Coveted Japanese free agent: Instead of joining Dodgers, ‘I’d rather take them down’

Could the Phillies have an advantage in Tatsuya Imai’s market? (Logan Gehman/Phillies Nation)
Ever since Shohei Ohtani chose to sign with the Dodgers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto joined him just weeks later, the expectation every time a Japanese star hits the free-agent market has been that he’ll sign with Los Angeles. And it’s pretty sound reasoning. The Dodgers spend like money grows on trees — because when you have a marketing monopoly over the rest of the league in an