Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Tatsuya Imai to the Astros & Kazuma Okamoto to the Blue Jays! (1/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

Tatsuya Imai is signing with the Houston Astros (2:33)! Can Imai maintain his control improvements (8:43)? ... Where are we ranking Imai for Fantasy (14:30)? ... Kazuma Okamoto is headed to the Blue Jays (22:48). ... How are we ranking Okamoto (28:35)? Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Finally, we have some movement. Welcome into a bonus, kind of emergency edition of Fantasy Baseball today on Saturday, January 3rd. Happy New Year to everybody. I am Frank Stanfield, joined by Chris Towers. And yes, we had movement, but it was kind of because it was forced by a deadline. Not kind of. It was forced by a deadline.

So pitcher Tatsuya I is signing with the Houston Astros, while corner infielder Kazima Okamoto is signing with the Blue Jays. Let's dive right in here, Chris, and talk about these two players. Emai to the Astros on a three-year, $54 million deal that can get up to $63 million with incentives. He also has player opt-outs after the first and second years of the deal. Just been a weird off-season end market. I wonder if the looming lockout has anything to do with it. Kind of feels that way.

We saw contract projections in the 150 million-plus range for Emai and winds up settling for the guaranteed $54 million here. Again, that could get up to $63 million. So, IMA is 27 years old. He has been really good in the NPB over the past four years. He took it to another level this past season. 192 ERA, a 0.89 whip,

178 strikeouts over 163 and two-thirds innings. What are your initial thoughts here on EMI, the pitcher, and this landing spot in Houston? Yeah, so I've been treating EMI like he was going to get, a Framber Valdez-like contract. And unless Framber Valdez is about to sign for a lot less than anyone expects, I think that's out the window. So I do think when it comes to these players coming over from Japan,

the contract that they get should very much color our expectations for them. Because while obviously MLB teams don't know exactly how these guys will translate, they have presumably access to the full suite. of data about what these guys are doing in in Japan and in terms of the the underlying quality of context stuff stuff that we have seen but I don't know if what we're going on is as robust as the stuff we get from Stackass. I don't know if it's as publicly available. I certainly don't have access to all the granular stuff that we look at. So we're we're kind of taking a lot of this stuff at like second or third party information. But I assume when the Houston Astro assigned

sue am I to a three or $54 million contract. They're doing so with all of the information, all the IVB and whiff rate in zone and everything that they want. And so there is always, I think, an information asymmetry when it comes to what the public knows versus what the teams know about players. I think that's just a natural result of the private sector being a little more up to date and a little more ahead of the curve than we are. It's not a knock on us. They're a billion dollar franchises making these decisions. We are not.

So yeah, the stakes are higher for MLV teams. So they have better information than we do. But in this case, I can look at what Framber Valdez has done against Major League hitters over the last five seasons. And I have access to a bunch of data about how that's gone. I have no access to how Tetsu Yi-I has done against major league hitters. And so MLB teams don't either, but they have models and they're smarter than me. So I will defer to them.

And that's all a long way of saying that when you look at similar contracts to the one IMI signed, it's pretty iffy. It's hard to make one-to-one comparisons. There's the posting fee that you have to account for where the team that I'mi was on gets paid a certain percentage of his contract. up front that'll dilute his actual contract number but you know you compare it to like Pablo Lopez four years 73.5 million I think that was with a couple of years of club control left so not a perfect comp you say kakuchi was a free agent and got three years 64 million Taiwan Walker was a free agent got four year 72 million that's the same a AIV as tetsui but with an extra year guaranteed on it.

Michael Walker 351, basically the same contract. Jameson Tyone, 468. Shodi Minaga, when he was coming over from Japan, 453. Kodai Senga, 575. More guaranteed, longer control, so a lower A.A.V. It's surprising how little Tetsu Yemi got, honestly. Like, he's a 27, he doesn't turn 28 until May. He's been very successful in the second best professional league.

In baseball, pitching is obviously at a premium. I am genuinely surprised that he did not get more money than he did. And I do think it should color how we view him, where I think there was a chance he was going to get pushed into like the SP3 range for fantasy. After signing, well, Michael Waka money doesn't necessarily suggest that. Like, Merrill Kelly signed, what, two weeks ago for two years, 40 million? Yeah. I think this is telling us that MLB thinks he's a starting caliber pitcher,

but not a difference maker, not someone who's going to carry a rotation, who's going to step in. And that's not to say he can't be, right? Like, he got a slightly better deal than Shoddy Minaga, and Shoddy Minaga was a top 20 pitcher. Yeah. His rookie. So you might have been top 10, top 12, if I remember.

Top 15 for sure. Yeah, I was just going to make the comparison. If you're just looking at recent pitchers that came over from Japan, he did wind up getting more AAV on a per year basis than someone like IMAGA or Kodi-Senga. Two guys who had huge success, their first years in Major League Baseball. And Imanaga, while the underlying numbers weren't as great this past season, he still had a pretty good fantasy season.

I mean, Kodaisanga was very good last year until he got hurt too. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it could just be, I totally understand what you're saying about teams having more information. There are clear questions here, concerns, but not every team is always right about these things. Sure, absolutely. I do kind of want to just paint the glass half full. There is a chance that he might is really good, but again, there are questions. We just don't know.

And I think some of the questions, things that I've read, some concerns about durability and things like that. Although, if you look at the past couple seasons, up over 160 innings two years in a row, I don't really worry about that too much. To me, the biggest question is the control. So since 2021, his walks per 9 have improved drastically, but from where they were, I mean, this was an untenable level level for any starting pitcher. 5.6 walks per 9 back in 2021, down to 5.1, 4.1, 3.6, and all the way down to 2.5 this past season. So really, Chris, the biggest question for me is can he maintain that level of control we just saw this past season? because if that jumps up over three walks per nine

and he's right around a strikeout per inning, maybe less than that. We might have real whip concerns for someone like he might. So for me, that's the biggest question. Yeah, and that's similar to Kodi Senga, who had big control issues earlier in his career as he got closer to the majors, it improved. And it hasn't been untenable at the major league level.

So I think you can assume that, yeah, he'll give some of it back. Major league hitters are just better. And so it's going to be tougher. but, you know, when you're talking about it from a rookie year perspective, I think you look at a couple things. One, clearly a talented pitcher, right? Like to have the success he had at the at the NPB level, that there's, you can't, that's not fake, right? Like, that's, you can pitch at the major league level.

It's, for me, it's a question of, you know, I think at the beginning of the offseason, there was a lot of hype around Imai and, you know, some of the comps that were being thrown around were, you know, top 10, top 15 type starters for fantasy. And I think the contract just should give a little pause on that. But it is generally true that hitters tend to perform worse against pitchers the less they've seen them. And obviously, very few major league hitters will have ever seen Tetsu Yima. I don't remember, did he pitch in the World Baseball Classic? I believe he did. Okay. Yeah, I don't have the numbers on that, though.

Maybe a few guys have seen, you know, Trey Turner and Mike Trout might have seen him. But there's not a lot of guys out there. So there should be some of that element of surprise that we saw from Senga and Imanaga. I think I'm not quite as unique as Imanaga in terms of like, you know, Imanaga is a shorter like 5-11 pitcher from the left side who relied heavily on a splitter. We talked about that a lot. That was just something major league hitters just have not seen very much of in recent years is short lefties with spliters. Well, Imai is not quite that weird, but he's got this low arm's slough fastball that he throws with.

you know pretty good movement profile some of the movement statistics that'll get thrown out there have to be taken with a grain of salt because the ball does move differently in japan they use a different baseball it's a little smaller these seams are a little smaller and it's tackier so it just moves differently moves more but he's got one both a change up and a splitter which is weird not a lot of guys do that so already you got a little bit of funkiness there he's got this slider that actually moves arm side rather than glove side, which as far as I understand, it was like only Trey of Savage's slider last season had as much armside run as Tetsu Yemi. It's more maybe screwball-ish. And so I've kind of made it a mantra lately, but weird is good at starting pitcher. I do think

Tetsu Yemi is pretty weird. So I do think there's definitely room for him to outperform what he signed for and to his credit if he does that he goes back into free agency next season yeah like if tsetse emi has a 370 era over 160 innings in 2026 he's 100% of free agent yeah and he's pushing for a 70 80 million dollar deal and if he has a three era next off season he's pushing for 120 million if he comes anywhere close to what senga or imanaga did in their rookie seasons he's he's getting paid. If he replicates Shodi Minaga's rookie season as a 28 year old rookie, he is opting out and getting $120 million and I think that's fairly easy. So you can

see how the 354 does not necessarily tell the whole story. I think it is a little surprising that nobody else was willing to beat that. I mean, that part of it to me is absolutely crazy. I understand that there's risk involved, but the Mets, the Mets need pitching so badly. Look, so do the Astros. So credit to them for doing this. Franki Montaugh signed for like a very similar deal. Two for 33 or something like that.

It's like, no, yeah, like or the Shamaniah. His contract wasn't that dissimilar from this one, right? Like, yeah, it was three for 63 or something. Yeah, it might be exactly that, yeah. Yeah, these are numbers that the, the Mets, the Yankees, any team should have been willing to be. And so that's why it's weird to me. And maybe it was just, I don't know, maybe he really wanted to play in Houston. I don't know.

He likes suburban sprawl and the train that runs when they hit home runs. Do they still do that? I have no idea. I think they do like the chew-choo sound effect or something, but yeah. But, you know, we don't know everything that goes into it. Maybe he got a better offer. I haven't seen anything about that. But it is, it's just surprising and it gives me pause that he wasn't able to get more than he did.

but I like everything in theory of besides that. It's just trying to be a little humble and acknowledge that the people running, David Stearns is better at analyzing baseball than I am. So if he wasn't willing to give Tetsui Amaya a bigger contract than he gave Sean Minaya or whatever, that should tell me something. It's not everything. And my expectations are still reasonably high. I still think he should probably be like a top 150-ish pick.

Before he signed, I actually had him ranked right next to Pablo Lopez and Nick Ladolo. I know you like Nick Ladolo more than I do, so maybe you have Ludolo a little higher than that. But I have him in a range with Robbie Ray, Tetsui-I-Mai, Pablo Lopez, Nick Ladolo, and Ryan Pepio, where there's some upside, some downside across the board there. But I think that's a fine range for Tetsu-YMI, right? So I in my preliminary rankings have him at SP 50, and that could be lower. Yeah, I think it's closer to like a, you know, an SP, low end SP4, SP5 type, just shooting for some upside here.

It's just, again, it's pretty deep. I have him just behind Trevor Rogers, Chris Bubich, Ranger Suarez, and just ahead of pitchers that have questions. Like Avaldi was great last year, but there's big injury concerns. Luis Castillo, he kind of faked it for another season, but, you know, he's close. clearly declining. Carlson was fine, but the strikeouts were down. Would you rather have I am I? I have Imanaga.

You know what? I might have missed them in my rankings. But I think that's a good question. You know what? I feel like we should just have a podcast where we go through every single player, all 600 and make sure we have everyone, because that's a big fear of mine. like, oh, I published my rankings, first comment. Where's this guy? Well, there's a lot of guys, all right? I got 600 or 50099.

You focus on the one guy I missed. I think I would probably take Imanaga just because I've seen him have so much success already at the major league level. But that is the range. To me, that is the right range. Yeah, I have him 43. But as we've talked about, kind of every one after 30, I don't know, between 30 and 60s, kind of a squishy. Like it's a squishy 43. It's like 43, but it could be 55 very easily.

And I think I have Castillo at Fer and I. I have Shane Bieber at 55. Genuinely have no idea who I'd rather have between Shane Bieber and Emi. That's after the report earlier in the offseason that Bieber's dealing with. What was the forearm? Forearm tightness. And like we hope he's going to be ready for spring training, which was like, uh, the injury was in September.

or October. I feel like we would have better than hope for that. So that was, that's a, or like, Michael King has a lot of upside. I genuinely don't know what to make of him. He got a similar, bigger contract, but he's more proven, obviously. So I think that range 40 to 50. Yeah. There's upside. I think he should be fine. So yeah, there's a lot of good pitchers out there, though. Let's take a quick break when we return. We'll wrap up talking about Tatuya Imai. Then we'll also get into Kasima Okamoto. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. A little bonus podcast here on Saturday, June 3rd. Again, Happy New Year. Tatsuya Emi headed to the Houston Astros. We spoke a little bit about

his pitch mix and things like that. We were ranking him. Again, just want to point out once again, the fastball has, it's supposed to have really good shape. It comes from a lower arm slot. He sits 95 miles per hour. And when we were out at first pitch Arizona, Enosaris, who obviously knows a ton about pitching was raving about Tetsu Yemai. So he was very excited about that. Again, Imi has this kind of armside slider that's very unique.

It's supposed to be platoon neutral. He has multiple different change-ups, splitters. He added like a Vulcan change-up late in the season. So we'll see what he could do once he comes over. We had Yakyu Cosmopolitan on in late November. He comped Imai to Kodai Senga, except younger and more durable.

So I guess do with that what you will. And of course, go back and listen to that podcast because he covers Japanese baseball extensively and obviously knows a lot more about these players than we do. The Astros updated rotation includes Hunter Brown, Tatuya I Mai, Christian Javier, Mike Burroughs, one of Spencer Arrogetti, Ryan Weiss, Lance McCullors, Jason Alexander. The list goes on and on. They do have quite a bit of depth options and it's a great pickup, honestly, for the Houston Astros to take a shot on some upside here with Imai. And they're a great organization for pitching.

too. So they should be able to hopefully get the most out of him. The NFBC ADP over the last two weeks for Emai is 161 as the SP 45 off the board right between Traia Savage and Bubba Chandler. So Chris, how would you rank those three? That sounds right. I've got him 43. I have Chandler 42, 41, 49 and I have who's the other guy? Treyia Savage. Trey of Savage is 38. No, 40. So I have them all within five picks of each other. I think it's all, you know, maybe Chandler in particular,

I think has a leg up on just sheer arm talent. Like that dude just spins it and throws it better than the other two guys, right? Like, you're talking about a guy who maxes out at 100, a couple of other guys who max out at 97, 98. You know, he sits three to four miles per hour ahead of them, but that's not everything. These are two other guys are weirder, which is not a bad thing. So I think that's the right range.

I've got those guys. Maybe I just movie Mai up three spots, and I just go, McLean, Mizirowski, Schlittler, Chandler, you Savage, you Mai, all in order in my SP rankings. And just call it a day and don't think about it. I fully agree with what you said earlier that the SP really like 25-ish range down to 50 or 60 feels extremely close. you're splitting hairs on all these guys. I have Trey Savage at SP33. I have Bubba Chandler at SP40.

And then I have EMI down at SP50, as I mentioned, or 49. So right around there. A little bit lower than those guys. But again, this is very much so open to change in things as we learn more information and get to see some of these guys throughout spring training. Let's move over to Kazima Okamoto,

who is signing with the Blue Jates on a four-year-60 million dollar deal. He's a 29-year-old corner infielder, Very different hitter than Munataka Morikami, who only got the two years. I believe it was $34 million from the White Sox a couple of weeks earlier. Much more polished hitter here for Okamoto. He's coming off a season where he hit 327, 15 homers, 10, 14 OPS. He did all of that in just 69 games. He had the same number of walks and strikeouts.

Among NPB headers with at least 250 plate appearances, Okamoto ranked first in OPS and first in weighted runs Creative Plus. So he is, by all accounts, the best hitter in Japan right now. Chris, what do you think about Okamoto, the hitter and his fit with the Toronto Blue Jays? The fit with the Toronto Blue Jays makes perfect sense. It almost became like a bit of a meme in the postseason of like, look at the Blue Jays hitting for contact and for power. They can do it both.

They're the only team they can do both. And it's like, other teams can do that. But yes, that was a big thing that the Blue Jays did well last season, was they were able to combine their contact hitting skills from prior to 2025 while actually hitting the ball a lot harder. Their team-wide power metrics improved across the board, whether you're talking about results or process. And Okamoto fits into that.

He is another guy who can put the ball in play without sacrificing power. Several 30 homer seasons. When you look at recent guys who have come over from Japan or crew, Real, I'll throw in Jung Hu Li here. There aren't a lot of guys who have the skill set for both, right? You had Masataki Yoshita, who was arguably a better overall hitter than Kazuma Okamoto. Okamoto's 2025 season was probably better than any of Yoshida's 210 way to run to

create a plus. Yoshita had several seasons with like a 170 WRC plus or higher, including a 202 in his final season. He didn't hit for as much power. He was much more batting average of plate discipline focus. Zheng Hui Li, similar thing in Korea. Even say Suzuki, I don't think, was he hitting for quite this much power during his? Let me pull that up.

He had a 38 homer season his final, yeah. Similar, you know, he was running about 17% strikeout rates in Korea. He's jumped up to about 25% in the press. and the majors. And so, you know, Okamoto's been right in that 15 to 18% range for most of his career. Last year was 11%, but it was only 69 games. It's worth keeping in mind. His rate stats are going to be a little fluky. Four year 60 million for a 29-year-old seems fine. Like that's a decent contract. It doesn't scare me off. There aren't a lot of like corner infielders who have gotten similar contracts to that over the years. You either get a lot less or a lot.

lot more if you're a first base slash third baseman. And so I don't know, you know, like Christian Walker was three years, 64 million. He was four years older. So I don't know how much you want to take from that. I don't think Okamoto is likely to be a 40 homer guy in the major, certainly. I just don't think the raw pop is there from what I've seen the max exevalos or more in the 108 to 110 mile per hour range, which is not bad, but not a, uh, certainly. significantly above average. He makes a lot of contact. He pulls the ball, hits the ball in the air to the pole side,

does those things well. And so I do think it's possible. You can look at it and see like a sub-peak Nolan Aronado type of deal, like those last couple of decent years in St. Louis maybe. I don't think that's the median outcome,

but I think that's within the realm of possibility. Yeah. I think that's a pretty good one. I mean, the early projections have him for around 250 with 20 home runs. We know projections are very conservative. They are 50th percentile outcomes. And they are even more conservative for rookie players. Whether you're coming over from Japan or you're just a prospect getting called up, they are pretty conservative in that way.

So even, you know, tack on a little bit more on that. Can he hit 260-ish with 20 to 25 home runs? That's possible. It's probably still more like a corner infielder for. fantasy, I think, than anything else. If you look at Toronto and Rogers Center and the way that it's played out in recent years, specifically for right-handed batters, it's both tied for ninth in overall park factor varieties and tied for ninth in home run park factor for righties.

So it actually has played out pretty well there. Rostal Resource has Okamoto playing at third base with Addison Barger shifting to right field. They're updated lineup as of now. George Springer, Dalton Varshow, Vlad Jr. Anthony Santander, Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger, Okamoto, Ernie Clement, and Andres Jimenez. I do wonder if they bring back Boba Chet. I still feel like that would work out very seamless.

Bobachette either at shortstop or second, Andres Jimenez playing the other one. And then seems like every report indicates that's still a live possibility. It's not necessarily guarantee, but the Okamoto signing and the C signing and the Tyler Rogers sign. They've had a great offseason. I love. I love the Blue Jays off season. Love what they're doing. They just made us to the World Series

and that was not enough for them. They are going out and adding a bunch here. So, a ton of talent. They're getting presumably Anthony Santander back for a full season. I love seeing the Blue Jays put the pedal to the medal. I'm probably going to rank Okamoto

very similar to Munitaka Marikami right around 200th. They're very different players. Yeah. And Okamoto got the longer contract. Marikami got a little. more a little higher a a v and the chance to become a free agent at 28 which he clearly valued um i do want to point out murakami was the significantly better hitter in their careers in japan

i know that there are big questions about whether the hit tool will play for murakami and that's all fair but um like even okamoto's best season was a 210 w rc plus murakami was 211 last year. And he has a season at 225. Yeah. And he has, I think, six total seasons at 160 or above. Murakami or Okamoto only has three seasons above 150, I think. So in their NPB careers, Murakami was clearly the better hitter. I just want to put that out there. I don't know if that's going to be the case at the major league level. I've seen some stats that Okamoto handled, you know, 95 mile per hour plus velocity better than Murakami. It's a small sample size.

I think Murakami's got the higher ceiling. I think Okamoto's, you know, probably best case scenario is like, I don't know, 270-30-ish homers, a bunch of RBI playing in a great lineup. Like, I think he could be very good. Yeah. I think you can see a 40-homer outcome from Murakami, just with the pretty significant. difference in raw power. Again, when I had Yakut Kosovozopolitan on, he said if Morikami hits his

ultimate upside, it looks like Nick Kurtz. I mean, it's power to all fields, like generational power, 70 great power, yeah. Kauswar. Like, yeah, hitting, you know, maybe the batting average isn't great, but if it's like 250 with 40 plus home runs, like that's the upside for someone like Morikami. I agree with your assessment of Okamoto. Again, just a very different hitter here. The early ADP last two weeks for Okamoto at 3.30. as the 36 third baseman off the board just behind Miguel Vargas and ahead of Josh Young. That is going to move up now that we know where he's going to play. And obviously really good lineup, really good fit there with the Toronto Blue Jays.

I have him slotted in at 22 at third base, which has him just behind other kind of like boring-y hitters, I guess, like Alec Bohm and Carlos Correa, Viantos, who I think still has some upside. so and ahead of guys like Caleb Durbin and Miguel Vargas and Colt Keith. So it represented a pretty good, like, I think a pretty good range in the third base rankings too. A guy that has a pretty good floor, but maybe has a little bit of untapped potential. Yeah, I actually ended up with him at, looks like 14. Okay. But it's a squishy 14.

You know, like if you really wanted to pound the table for Matt Shaw or Max Muncie, I wouldn't argue too much with you, but I would take Okamoto ahead of those guys. I have him right behind Rice Lewis. Okay. Yeah, I mean, if you want to, again, shoot for a player that we just haven't seen yet. And again, there's kind of that mystery bag

instead of, you know, the boring boom or Correa. I can see getting him as high as like 16 or 17 in my own personal rankings. I have Brad Beatty pretty high, too, just because I'm kind of interested to see what he could do over a full season if the Mets just don't mess with him. He played really well in the second half of the season. So kind of excited about what he can do as well.

But there you go. We finally have some movement here. Tatsuya Imi is signing with the Houston Astros and Kazama Okamoto is headed to the Toronto Blue Jays. We are going to rat there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify.

And we will be back again on Monday night. Bye-bye. Thank you.