Padres lose out on Kazuma Okamoto as the Blue Jays deliver another gut-punch

For a few minutes, this one felt like it could actually be a Padres win. The chatter made it sound like the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, and the Los Angeles Angels were the ones trading punches for Kazuma Okamoto’s signature.

And then Toronto did the thing Toronto has kept doing this winter: stepping in like the “we’re done playing around” team and ending the conversation.

Padres miss on Kazuma Okamoto as the Blue Jays keep winning the winter

The Blue Jays have signed Okamoto, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and yes — he’s a Boras client, which usually means if you’re not willing to keep pushing, you’re not crossing the finish line. 

The sting for the Padres isn't "you missed out on a great player." It is who did the swooping, again. The Blue Jays have already sent another huge message with their signing of Dylan Cease, and that signaled to everyone else that they are going to ignore the CBT tax. Therefore, when the same organization comes in and takes the best right-handed power bat available internationally, you can't help but see this as part of an off-season trend.

Okamoto is not some unknown mystery box flier; he has been one of Japan's top hitters for over a decade (he is a six time all star) with a career .277/.361/.521 line and 248 home runs in eleven years with the Yomiuri Giants. To add to his accolades, Okamoto also has numerous awards such as home run and rbi championships and gold gloves, plus the WBC moment most baseball fans will remember seeing replayed everywhere.

Now, to be fair: we don’t know what the Padres’ final number was, or if they were ever truly prepared to win a bidding war, or even offered anything at all. But that’s kind of the point. If your offseason plan relies on threading needles while the teams you’re chasing are ripping the needle clean in half, you’re going to keep ending up in this exact spot — applauding the “process” while the impact talent winds up somewhere else.

Now comes the harder part: what’s the Padres’ Plan B that actually moves the needle the way Okamoto would’ve?