that has the potential to be better than Taillion. The only one left that fits that bill to me would be Imai. Suarez is a regression candidate and Gallen has already regressed. If they can’t get Imai there is no point and just wait for Steele and hope he comes back like he was. Which is risky to me. If they sign Imai then they can move Taillion for needs. If Steele makes it back and he’s really back they can move Boyd for something they might need later. It’s he only move left that greatly improves the team IMO. Because Jed let all the high leverage Relievers pass by again in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle.
You’re exactly right Unc. Jed also hasn’t addressed improving the bench which had to be the worst in baseball last season.
Yeah but you can find bench guys anytime anywhere for peanuts. Just have to pick the right ones.
Now that Christmas is over and nobody got presents delivered, FedEx -Amazon and UPS all delivered to the wrong house. I am so happy to see the narrative has not changed.
Stop saying to move Taillon. 😀 Cubs are a huge market team and need more starting pitching depth!
Tutsuya Imai would be a great RHP acquisition but I see him getting a $200 million deal. Remains to be seen if Ricketts is ready for that. I like Ranger though prefer Imai. If they get neither, they might go to Dollar Tree for Quintana or Nick Martinez to fill Steele’s slot in April. Horton, Steele, Boyd, Taillon, Rea, Assad. Hoping to sign Evan Phillips in a multiyear deal for bullpen. Need another starter. Jackson is 2027, Wicks is not very good. Steele is May 2025.
Jackson is Jaxson Wiggins.
Well they can’t move Imanaga and they just added a year to Rea. Horton and Boyd aren’t going anywhere so unless you’re planning to trot out the first 7 man rotation in history who do you suggest? I’m all ears.
Yes, I think you need seven or more starters to make it through a season. If Shota sucks, he may lose his rotation spot mid-season. Rea can pitch out of bullpen. Horton may need rest and Steele is back from injury. Boyd is not an inning eater, rather the opposite. Assad is good for a couple starts, but will mostly work out of the pen. Taillon is NOT good enough to extend, but he is worth keeping for 2026 unless Cubs sign two more starters.
Shota’s not losing his rotation spot. I don’t know why this community is so down on him right now. He went through a rough patch but is still one of the best they have.
@Uncle: Whether they sign a starter or not, I don’t see them trading Taillon or Boyd. I think they want the starter depth of going into ST six-deep, assuming everyone is healthy–which is very unlikely anyway.
@Uncle: I think they see Rea as a long reliever. And Taillon is likely to arrive in Mesa with his annual calf injury anyway, and Assad will probably be hurt too, so they aren’t going to be overloaded with starters.
@Commenter: Agree. I’m not sure why people ever mention Wicks as an option; he has basically failed and will soon be out of baseball. Assad is not much better. The likely rotation to start the season will be Imanaga, Boyd, Horton, New Guy, and Rea, with Assad and Taillon on the IL. Not very good, no.
Steele will not be back until July.
Someone like Nick Martinez will be the New Guy–at best. My guess would be Zach Eflin.
cplwhite
Not Hoyers style. He likes dumpster diving for short term wonders .
====================
Swanson, Happ, Suzuki, Imanaga, and Taillon all signed l/t contracts.
Hoyer’s had a pretty dismal showing so far. I guess getting a fat extension makes it easier to be Rickett’s ‘yes man’. Unless, of course, you want to sign a serious FA and it’s ’no man’.
Too early to say. We will know a lot in the next ten days or so.
We know they’re not spending on any of top FAs like other big market teams. No matter how long we wait. The only was they’ll Imai is if it’s a ‘deal’.
I don’t “know” that. They might snag one expensive player. Not saying “will”
No no. The important thing is that the Ricketts make more billions, not actually invest all those profits back into the ball club. Small market Chicago is. Haven’t you heard? We’ll be getting Galen at best with no offensive upgrades.
Gallen might bounce back, not my choice, but hardly a dumpster dive
As with Murakami, the final deal for both Japanese players will be less than projected. Unless they are signing their own, the real long term deals aren’t seeming to be happening right now.
I think Imai has a better chance at making cash than Okamoto. Murakami definitely screwed the latter.
Imai is getting $200 million. Okamoto is getting $34 to $50 millio
To be honest I don’t expect Imai to get but $150 million tops. I strongly believe that if there was anything close to a 200 mil offer he’d be already signed. I think he has held out this long solely because teams haven’t valued him as highly as he thought and he is hoping someone finally gives him that bigger payday.
Southi
Your take is as good as mine. I have no inside information.
What I do know is that I would take Imai over Dylan Cease. It just took one team to get Cease $210 million. Cease is a durable strikeout machine who pitches three or four no-hit innings and then collapses with a five run inning.
We will know soon, January 2, 2026 is not far off.
You are correct.
I have no more information than you and am only attempting to evaluate what I see.
In any event we will know more clearly soon enough.
Cease is Quintana with more strikeouts. Gives you five innings, and taxes the bullpen.
Thats exactly Cease’s mo, good read there
Imai-Yankees
Okamato-Pirates
Yes I do believe the Pirates are spending a lot this offseason
Yankees aren’t in on Imai there are reports they haven’t even spoken to him. No clue who gets him, but it’s probably down to Cubs, Phillies, Orioles, and Giants. Gut feeling says Giants, but that’s a feeling not attached to any reporting or facts.
Still feel like they’ll do something last second. Doubt it’s Phillies/Giants, but Orioles are in on everybody.
SFG might jump in on a shorter term deal with Imai. Seriously doubt they will go past 3 years on an undersized unproven arm though.
No way it’s the Phillies Dombrowski is bottom feeding since schwarbomb said yes I will take the overpay
It will only be the Cubs if its short-term. Anything over 3, maybe 4 years and they are out.
Why would the Cubs care about a long term contract for somebody that they want? The only have one long term contract on the books and that’s Swanson. Otherwise the rest are small potatoes most of which are Club Options. That statement as they say doesn’t hold any water.
The only have one long term contract on the books and that’s Swanson.
===================
Swanson, Happ, Suzuki, Imanaga, and Taillon all signed l/t contracts.
And all but Swanson will be out of years after 26 except Swanson. Look it up. So after 26 it would be Swanson and Imai. The rest are all Cub arbitration players.
Counsell was just quoted in an interview.
“Young players, they have to get chances. They have to get chances,” Counsell said. “Look around the league. You have to give your young players opportunities. Your team is better for giving your young players opportunities. … They’re the guys that are going to improve as the season goes on and turn into better players, and then turn into very important players on your club.
“So, you have to be patient with those opportunities, and you have to create the opportunities for players like that – players of that caliber.”
Let’s see how long that actually lasts with Long, Triantos, Ballesteros, Caissie, Wicks, Assad and so on.
Astros
I really see Yankees getting Belli but not Amai
I know the reports said Baltimore was in on Imai, and Elias stated that they were looking at all starting options on the market, but it has been very quiet for weeks now regarding this.
Obviously it has been fairly quiet in general concerning Imai but there has been some chatter and reports about him in NY, Chicago and smaller pieces or mentions from a couple other clubs.
I know Elias and his team keep things very close to the vest with their moves and processes, so maybe that silence is a good thing and not because of a distancing of the possibility. He would fit nicely in the Orioles rotation and still leave room for a trade to add even another starter.
A rotation of (in no specific order) Bradish, Rogers, Baz, Imai and a trade for someone like Gore in DC would be a great rotation for Baltimore
A trade for a Gore or someone bigger is unlikely. That would require moving prospects they dont have anymore after the last trade. Its FA or bust for them now.
All the prospects the O’s traded for Baz, while good prospects, were redundant in their system. The O’s absolutely have the prospects needed to make another hight impact trade either before or during the season.
The Orioles absolutely still have enough prospect capital to acquire Gore or similar. The players sent to Tampa were essentially all from the past draft class. They have logjams in the OF and at 1B/DH in the majors and even more in their system. Additionally, such a trade will likely require a major league ready arm in the package, even if it isn’t the best piece of the package – someone like a Povich, Young or Kremer.
They have the pieces and still have the redundancy in the system to get a very good starter.
It’s been super quiet for the NPB players. Hell, Murakami didn’t sign until the last minute, and nobody knew the White Sox were even in the running until the day of signing.
Jarred: Its definitely been quiet but in Murakami’s case I think actual interest was way behind hype. The game doesn’t value defensively limited sluggers anymore. Throw in his struggles with velocity and a new league.
At the plate I think he’s a lot like early career Ohtani in that he’ll break out in a huge way after an adjustment period. He whiffs a lot, but so did Ohtani. He’s also drawn a lot of walks and has adjusted to velo more recently.
His progress will be one of my top non-Yankee storylines to follow. Ohtani is a unicorn I can’t think of any other Japanese sluggers who didn’t see their stats regress. I loved Matsui but he certainly wasn’t Godzilla in NY, more of a rock solid supporting star with 55 grade game power.
That is true and it was very shocking that he went to Chicago too. The two year prove it type deal in a very low stress and low pressure environment is smart in a way – he does well to prove he can adjust/adapt to MLB and he re enters FA still young enough to get a very decent longer term contract, possibly with a contender.
Okamato makes a ton of sense for the Yankees. So does Imai except they won’t hand out another big pitching deal.
They do, and I do believe the Yankees silence is directly correlated to them, but we’ll see ultimately if they land either.
Come on giants sign imai
Totally trust that Buster is probably the best possible judge of his stuff, and how it may or may not work at the MLB level.
I’ve been reading that Boston is seriously looking at Okamoto as a more efficient way of covering third base yet I’m thinking it’s leverage ploy with respect to Boras and Bregman.
Predicting a busy end of the year tbh. The fact that we have two big NPB guys right on outset of January means the interested GM’s are definitely working.
Why does it seem that the Cubs leak that they’re interested in every free agent who might help them win and then they sign some middle of the road relief pitcher.
cC Ryder: they learned the Red Sox playbook on dealing with fans in the offseason.
Everybody is saving their bread to give Skubal 10/400
Probably more per year
That would be 1/5 of a $200M payroll.
A ridiculous ask for an average MLB team.
But you just know he’s going to get it.
10/400 for a 29 year old is laughable to even predict. Skubal is already in the declining years of his prime. I know the numbers are better than ever right now but suggestion a 10 year deal is absurd.
I agree that it’s absurd but it’s reality. Only TJS could prevent Skubal from getting 8-10 years at 40M AAV. Cease got 210, Strasburg 245, Cole 324 for 9. Conversation probably starts at 8/320 and the bidding war nature of the open free market pushes it to 10/400 (probably Yankees, Mets, Dodgers)
Would love to see the Phillies break into the Japanese market in a big way by getting Both Imai and Okamoto. And then you can trade either Luzardo or Painter for a CF and put Crawford in LF.
Even Dombrowski has financial limits…
Everyone that Philly signs is now subject to the 110% tax., and that’s not counting Realmuto.
Okamoto to the Angels, Imai to the Yankees…
Protest season?
You think that Kurtz is going to pout and purposely underperform expectations?
How would that benefit him in the long run?
And how do any of the general public know that the Athletics haven’t approached him about an extension as well?
What a troll u r!
At least for John Fisher, he won’t have to worry about the backlash when he greenlights a Kurtz trade…
After the White Sox came out of Left Field and signed Murakami who will be the the team that comes out of nowhere and signs Imai? Pirates? A’s? Marlins? Nationals?…
Imai and the Seibu Lions should pay the Tigers at least $5-$10M to allow thier player to pitch in a rotation with Skubal.
Hired!
The Decider, Lol. Surely you can’t be serious.
I think the Phillies will sign Imai.
You’re hallucinating.