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Spencer Howard To Sign With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants

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Right-hander Spencer Howard is signing with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to reports out of Japan (h/t to Yakyu Cosmopolitan). It’ll be the second year in NPB for Howard, who pitched for the Rakuten Eagles this past season. Before heading to Japan, Howard spent parts of five seasons with four MLB teams.

Injuries limited Howard to just nine starts with the Eagles in 2025. He pitched well when available, posting a 2.22 ERA across 48 2/3 innings. Howard is the second foreign signing for the Giants in the past 10 days. The club inked former Red Sox infielder Bobby Dalbec last week. They’ve also been linked to veteran right-hander Kenta Maeda, who finished last season in the Yankees organization.

The 29-year-old Howard was once among the top prospects in Philadelphia’s organization. FanGraphs and MLB.com both gave him the No. 1 spot in 2021. The righty had briefly debuted the year prior, making six uneventful starts in the shortened 2020 season. Howard made 11 appearances for the Phillies in 2021, pitching to a 5.72 ERA with a solid 24.4% strikeout rate but a concerning 13.4% walk rate. Philly shipped him to Texas at the trade deadline for a return headlined by veteran arms Ian Kennedy and Kyle Gibson.

Texas gave Howard his longest look at the big-league level, but injuries limited him to 62 2/3 innings from 2021 to 2023. He wasn’t particularly effective with the club, scuffling to an 8.37 ERA across 21 appearances. Howard’s results at Triple-A Round Rock weren’t much better in that stretch. Texas shipped him to the Yankees in August 2023. He would also spend time with the Giants and Guardians before making the move to NPB. Howard has a 7.00 ERA across 144 MLB innings. His 4.77 SIERA paints a rosier picture, though not enough to suggest a return to the big leagues is in the cards.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Cubs Sign Hunter Harvey

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Dec 31: The team has officially announced the Harvey signing.

Dec. 30: Harvey can earn an additional $1.5MM via incentives, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Dec. 28: The Cubs and right-hander Hunter Harvey are reportedly in agreement on a one-year contract that’ll guarantee him $6MM. Harvey, a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, still needs to complete a physical before the deal becomes official.

Harvey is looking to bounce back from an injury-plagued 2025 season that saw the reliever make just 12 appearances out of the Royals bullpen.  A teres major strain in early April kept Harvey out of action until late July, and he pitched in just six more games before being sidelined for good by a Grade 2 adductor strain.  The frustration of these two significant injuries was compounded by the fact that Harvey was looking great when healthy — he didn’t allow a run over his 10 2/3 innings pitched, while issuing one walk against 11 strikeouts.

Between these injuries and the back problems that marred the end of his 2024 campaign, Harvey ended up pitching only 16 1/3 innings in a Royals uniform after Kansas City acquired the righty from Washington in July 2024.  Unfortunately, health concerns are nothing new for Harvey, as his time as a top-100 prospect in the Orioles’ farm system was frequently interrupted by stints on the injured list.

It wasn’t until the 2022 season that Harvey (now with the Nationals) finally got an extended taste of MLB playing time.  He proceeded to post a 3.17 ERA, 27.83% strikeout rate, and 6.36% walk rate over 145 relief innings during his time in D.C., working in a high-leverage role and occasionally as a closer with the Nats.

Harvey has been prone to allowing a lot of hard contact, but his control and strikeout ability has allowed him to get out of jams when allowing baserunners.  Harvey has always been a hard thrower, though his 96.1 mph fastball in 2025 was the slowest velocity he has posted in his MLB career.  Of course, it’s hard to draw conclusions from that sample size of 10 2/3 IP, and it is certainly possible that Harvey will regain a tick or two on his heater once healthy.

Availability is the lingering question for Harvey, yet there is plenty of upside for the righty as he enters his age-31 season.  He is an ideal fit for Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who has traditionally shopped for lower-cost bullpen arms who can (if everything works out) provide plenty of bang for the buck.

Chicago’s two-year, $14.5MM deal with Phil Maton counts as a relative splurge by Hoyer’s bullpen spending standards, but the Cubs have now signed Maton, Harvey, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, and old friend Caleb Thielbar in what has quietly become a pretty extensive remodel of the relief corps.  Daniel Palencia remains as the Cubs’ first choice for saves, but Harvey now provides some backup as a reliever with some ninth-inning experience.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team pursue more veteran relievers on relatively inexpensive contracts, in order to give the Cubs as much depth as possible in advance of what Chicago hopes is a deeper postseason run.  The Cubs have been linked to a number of bigger-ticket position players and starting pitchers, but Maton’s deal remains their largest investment in a new player this offseason.

Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first reported the agreement between the two sides. Jon Heyman of the New York Post added the contract’s length, and ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the salary.

Giants To Sign Tyler Mahle

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The Giants are closing in on a deal with free agent right-hander Tyler Mahle, reports Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s a one-year pact, per Rubin. The 31-year-old Mahle is a client of ISE Baseball.

Mahle is coming off an injury-riddled 2025 with the Rangers, though he was productive when healthy. The veteran righty was one of the most pleasant early-season surprises, pitching to a 1.64 ERA over the first two months of the season. Mahle allowed two earned runs or fewer in 11 of his first 12 starts to begin the campaign. He was knocked around for eight earned runs across his first two starts of June, then hit the IL with shoulder fatigue. Mahle returned for a pair of outings in September, allowing a run over 9 2/3 innings.

Persistent maladies have limited Mahle to just 125 innings over the past three seasons. He made nine starts across a season and a half with Minnesota, missing time with a strained shoulder and a forearm issue. It was a disappointing outcome for the Twins, who parted with Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to land Mahle at the 2022 trade deadline. After signing with Texas in December 2024, Mahle missed the first four months of the year while recovering from elbow surgery. After three games with his new club, he went down with shoulder tightness and missed the rest of the year.

Mahle was routinely striking out more than a batter per inning during his peak years with Cincinnati, but those numbers have tailed off as the injuries have mounted. Mahle posted an uninspiring 19.1% strikeout rate last season. He sat at 92 mph with his fastball, down a couple of ticks from his best seasons with the Reds. The ERA estimators all suggest Mahle’s 2.18 ERA in 2025 should be viewed with skepticism. His xERA and xFIP were both above 4.00, while his SIERA was all the way up at 4.62. Mahle ran hot with home run luck (4.9% HR/FB), while also benefiting from a career-high 84.6% LOB%.

It was reported in mid-December that the Giants were still in the market for pitching after signing righty Adrian Houser. With Justin Verlander hitting free agency, the club entered the offseason with Logan Webb and Robbie Ray as the only guaranteed members of the 2026 rotation. Landen Roupp, who missed the final six weeks of the 2025 campaign with a knee injury, is also expected to be on the staff. Houser and Mahle are the favorites to round out the group.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey entered the offseason focused on adding to the rotation and the bullpen. While the club has been connected to some of the bigger names on the starter market, including Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen, the moves so far have been relatively minor. Houser came on board via a two-year, $22MM pact with a club option for a third season. The Giants added relievers Jason Foley and Sam Hentges on cheap deals. Mahle now joins the squad on a one-year deal.

Given the injury histories for Ray and Mahle, plus the limited track record for Roupp, San Francisco will likely need to lean on internal options for additional innings. Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, and Kai-Wei Teng all received opportunities last season, but none delivered useful results. Hayden Birdsong graduated from a long relief role to the rotation, but control issues led to a demotion to Triple-A. Keaton Winn and Blade Tidwell (acquired in the Tyler Rogers trade) missed time with injuries. Trevor McDonald might be the leading candidate to open the year as the sixth starter/injury fill-in. The righty closed the year with a pair of stellar outings, tossing six innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers and striking out 10 Rockies over seven frames.

RosterResource currently has the Giants’ payroll at $175MM for 2026. That mark doesn’t include Mahle’s deal or the $17MM payment owed to Blake Snell in mid-January as part of his deferred signing bonus. When adding in those considerations, the club is on track to comfortably exceed the $177MM it spent on payroll last season. The increase in expenses could be the reason the Giants ultimately rounded out the rotation with low-cost veterans in Houser and Mahle. A general hesitation by the front office to pursue long-term deals for starters likely also factored in.

Photos courtesy of  Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Blue Jays Sign Nic Enright To Two-Year Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have agreed to a two-year minor league deal with right-hander Nic Enright, according to a report from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.

Enright, 28, has had a difficult career to this point despite solid results. A 20th-round pick by Cleveland back in 2019, the righty made his way up the organizational ladder to reach Triple-A with excellent results in 2022. That seemingly put him on the radar for a call-up to the majors, but was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma in December of that year. The diagnosis came shortly after Enright was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft and severely limited him throughout the 2023 campaign, although he did eventually begin a rehab assignment while undergoing treatment. He struggled before being returned to the Guardians, but by 2024 was back to posting excellent numbers in the minors.

That earned Enright the opportunity to make his MLB debut this year, and he made the most of the opportunity with a sterling 2.03 ERA and a 23.7% strikeout rate in 31 innings of work. Enright had the look of a quality bullpen piece when on the mound, but his health derailed things once again when the righty underwent Tommy John surgery in October. The timing of that injury will cost Enright the entire 2026 season, which led the Guardians to non-tender him last month despite his status as a pre-arbitration player. That sent Enright into minor league free agency for the first time in his career, and he’s now managed to catch on with the reigning AL champions.

The deal between Toronto and Enright is for both the 2026 and ’27 seasons. While minor league deals are typically for just one year, two-year deals are somewhat common for talented players who are rehabbing from significant surgery. They serve as a way for the acquiring club to take control of the player’s rehab process with the assurance that they’ll be the organization with the first crack at reaping the benefits once the player returns to health. From the player’s perspective, the two-year guarantee offers some security that otherwise would not be afforded to them, saving them from having to go back into minor league free agency coming off a season lost to rehab.

While Enright won’t have an impact on the Blue Jays in 2026, it would hardly be a surprise to see him join the Toronto bullpen at some point in 2027 given his previous results and obvious talent when healthy. The Blue Jays’ pitching staff figures to look very different in 2027, as Shane Bieber and Kevin Gausman will depart the rotation for free agency after the 2026 campaign while Eric Lauer and Yimi Garcia figure to leave a hole in the bullpen when they hit the open market. It’s hard to know exactly how open the competition for Toronto’s 2027 pitching staff will be more than a year in advance, but it’s certainly plausible that those impending departures could help create an opportunity for Enright to join players like Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers, and Louis Varland in the team’s relief corps once he’s healthy.

White Sox, Jarred Kelenic Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox are signing outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Kelenic’s deal includes a non-roster invitation to big league Spring Training in February.

Kelenic, 26, was drafted sixth-overall by the Mets back in 2018 and exploded to become a top-five prospect in the entire sport early in his pro career. Kelenic’s prospect status saw him shipped to the Mariners as part of the deal that brought Edwin Diaz to Queens, and at the time the deal was viewed as a coup for Seattle thanks to Kelenic’s star power. Unfortunately, the outfielder is now five years into his MLB career and has yet to put it all together at the major league level.

After hitting at a well below average level in 147 games across the 2021 and ’22 seasons, Kelenic finally seemed to be steadying himself in 2023. That year, he slashed a respectable .253/.327/.419 with a 110 wRC+ in 105 games. He swatted 11 homers with 25 doubles and swiped 13 bags in 18 attempts. While that combination of decent power and speed with a respectable 9.9% walk rate was encouraging, Kelenic was held back in a big way by strikeouts. His 31.7% strikeout rate would’ve been the fourth-highest in the majors that year if he had enough plate appearances to qualify, just ahead of Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez for the team lead. That led the Mariners to try and retool their lineup with a larger focus on contact during the 2023-24 offseason, and part of that effort was a deal that shipped Kelenic to Atlanta that winter.

Joining the Braves offered Kelenic an opportunity for a fresh start, but he didn’t make much of an impact even in spite of receiving the lion’s share of playing time in left field. With Atlanta, Kelenic reached a career high in games played (131) and plate appearances (449) but managed a wRC+ of just 87 as his walk rate and BABIP both declined significantly while his strikeout rate remained at a much too high 29.6%. A .286 on-base percentage is hard to justify for a regular no matter how much power they provide, but Kelenic’s 15 homers and 35 total extra-base hits in 2024 certainly wasn’t going to cut it.

That led Atlanta to pivot away from using Kelenic in a starting role this past year, instead signing players like Jurickson Profar and Alex Verdugo to try and fill the hole in left field. A PED suspension for Profar and deep struggles from Verdugo were enough to get Kelenic another shot in the majors, but he struggled with that opportunity and hit just .167/.231/.300 in 24 games with a 47 wRC+ and a 35.7% strikeout rate. Those numbers were essentially unplayable at the major league level and left Kelenic to spend most of his time in the minors last year. Unfortunately, he also struggled for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. For the Stripers, Kelenic hit just .213/.286/.309 in 95 games. While Kelenic’s strikeout and on-base woes persisted last year, his power completely evaporated.

All of those struggles led the Braves to designate Kelenic for assignment earlier this year, and he elected minor league free agency back in October. The outfielder is more of a project than a surefire piece at this point in his career, but given that he’s still just 26 years old, it’s understandable for the rebuilding White Sox to take a gamble on a talent once so well-regarded. If Kelenic shows he has more in the tank, he’d likely compete for a job in right field with Brooks Baldwin as Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi cover center field and left field respectively. A trade of Robert or even Benintendi can’t be ruled out given Chicago’s status as one of the league’s few rebuilding clubs, and a deal sending either of those two out of town would create a more substantial opportunity for Kelenic to get work in on the grass in the majors.

A’s Have “Ongoing Conversations” On More Potential Extensions

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The Athletics announced their seven-year, $86MM extension with left fielder Tyler Soderstrom from their future home site in Las Vegas. That franchise-record deal followed last winter’s significant investments in DH Brent Rooker and outfielder Lawrence Butler.

Katie Woo and Will Sammon of The Athletic wrote this week that the A’s were interested in exploring extension talks with other players. General manager David Forst confirmed as much at yesterday’s presser, revealing without specifics that the team has opened some discussions.

“The idea of taking this group of young players and locking them up into a new ballpark has been something we’ve talked about for a long time,” Forst said (link via Mark Anderson of The Associated Press). “We were able to get Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler signed last year, Tyler now, and there are ongoing conversations with others. So this is kind of the blueprint for how we want to do this and how we want to open the ballpark in ’28.”

While Forst didn’t identify which players the A’s were trying to extend, there are a few obvious targets. Shea Langeliers has three seasons of arbitration eligibility. Respective Rookie of the Year winner and runner-up Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson have five years of club control. Langeliers is one of the best offensive catchers in MLB. Kurtz and Wilson look like franchise cornerstones at first base and shortstop, respectively.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Langeliers for a $5.1MM salary. His power production should pay well in the arbitration process, and he’d make between $20-25MM over the next three years if he continues at his recent pace. Langeliers is controlled through his age-30 season. Sean Murphy (six years, $73MM) and Cal Raleigh (five years, $99.4MM) have signed recent extensions in the same service bracket.

Langeliers wouldn’t match Raleigh even though that deal was signed before the Seattle backstop’s record-setting 2025 season. His camp could look to beat the Murphy contract, though. The former Athletic was a superior defender but didn’t match Langeliers’ power ceiling. Murphy was accordingly starting from a lower projected base in arbitration than Langeliers will be.

Extending Wilson and certainly making a run at Kurtz would require new franchise records. Wilson is well beyond the $65MM range for which Ezequiel Tovar and Butler signed with one-plus service year. He doesn’t have the same power potential that Jackson Merrill and Roman Anthony showed to command early-career deals of at least $130MM. That said, he’s an up-the-middle defender with elite contact ability who was 21 percentage points better than a league average hitter in his first full season. He’s arguably closer to Merrill/Anthony than he is to Soderstrom, and a nine-figure asking price wouldn’t be outlandish.

Kurtz would be the most difficult of the group to lock up. On a rate basis, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were better hitters this year. Kurtz has already banked a $7MM signing bonus out of the draft and collected nearly $1.3MM from the pre-arbitration bonus pool. He’s also a client of Excel Sports Management, an agency which has almost no history of signing pre-arbitration extensions. It’d likely require the A’s to offer more than double the Soderstrom contract just to get talks underway if they want to buy out multiple free agent years.

The A’s extension candidates beyond that trio would all be much cheaper but completely speculative fliers. Defensive stalwart center fielder Denzel Clarke and young starter Luis Morales showed promise but have very limited big league résumés. None of their top prospects — infielder Leo De Vries nor lefties Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold — have even reached Triple-A, and there has never been a pre-debut extension for a pitcher.

The Opener: Marte, Angels, Imai

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Marte talks nearing their conclusion?

Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte has been one of the most talked about players on the trade market this offseason. GM Mike Hazen made waves yesterday in that corner of the market, however, when he noted that he plans to put an end to conversations regarding a Marte trade in the near future. Hazen’s suggestion was that the club simply pulling Marte off the table for negotiations was a more likely outcome than a trade coming together at this point. That’s been Hazen’s stance all throughout the offseason, as he has long said he didn’t foresee Arizona dealing a star player this winter. Even so, a deal remains at least possible as long as Hazen and the Arizona front office continue to be willing to entertain trade talks on Marte.

Whether he’s traded or not, it figures to shake up the market in a big way when Marte ultimately comes off the market. That would leave Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan as the clear top trade chip on the infield this offseason, barring a surprise deal involving someone like Isaac Paredes or Nico Hoerner. It would also remove an alternative to free agent infielders like Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez who have lingered are the market to this point. If Marte is dealt, it would remove a possible suitor for those players but also leave the Diamondbacks hungry for a middle-of-the-order bat to replace him.

2. Angels, Rendon parting ways:

The Angels and veteran infielder Anthony Rendon brought Rendon’s fraught tenure with the organization to an end yesterday when they restructured the final year of his contract ahead of his expected retirement. Rendon technically remains on the roster for the time being but does not figure to resume his playing career, whether for the Angels or another club. While Rendon’s retirement doesn’t change much for the Angels on the field due to his injury history and lack of production, it could still have an impact. The restructured deal takes a large chunk of money off the books for Anaheim headed into 2026, and club officials have made clear their desire to bring in help at third base and in center field this winter. This influx of financial flexibility could allow the team to make a splash at one of those positions, or at the very least add a reliable bat at one or both of those spots in the lineup.

3. Imai meeting with teams:

The sweepstakes for right-hander Tatsuya Imai is nearly at its conclusion. The right-hander has begun conducting in-person interviews with teams in the U.S. and figures to continue talking to teams over the coming days. With just over 48 hours remaining until his posting window closes at 4pm CT on January 2, the right-hander has limited time to find a deal. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Imai’s contract come together sooner rather than later, in order to allow Imai the time needed to undergo a physical with his new club before the impending deadline. The right-hander’s youth and recent track record in NPB have made him one of the more intriguing arms available this offseason in the eyes of both fans and teams. The Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Phillies, and Orioles have all been connected to the righty at one point or another, but it’s certainly possible more teams outside of that group of five could be involved in the righty’s market.

Angels, Anthony Rendon Restructure Contract; Rendon Will Not Return To Team

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The Angels and Anthony Rendon have agreed to a restructured version of his contract that will defer the $38MM he is still owed for the next three to five seasons, reports Sam Blum of The Athletic. Rendon will not return to the team. His tenure with the Angels is over.

Rendon is not officially “retiring,” Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds. He’ll still count against the team’s roster for the time being, although with the two sides agreeing to part ways, it stands to reason that the Angels could release him at any point. He’ll be paid regardless.

ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported in late November that the two parties were working on a buyout of sorts regarding the final year and $38MM on the seven-year, $245MM contract Rendon signed following his monster 2019 season. It proved to be a catastrophic misstep for the Halos — one of the least-productive major signings in the sport’s history. Rendon played in only 257 games for Anaheim, slashing just .242/.348/.369 with 22 home runs in 1095 plate appearances. Of a possible 1032 games he could have played with the Angels, Rendon will wind up appearing in just under one-quarter of them.

It’s easy to forget, but Rendon’s Angels tenure started out quite well. He played in 52 of 60 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and slashed a robust .286/.418/.497 with nine homers, 11 doubles, a triple and more walks (16.4%) than strikeouts (13.4%). It was precisely the type of star-level output for which the Angels hoped when signing the 2019 postseason standout after a sensational run in Washington; from 2017-19, Rendon had slashed .310/.397/.556 with the Nationals.

Everything fell apart after that first season in Anaheim. Rendon’s 2021 season was cut short by hip surgery. His 2022 season ended early due to wrist surgery. He missed all of the 2025 season following a second hip surgery. Even in the 2023-24 seasons, when he avoided undergoing any kind of surgical procedure, Rendon was limited to just 90 games due to the combination of a fractured tibia (suffered when fouling a ball into his leg), a torn hamstring and an oblique strain.

As one would expect, as those injuries piled up, Rendon’s production wilted. Following his terrific 2020 campaign, he played in just 202 games with the Angels and hit .231/.329/.336 with poor defense. He was effectively a replacement-level player — and a frequently injured one at that. Rendon also sparked controversy off the field as well in 2023, when he was captured on video grabbing an A’s fan by the shirt after he’d been cussed at while leaving the field. Rendon swore at the fan and took a swipe at him after releasing his shirt. He was suspended for four games and fined by the league.

The Angels weren’t counting on any contributions from Rendon in 2026 anyhow, but the restructure and deferral of his weighty $38MM salary gives the team some extra spending power this winter. Details surrounding the nature of the deferrals and how much — if anything — they’ll pay Rendon in 2026 are unclear. Blum, however, suggests that the Angels could use the newfound financial freedom to pursue a higher-profile free agent this winter. That doesn’t necessarily have to be at third base, although in Alex Bregman and NPB star Kazuma Okamoto, there are a pair of notable options at the position.

Many of the top names on the free agent market remain unsigned to this point. In addition to Bregman and Okamoto, none of Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Cody Bellinger, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez or Tatsuya Imai have signed yet. Imai’s 45-day posting window closes on Jan. 2. Okamoto’s posting window closes two days later.

Prior to the Rendon buyout/restructure, RosterResource projected the Angels’ payroll at about $172MM, which is roughly $34MM shy of their 2025 level. Depending on how the new arrangement has been structured, the Angels could be anywhere from $40-70MM shy of last year’s season-ending mark, which would give general manager Perry Minasian and his staff plenty of room to further augment the club.

Reds, Yunior Marte Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Reds are in agreement with reliever Yunior Marte on a minor league contract with an invite to big league Spring Training, reports Francys Romero. The righty would lock in a $1.05MM base salary if he breaks camp.

Marte is back in affiliated ball after spending the 2025 season in Japan. The Dominican-born hurler signed with NPB’s Chunichi Dragons last winter. He divided his time between the top level and their minor league club. Marte managed a 1.95 earned run average with a pair of saves and 11 holds over 32 1/3 innings for the NPB team. That came with a modest 19.1% strikeout rate and was heavily reliant on a .213 average on balls in play against him.

The 30-year-old (31 in February) pitched in the big leagues each year from 2022-24. Marte made 39 appearances for the Giants as a rookie and spent the next two seasons as an up-and-down middle reliever for the Phillies. He has a big arm, sitting in the 96-98 MPH range with his sinker. Marte missed a decent number of bats in the minors but has a below-average 20.1% strikeout percentage over 102 big league appearances. He owns a 5.64 ERA in 113 1/3 career frames.

Cincinnati has a solid late-inning group led by re-signed closer Emilio Pagán, Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft, Connor Phillips and Caleb Ferguson. They have a few openings in the middle innings and don’t have a ton of minor league depth. Tejay Antone is their only other currently healthy non-roster invitee who has MLB experience, though they’ll presumably try to get Keegan Thompson through waivers after he was designated for assignment last week.

Tatsuya Imai Meeting With Teams In Advance of Friday’s Signing Deadline

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The next couple days will see at least two big-ticket free agents come off the board. Japanese stars Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto are nearing the end of their respective 45-day posting windows. Imai has until Friday at 4:00 pm Central to sign; Okamoto’s contract must be finalized by the same time on Sunday.

Reporting out of Japan over the weekend revealed that Okamoto was traveling to the U.S. for a final round of in-person meetings. Imai is evidently doing the same. Katie Woo and Will Sammon of The Athletic wrote last night that Imai had spoken with multiple teams and would continue to do so throughout the week. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays that Imai and Okamoto — both of whom are represented by the Boras Corporation — are conducting in-person interviews in Los Angeles (link via MLB.com’s Brian Murphy). Scott Boras is based out of Southern California, so the location of the meetings shouldn’t be viewed as an indication that the Dodgers or Angels are favorites.

Imai has been publicly tied to the Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Phillies and Orioles since his posting period began. While a recent Yahoo! Japan article listed the White Sox as another possibility, MLB.com’s report downplays the likelihood of the White Sox landing the right-hander. Chicago shockingly added Munetaka Murakami last week, but that only came after the slugger’s market cratered because of concerns about his strikeout rate. Murakami wound up settling for a two-year, $34MM contract. Imai is expected to do far better given the cost of high-upside starting pitching.

The 5’11” righty has been one of Japan’s best pitchers over the past two seasons. He’s coming off a 1.92 ERA showing with 178 strikeouts across 163 2/3 innings. Imai has an NPB-best 27% strikeout rate since the start of 2024. He sits in the mid-90s with a promising slider. Command was an issue earlier in his career, but his strike-throwing has progressed as he has gained experience. This past season’s 7% walk rate was a personal low and better than the MLB average.

Imai is headed into his age-28 season. His contract needs to be finalized by Friday, so it’s likely he’ll agree to terms by tomorrow or Thursday. That’d leave time for a standard physical. The team that signs him will owe a posting fee to the Seibu Lions. That’s proportional to the contract value: 20% of the first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of all further spending.

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