What’s behind the Yankees’ drought with Japanese stars and why this winter could be different

Since Oct. 7, 2020 when Masahiro Tanaka threw his final pitch in pinstripes in Game 3 of the ALDS the Yankees have not employed a Japanese-born pitcher on their roster. That has not been for a lack of effort, both in their scouting of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) players and their recruitment, but the Yankees have gone cold in their ability to land the top talent from across the world thanks in large part to the Dodgers. Last winter, it was Roki Sasaki. The year before that, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And, of course, the white whale of them all, Shohei Ohtani, came over while Tanaka was still playing in The Bronx. This offseason, there is more potential help on the way in the form of right-hander Tatsuya Imai, in whom the Yankees have interest, in addition to corner infielders Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto. “We’ve played into the Japanese market in years gone by too many years now gone by [and] had success with [Hideki] Matsui and [Hiroki] Kuroda and Tanaka, et al,” GM Brian Cashman said last week. “But those are too long gone. We have been very aggressive in the more recent market, but fell short. Those players made the decision to go play for the Dodgers, and clearly the success has followed then.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/sports/why-yankees-drought-with-japanese-stars-could-end/