TOKYO — It was a simple question. During a news conference Monday at the United States Embassy in Tokyo, Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga was asked what he’d say to countryman Roki Sasaki to convince him to join his team.
Sasaki will be moving from Japan next season to join an MLB team, the most sought-after pitcher in this season’s free agency. The Cubs are among a half-dozen teams seen as his likely landing spot.
Rahm Emanuel, the United States ambassador to Japan, was sitting at a table next to Imanaga. Sensing a moment for diplomacy, he jumped in to keep Imanaga from, perhaps, an uncomfortable reply.
“I know the world’s dying to know and they’re just going to keep guessing,” Emanuel said. “I’m going to be his (Imanaga’s) attorney right now. He’s not answering that question. I’m going to be his agent. Won’t happen. I’ll pull the plug on his microphone.”
Emanuel was joking about the microphone. But his loyalties are clear.
He’s a Cubs fan. He’s from Chicago and was the mayor in 2016 when the Cubs won their first World Series in more than a century. And, as he noted Monday, he represented the Wrigley Field area when he was in Congress.
“It’s not really fair to put another player that plays for the Cubs on the spot to answer that question,” Emanuel said as Imanaga sat quietly to his right.
Imanaga was invited to the embassy to promote the U.S. Global Entry system — a way for travelers to get quicker clearance on arrival — with Japan the 18th country to join. Imanaga was the ceremonial-first-Japanese to register. He also wears No. 18 for the Cubs.
With the change in American presidential administrations, Emanuel’s time as ambassador is almost over. In his present job he said he “can’t just represent the Chicago Cubs.”
“In about eight weeks I can cheer for one of those many baseball teams that play in the States,” Emanuel added. “Right now sitting here in front of you I’m happy he (Sasaki) is going to come to the United States. I have a personal favorite, but I can’t go that way as ambassador. You can read the bubble above my head, what it’s saying — but I’m not saying it.”
And neither was Imanaga.
