{"id":88329,"date":"2026-01-03T20:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/88329\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T20:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:38:11","slug":"blue-jays-signing-japanese-star-kazuma-okamoto-for-60m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/88329\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays signing Japanese star Kazuma Okamoto for $60M"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Blue Jays are going for it this offseason. <\/p>\n

Toronto has agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with Japanese corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto one day before his negotiating window closes, The Post\u2019s Jon Heyman confirmed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"KazumaKazuma Okamoto of the Yomiuri Giants hits a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning against Chicago Cubs at Tokyo Dome on March 16, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. Getty Images<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan first broke the news of the deal, which reportedly has no opt-outs.<\/p>\n

In December, Heyman reported that the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Pirates were among the teams interested in his services.<\/p>\n

But in the end, it\u2019s Toronto that lands the six-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star to bolster its infield.<\/p>\n

Okamoto hit .327\/.416\/.598 with 15 home runs for the Yomiuri Giants of the Japan Central League last season.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has tallied at least 30 long balls six times and set a career high with 41 dingers in 2023. In 11 years in NPB, he has an .882 OPS.<\/p>\n

With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. entrenched at first base, Okamoto should, in theory, see most of his infield reps at third base.<\/p>\n

\"KazumaKazuma Okamoto of Team Japan hits a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning during World Baseball Classic Championship between United States and Japan at loanDepot park on March 21, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Getty Images<\/p>\n

In jumping stateside, Okamoto becomes the third prominent Japanese star to signing with an MLB team after infielder Munetaka Murakami and right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai joined the White Sox<\/a> and Astros<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n

Okamoto is considered by many to have a higher overall offensive floor than Murakami, though the latter is known for prodigious power. <\/p>\n

Toronto has been active this offseason, adding pitchers Dylan Cease (seven years, $210 million<\/a>), Cody Ponce (three years, $30M<\/a>) and Tyler Rogers (three years, $37M<\/a>) in free agency.<\/p>\n

The next big question for the Blue Jays is infielder Bo Bichette, who is now drawing interest from the Dodgers, Yankees and Cubs, Heyman reported earlier this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But after coming up two outs short of winning the 2025 World Series, Toronto has made it clear that it plans to be a contender for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Blue Jays are going for it this offseason. Toronto has agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[825,20,3473,21528,9,11,10,319,10747],"class_list":{"0":"post-88329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-japan","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-mlb-free-agency","11":"tag-mlb-hot-stove","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}