Are the Boston Red Sox closing in on signing one of the top starting pitchers available?

Well, that would strongly depend on who you trust in the baseball media landscape, as for the third time this winter, reports are all over the place regarding a Japanese star.

This time the confusion surrounds southpaw Shōta Imanaga, who would be a notable addition to the rotation.

The Red Sox were deemed a “long shot” by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo on Monday, backing up a report by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who had the Red Sox as just “lurking” for Imanaga as opposed to a frontrunner.

Meanwhile, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand wrote a report on the same day about how the San Francisco Giants should be deemed the favorite to sign Imanaga.

At this juncture, all media members were rowing in the same direction. One day later, reports have been flipped on their head.

The New York Post’s Jon Heyman wrote that the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are “very much in play” for Imanaga while the Giants are not even one of five finalists as of Tuesday morning.

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi backed up Heyman by saying the Red Sox are “among teams in contact” for Imanaga with just two days remaining in his signing window.

There is a chance there has been a material change and all parties were right at the time of reporting but while I’d love to believe the optimism, Cotillo and Speier’s comments best align with how the rest of the offseason has gone. They are also as accurate as anyone in the landscape.

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