Right-hander Tatsuya Imai and the Houston Astros have agreed to a three-year, $54 million 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 deal had not been announced.
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Imai receives a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $16 million this year and $18 million in each of the last two seasons. He can earn an additional $3 million in performance bonuses this year: $1 million each for 80, 90 and 100 innings.
His salaries for 2027 and 2028 would increase by the amount of performance bonuses earned in 2026, which could bring the value of the deal to $63 million over three years.
Imai can opt out after the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
According to the billing agreement between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball, an agreement must be finalized by 5 p.m. EST on 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 an agreement that began in 2024 and Masahiro Tanaka’s $22.14 million with the New York Yankees in a contract that extended from 2014 to 2020.
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A 27-year-old right-hander, Imai went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA this season with the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League. He struck out 178 batters in 163 2/3 innings.
Imai is 58-45 with a 3.15 ERA in eight seasons with Seibu, with 907 strikeouts in 963 2/3 innings. He is a three-time All-Star.
Imai pitched eight innings of a no-hit game 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 receive from the Astros a posting fee of $9.675 million and an additional 15 percent fee on all bonuses earned, salary increases and options exercised.
