According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees never made a formal offer to right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai, the highest-paid Japanese player on an annual basis in this recent class.
The Yankees were expected to be involved in the bidding for his services early on, but in December reports came out about their general lack of interest in the 27-year-old.
Imai would sign a three-year deal with opt outs following each season with the Astros, as the baseline salary was around $18 million with escalators involved for innings pitched.
New York viewed Imai as a reliever not the top of the rotation starter that he was hyped up to be, and it creates a greater mystery around whether they ever had any intrigue around him.
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Tatsuya Imai Never Received an Offer From the Yankees, Viewed Him as a Reliever
The Yankees’ evaluation of Tatsuya Imai was much lower than expected, but they were not alone in their stunning lack of interest in the right-hander.
Jon Heyman noted that most teams viewed him as a mid-rotation starter while the Yankees viewed him as a reliever, but he’s previously reported that organizations such as the Mets displayed little interest in his services.
When he signed his three-year deal at $54 million with escalators to increase it to $61 million, it officially cemented Imai’s final number as over $100 million less than what The Athletic and ESPN projected for his baseline salary.
As the Yankees now focus on the trade market, Heyman notes they are looking at Freddy Peralta and MacKenzie Gore, which is being reported by numerous outlets including MLB.com and The Athletic.
The Yankees were interested in Edward Cabrera and names were leaked in these discussions, with Heyman verifying the original report that Eric Hubbs put out there.
Whether that information was truly accurate or not can only be known by Brian Cashman and Peter Bendix, but the club will be motivated to try and pull down a starting pitching trade in the coming weeks.