The courtship of big-name Japanese pitchers is an all-too-familiar dance for the Blue Jays and 28 other Major League Baseball teams, an ultimately futile pursuit over the past two winters.

But could things finally be playing to a different narrative for the latest potential ace, Tatsuya Imai, who has hit the free-agent market with the intent of being the latest star from his country to make the transition to North America?

Imai, who starred with the Seibu Lions in his homeland , essentially has declared that he has no interest in following in the footsteps of compatriots Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sosaki and Y oshinobu Yamamoto a nd land in Los Angeles with the powerhouse, World Series champions.

In fact, Imai has gone out of his way to diss the Dodgers in comments he made on the Japanese

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