Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai can celebrate the New Year, but then he needs to quickly turn his attention to making a decision on whether to sign with a major league team (almost a certainty) and which team to sign with.

Here’s a quick look at how the posting process works: When a team in Nippon Professional Baseball agrees to “post” a player, they are basically giving him permission to talk to Major League Baseball teams. Once that posting is made official, MLB clubs have a 45-day window to negotiate directly with the player. If he signs during that window, his NPB team gets a posting fee based on the size of the contract; if he doesn’t sign by the end of the 45 days, his MLB rights disappear, he goes back to his Japanese team, and everyone would have to start over the next time he’s posted.

THE READ-IN: Who is Tatsuya Imai and Does He Fit With Philly?

Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami had a deadline of 5 pm on December 22nd to sign a deal and he signed a two-year, $34-million deal with the Chicago White Sox on December 21st. For Imai, his deadline is 5 pm on January 2nd. The Phillies have been pursuing Imai during his 45-day window which began on November 18.

As the deadline looms just one day shy of a week from now, the leading contenders are (in no particular order): Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Baltimore and the New York Mets are rumored to be snooping around the edges of signing Imai, but are not thought to be in the upper tier of options. When a Japanese player is posted, all eyes turn to the LA Dodgers, but Imai has been vocal about not wanting to sign with LA and instead forge his own way in the majors.

Imai, 27, pitched for the Saitama Seibu Lions last season and had a dominant year with 163.2 innings pitched and an ERA of just 1.92. When he was posted, MLB Trade Rumors – known for doing well in their projection forecasts – put Imai’s value at six-years and $150-million. There are other starting pitchers like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez still waiting for deals, but it’s thought that they are waiting to see what Imai gets as a pitcher who has never pitched in the majors before looking to top his deal. Of course, if Imai is having trouble deciding, he would have the option of doing what Murakami did and sign a two-year deal. Japanese players are not bound by the restraints that American players are in terms of having to go through arbitration or waiting for six years to become a free agent. Murakami can be a free agent following the 2027 season.

The Phillies are conscious of the fact that signing any player to a sizable deal would wind up almost costing them double what the contract is worth in 2026 because of the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT). There would also be the fee that would be due to the Saitama Seibu Lions as compensation for losing Imai. The Phillies are still interested in re-signing J.T. Realmuto although the negotiations with him are dragging out longer than expected.

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