Main League Baseball’s best division received one more increase Saturday when the Toronto Blue Jays landed Japanese star Kazuma Okamoto on a four-year, $60 million contract.
The deal, which features a $5 million signing bonus and no opt-outs, may be a boon for the Boston Pink Sox, who stay in pursuit of veteran third baseman Alex Bregman.
Okamoto, 29, primarily performed first and third throughout his 11 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league and is predicted to be Toronto’s on a regular basis third baseman.
The Pink Sox had been amongst a number of groups linked to Okamoto, who match 4 of their prime position-player areas of want: expertise at each infield corners and the flexibility to hit for each contact and energy. He hit not less than 30 dwelling runs in six consecutive NPB seasons earlier than ‘25, when a left elbow damage restricted him to 69 video games (he nonetheless managed to hit 15 dwelling runs). Over 1,074 Giants video games since his 2015 debut at age 19, he hit .277 with .361 on-base and .521 slugging percentages.
The Pink Sox checked first base off their record with final month’s acquisition of veteran catcher-turned-first-baseman Willson Contreras from the St. Louis Cardinals, however third base stays a query mark.
Bregman has been on the prime of Boston’s want record since he opted out of the remaining two seasons of his three-year, $120 million deal firstly of the offseason, however it’ll take greater than Toronto’s presumed exit from the race to get him again in a Pink Sox uniform.
The Pink Sox had been keen to present Bregman a excessive annual wage and two participant opt-outs final 12 months, however he’s in search of a longer-term deal in his second consecutive offseason in the marketplace.
Blockbuster signings outlined the Pink Sox for many of the first 20 years of this century, however they’ve pivoted virtually completely to team-friendly extensions for youthful gamers since their most up-to-date rebuild. Since 2019 they’ve solely signed two free brokers to offers longer than two years: Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida.
The Pink Sox are additionally averse to long-term offers for gamers of their 30s, and Bregman might be 32 on March 30.
Even when the Blue Jays are now not within the combine for Bregman, the Pink Sox nonetheless have competitors within the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers.
Sources say Boston has ramped up its pursuit of Bregman in latest days. On Friday, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that they “have made an aggressive provide.” The Pink Sox are, nevertheless, additionally fascinated with former Blue Jays star Bo Bichette, the opposite prime free agent infielder nonetheless in the marketplace.
After shedding the World Collection to the Los Angeles Dodgers in further innings in Sport 7, Toronto has been considered one of this offseason’s largest spenders. The defending AL pennant winners have already signed beginning pitcher Dylan Stop (seven-year, $210 million), starter Cody Ponce (three years, $30 million) and reliever Tyler Rogers (three years, $37 million). Starter Shane Bieber additionally exercised his $16 million participant possibility for ‘26.
As of seven p.m. Saturday, the Pink Sox stay considered one of two main league groups with no greenback spent in free company this offseason.
