...
By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
With Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón both expected to miss at least a month of the regular season, the New York Yankees began the offseason as a fairly obvious fit for free-agent starting pitchers.
Many Yankees fans gravitated toward Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai as a fit, as he was younger than many of his free-agent counterparts. Righties seemingly made more sense for the Yankees than lefties this winter as well.
However, when Imai signed with the Houston Astros for a reported three years and $54 million guaranteed, it became clear that the Yankees hadn't even been in the hunt, which upset many, given the extremely reasonable dollar figure he signed for. Heck, the Yankees paid more for Marcus Stroman last year than Imai is guaranteed to make in Year 1.
Read More on MLB
...
On Thursday, the New York Post's Jon Heyman explained why the Yankees weren't keen on paying that price tag for Imai to be in their rotation. In a nutshell, they didn't think he belonged in the rotation at all.
"The Yankees never made an offer for Japanese star Tatsuya Imai," Heyman wrote. "They liked him as a reliever, while most teams saw him as a mid-rotation (or possibly No. 2) starter."
There's been some debate about how Imai's arsenal will play in the majors. At 5-foot-10, he's a bit undersized and doesn't possess particularly special characteristics on his mid-90s fastball. His most unique and potentially best offering is a "wrong-way" slider that features far less horizontal break than the sliders of his counterparts.
Imai was just one starter the Yankees missed out on, and perhaps they'll be proven right over their concerns about his ability to stick in a rotation. But they also missed out on trading for Edward Cabrera, who went from the Miami Marlins to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, and the pool of options will only keep shrinking.
Is New York satisfied with its rotation as currently constructed? The Imai sweepstakes did little to alleviate the worries of those who believe the answer to that question might be "Yes."
More MLB: Yankees Lose 6-foot-5 Free Agent Pitcher to Diamondbacks
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines