Guardians' division rival emerging as sleeper candidate for top free agent pitcher 

Earlier this offseason the Chicago White Sox surprised all of the baseball world by signing Munetaka Murakami to a two-year deal worth $34 million.

It looks like there’s a chance that may not be their only surprising signing this offseason. On Wednesday, a report from Yahoo! Japan listed the White Sox as a surprising suitor for free agent pitcher Tatsuya Imai, who is coming over to MLB after previously pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball. 

According to the report, teams like the Phillies and Yankees are still in the running for Iami but the White Sox have emerged as a contender to sign the 27-year-old pitcher. 

Even though Iami wouldn’t solve all Chicago’s problems, White Sox ownership bringing him into the fold would give them some more reinforcements as they look to build themselves up from the American League Central basement (and stand in the way of the Guardians’ third straight American League Central title). 

The Guardians may see a lot of Tatsuya Imai in 2026 

While MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that the White Sox are still a “longshot” to sign Imai, no one was expecting them to sign Murakami until they actually signed him, so it would make sense they’d be involved in talks for Iami. 

Iami’s posting window is quickly becoming a factor, which ended up being a factor in Murakami’s decision to sign with the White Sox since his posting window was about to close before he signed his deal. 

He has until 5 p.m. EDT on Friday to sign a deal or else he’ll head back to NPB. Last year Imai posted a 1.92 ERA with 178 strikeouts in 163 2/3 innings for the Seibu Lions. He’s recorded 2.21 ERA since the start of 2022 and features a six-pitch mix.

He’d be a clear upgrade for a White Sox rotation that had a 4.39 ERA last year and used Sean Burke as their Opening Day starter. But the White Sox’s rotation would still pale in comparison even with Iami. 

Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams are one of the best one-two punches, and Slade Cecconi, Joey Cantillo, Parker Messick and Logan Allen make up one of the deeper rotations in all of baseball (just don’t look at their minor league depth). 

Chicago already added to its rotation this offseason by signing Anthony Kay and Sean Newcomb, but both of them are bounce-back candidates more than established arms. 

The White Sox are clearly beginning to build a competitive team ahead of their next contention window, and adding Iami would jump-start that. But it’s hard to believe the White Sox would be able to outspend the Yankees and/or Phillies.