Why baseball star Tatsuya Imai wants to dodge the Dodgers
December 17, 2025 • 4m 14s
Scott Wapner (Host)
00:00.190
the
biggest
catch
of
baseballs
offseason
is
the
japanese
pitching
star
tatsuya
imai
with
teams
lining
up
to
pay
him
between
one
hundred
fifty
and
two
hundred
million
dollars
but
it's
the
team
that
he
may
apparently
doesn't
want
to
play
for
that's
generated
the
biggest
surprise
Scott Wapner (Host)
00:15.750
jared
diamond
is
sports
reporter
with
the
wall
street
journal
he
joins
us
now
it's
good
to
see
you
i
loved
your
story
he
doesn't
want
to
play
for
the
dodgers
can
you
imagine
who
wouldn't
want
to
play
for
the
dodgers
these
days
yeah
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
00:29.470
look
it's
sort
of
become
this
annual
tradition
where
the
best
japanese
player
on
the
market
goes
to
the
dodgers
ever
since
show
otani
signed
there
they've
kind
of
cornered
the
market
on
this
incredible
hotbed
of
talent
now
you
have
imai
who
goes
out
there
and
says
i
want
to
play
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
00:44.630
anywhere
else
Scott Wapner (Host)
00:45.510
why
is
he
saying
that
i
mean
you
you
would
think
that
that
the
chance
to
play
with
ohtani
obviously
sasaki
yamamoto
the
track
record
the
winning
would
be
a
no
brainer
the
the
deep
the
deepest
pockets
in
the
game
right
now
he's
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
01:00.590
a
real
competitor
he
he
went
on
japanese
television
a
couple
weeks
ago
and
he
said
while
i
would
love
to
play
with
ohtani
who
wouldn't
my
real
dream
is
to
take
them
down
that
was
the
words
he
used
and
if
you're
a
sports
fan
you
love
to
hear
that
you
always
want
to
believe
that
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
01:15.150
the
the
players
want
to
compete
against
the
best
Scott Wapner (Host)
01:18.430
so
who's
the
favorite
then
you're
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
01:20.510
probably
not
going
to
like
to
hear
the
answer
but
the
east
coast
dodgers
probably
the
yankees
the
yankees
are
probably
the
favorite
at
this
point
why
Scott Wapner (Host)
01:27.550
why
should
i
mean
the
mets
maybe
phillies
and
it's
all
going
to
come
to
a
head
soon
that's
part
of
the
story
too
yes
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
01:33.390
so
he
has
to
make
a
decision
by
february
second
we're
just
a
couple
weeks
away
he
is
like
he's
in
the
US
now
he's
starting
to
meet
with
teams
if
he
hasn't
already
in
the
next
couple
of
days
i
have
to
decide
like
the
yankees
do
have
a
nice
track
record
of
acquiring
japanese
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
01:48.670
players
and
there
really
haven't
been
that
many
you
forget
japan
is
still
a
relatively
new
market
in
major
league
baseball
it
started
in
nineteen
ninety
five
with
the
deonomo
but
it's
really
just
picked
up
in
the
last
few
years
and
the
yankees
do
have
a
lot
of
brand
recognition
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
02:04.390
in
japan
yeah
Scott Wapner (Host)
02:05.230
they
do
they
sure
do
what
does
this
say
about
the
lack
of
competitive
balance
in
in
major
league
baseball
which
is
festering
to
the
point
where
you
may
have
a
significant
issue
come
twenty
six
twenty
seven
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
02:18.550
it's
the
biggest
issue
facing
baseball
right
now
of
course
the
dodgers
have
won
two
straight
world
series
they
have
spent
so
much
money
on
payroll
and
it's
generated
a
lot
of
criticism
from
fans
and
other
markets
to
say
hey
my
team
can't
compete
with
that
and
all
of
this
is
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
02:32.990
coming
at
a
time
when
baseball
's
labor
agreement
is
expiring
at
the
end
of
this
upcoming
season
the
end
of
twenty
twenty
six
and
most
people
in
the
industry
expect
a
very
bitter
labor
fight
over
one
question
should
there
be
a
salary
cap
in
baseball
baseball
is
the
only
major
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
02:48.870
american
sport
that
has
no
salary
cap
teams
could
spend
whatever
they
want
on
players
and
some
would
argue
the
league
would
argue
the
owners
would
argue
that
it
has
prevented
a
small
market
franchises
from
competing
with
the
dodgers
have
more
money
they
could
sign
all
the
best
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
03:05.510
players
but
to
get
that
salary
cap
baseball
players
union
has
fought
for
decades
to
fend
it
off
it
will
take
a
long
time
away
and
are
they
willing
to
sit
out
a
year
for
that
is
Scott Wapner (Host)
03:18.350
is
this
now
again
we're
only
talking
about
a
hundred
and
fifty
to
two
hundred
million
dollars
we're
not
talking
about
seven
hundred
million
dollars
like
an
ohtani
shot
and
you
know
a
lot
of
it
in
the
deferred
compensation
but
is
there
any
way
that
this
particular
deal
could
be
Scott Wapner (Host)
03:34.550
the
straw
that
breaks
the
campbell
's
back
that
forces
the
issue
even
further
that
causes
a
lockout
in
major
league
baseball
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
03:41.750
if
he
changes
his
mind
and
goes
to
the
dodgers
which
like
you
never
Scott Wapner (Host)
03:45.470
know
even
the
yankees
i
mean
again
you're
still
talking
about
a
you
know
a
select
number
of
teams
who
can
even
afford
to
pay
somebody
like
he
might
there's
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
03:52.470
going
to
be
a
lot
of
attention
on
who
wins
the
world
series
in
twenty
six
and
it
doesn't
just
have
to
be
the
dodgers
you're
right
if
the
yankees
if
the
mets
if
one
of
these
high
roller
deep
pocketed
franchise
wins
another
world
series
you're
just
going
to
see
more
of
an
outcry
Jared Diamond (Sports Reporter)
04:07.150
from
fans
in
milwaukee
or
cincinnati
or
one
of
these
other
markets
like
hey
what
are
we
supposed
to
what
are
we
supposed
to
do
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