Right-hander Tatsuya Imai and the Houston Astros have agreed to a $54 million, three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced.
Imai gets a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $16 million this year and $18 million in each of the final two seasons. He can earn an additional $3 million in performance bonuses this year: $1 million each for 80, 90 and 100 innings.
His 2027 and 2028 salaries would escalate by the amount of performance bonuses earned in 2026, which could raise the deal's value to $63 million over three years.
Imai can opt out after the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
Under the posting agreement between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball, a deal must be finalized by 5 p.m. EST Friday.
Imai receives the third-highest average annual value for a Japanese pitcher entering Major League Baseball behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto's $27.08 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that started in 2024 and Masahiro Tanaka's $22.14 million with the New York Yankees in a contract that ran from 2014-20.
A 27-year-old righty, Imai went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA this season with the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions. He struck out 178 batters in 163.2 innings.
Imai's agent, Scott Boras, drew attention at the MLB general managers meetings by saying “Certainly, he's done everything (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto's done."
Yamamoto won World Series MVP after back-to-back dominant performances against the Toronto Blue Jays in Games 6 and 7, including securing the Los Angeles Dodgers' second consecutive title with 2.2 shutout innings to cap the Fall Classic.
“He loves big markets,” Boras added. “We go through the list of places he may want to play and, believe me, he is someone who really wants to be on a winning team and compete at the highest level.”
Imai is 58-45 with a 3.15 ERA in eight seasons with Seibu, with 907 strikeouts in 963.2 innings. He is a three-time All-Star.
Imai pitched eight innings of a combined no-hitter against Fukuoka on April 18. He struck out 17 against Yokohama on June 17, breaking Daisuke Matsuzaka’s previous team record of 16 from 2004.
Under MLB’s posting agreement with NPB, Seibu will get a posting fee of $9.675 million from the Astros and a supplemental fee of 15 per cent of any earned bonuses, salary escalators and exercised options.
–With files from Sportsnet Staff
