SSTN Mailbag: Japanese Free Agents And Other Thoughts!

First off, Happy New Year! I don't know how all of you feel, but my 2025 went by in an absolute blur from beginning to end. Like most years, it was a mix of good and bad, but I'm choosing to focus more on the good, and I'll look forward to hopefully more good things ahead. To all of our readers, I wish you far more good than bad in the new year, and let's hope for the same for the Yankees!

Between the holidays and the crawl of this offseason, we had a very light SSTN Mailbag this week, which I expected to some extent. I am going to answer the one question that I thought fit current events, followed by some thoughts and musings regarding the Yankees and other baseball related topics. As always, thanks for the questions and keep them coming to SSTNReadermail@gmail.com. We'll be back with a normal Mailbag next week, but without any further ado, let's get to a slightly different format:

Michael G. asks: Considering the smaller than expected deals for Imai and Murakami should  we have been more involved? Do you think we'll go after [O]kamato?

Yes. 100% yes. I don't think I felt lower this offseason than yesterday afternoon when I saw the contract figures for Imai. The writing had been on the wall all offseason. While multiple public sources connected the Yankees to Imai this offseason, my heart dropped last week when I heard that Jack Curry said that there was almost no connection between Imai and the Yankees. Curry is more plugged into the team than any other source, and he was 100% correct again in this case.

I believe very strongly that Imai will make a real impact. He has excellent stuff, will almost certainly improve stateside with some further pitch design work and training methodology, and the Yankees have an obvious need for pitching either in the rotation or the bullpen. $18 million per season plus opt outs over a short term should have been incredibly appealing to all teams, but the Yankees particularly given the number of long-term deals sitting in the rotation.

There are some around baseball who project Imai as a reliever due to his size and possibly limited durability with an expanded workload. Here's my response to that: And??? $18 million is right in the ballpark for a premium closer. Out of the bullpen, Imai will touch 100 MPH with regularity with excellent stuff. I still think Imai will be a mid-rotation stalwart (which is how he's being paid, I might add), but if that's the floor? Sign me up. Why it is the Yankees seem to continually fight the offseason with one hand tied behind their back is beyond me. That's an ownership decision that goes beyond the GM/Team President level, and it gets to the heart of the Yankees' problems. Maybe I'm just frustrated, but I view the decision to stay out on Imai as a microcosm of the management issues that have held the Yankees back since the Baby Bombers arrived early in 2017.

Sorry, I'm getting somewhat off-track. No, I do not believe that the Yankees will be in on Okamoto either. I also do not project Okamoto to be an impact player of any kind - he has some pop, can hit left-handed pitching, and has some patience, but he is not a good defender, and I don't view him as anything more than Amed Rosario with a bit more pop with the platoon advantage. That has value, but I don't think he's quite a fit for the Yankees, given the defense and lack of impact.

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I have a lot of thoughts about current events. Let's get at it:

• I don't think I've been this dejected about a Yankee offseason in a long time. I agree that the bones of this roster shows that this is a good team, but the second you actually list it all out on paper (as I did yesterday afternoon), the flaws become readily apparent. The lineup is way too left-handed, which in and of itself isn't necessarily an awful problem, but almost all of those left-handed hitters are poor enough against left-handed pitching that platoon partners are needed. The rotation could be fantastic...if everyone gets healthy by June/July and no one else gets hurt...if you believe that's likely, I have a bridge to sell you. The very back of the bullpen is quite good...and thins out almost immediately. Jake Bird has a legitimate chance to be the 6th reliever right now. That's...far less than ideal. The bench is utility guys and another lefty hitting catcher. There's some starting pitching depth in the minors, and I do project one or two of those guys to take a step forward, but it still takes a lot of hope-ium to make a contender out of this group. The current roster looks like a 2nd or 3rd place team in the AL East...and it's January.

• I want to be clearer about something I said above. Platooning one or two spots in the lineup can be a real benefit! Needing it for half of the lineup is a serious flaw. I can't help but think that the Yankees need at least one big trade to balance things out a bit.

• The coming fight over the CBA has loomed over the offseason in a way I didn't expect. Very few of the big payroll teams are spending real money. Free agents aren't jumping at deals to gain security. The teams who have been profiting by spending almost nothing while reaping corporate welfare have handed out multi-year deals. What does it all mean? Both sides are beginning to posture a year early. Big market teams crying poverty; free agents staking claims regarding their worth; small market teams claiming that they'll spend when the time is right; and everyone is tacitly acknowledging that a huge fight is coming. It doesn't say anything good about the state of Major League Baseball.

• The aforementioned reality is a real shame, because I don't think there's ever been more talent in the game than we see right now. We just saw the Blue Jays play a brand of baseball that fits the modern game that is also aesthetically pleasing: plenty of contact, plenty of pop, lots of running, solid fundamentals (save for the last outs of the World Series), and timely defense. Proof that people trying to optimize the game and the old school can co-exist in a world where there's more talent than ever...and MLB is about to bite off its nose to spite its face.

• Do not misunderstand what I wrote a minute ago. Just because teams with money are posturing does not mean I'm letting the Yankees off of the hook. Quite the contrary: this is where the Yankees should be able to use their financial might to their advantage. Instead, Steinbrenner is sitting at home counting his dollars. If the focus was winning, there would be money to spend right now. Steinbrenner's actions have told us where the focus is.

• The Yankee front office is smart and produces teams that win consistently. That's worth something, a fair amount in a league where every other team has tanked at some point or another. It also consistently builds teams that are one or two pieces short of championship caliber (save for 2019, when I maintain the Yankees were the best team in the AL). Both are true at the same time, and they deserve equal parts praise and admonishment for both facts. Brian Cashman's crew is smart; I believe baseball insiders when they discuss the fact that Cashman and crew are some of the best front office minds in baseball, regardless of how I feel about some of the group's public statements. There is one common thread that ties together two seemingly opposed ideas, that the Yankee front office is smart, yet builds teams that are one to two pieces short consistently: ownership. I think that the Yankee front office excels at working beneath an ownership group that pulls back from true support. They can win, but they haven't gotten over the hump. Everyone deserves blame, but I blame ownership more than anyone.

• The Yanks still have a lot of work to do to make the team a real contender. Cody Bellinger alone is not enough.

• I don't think Cody Bellinger is the best long-term piece for the Yankees available this offseason. I have an article coming that shows that relatively definitively. The team can build a championship caliber club while letting Dominguez get real run in LF.

• A bat, a good starter or reliever, and more depth is essential to making the Yanks a contender. I am no longer confident that will happen. To show some optimism, it still can, but I'm less hopeful by the day. Actions speak louder than words, and I think Steinbrenner's actions this offseason have been loud and clear.