Right-hander Kenta Maeda has hired Adam Katz of the Wasserman Media Group (WMG) to represent him in talks with MLB teams, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports. Maeda will soon be posted by the Hiroshima Carp and free to negotiate with any Major League club who meets the $20MM posting fee.
MLBTR ranked Maeda 14th on our list of the top 50 free agents in terms of earning power, predicting he would land a five-year, $60MM contract (on top of the $20MM posting fee his chosen team would pay Hiroshima). Given how so many top pitchers have already been signed to higher-than-expected prices, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Maeda’s eventual contract exceed our prediction by a healthy margin. Maeda was already expected to draw a healthy amount of interest, and the rapidly-thinning number of free agent aces will only intensify his market.
Maeda joins such stars as Giancarlo Stanton, Nolan Arenado, Yasiel Puig, Hanley Ramirez, Kendrys Morales and Jeff Samardzija in the WMG fold, to name just a few of the dozens of players represented by the agency. The client list also contains some very prominent Japanese talents, including Hisashi Iwakuma and Hideki Matsui.
For information on more than 2,000 Major League and minor league players, check out MLBTR’s Agency Database. If you see any notable omissions or errors, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
I think the angels should try to get into the mix for Maeda, but in the end I think the dodgers end up with him
Could Dombrowski be posturing for a run at Maeda? Move Miley/Clay/Kelly (2 out of 3, unless the plan is to move Kelly to the pen) and make a play for the Japanese star….that rotation could look solid, and much improved, with Price, Rodriguez, Maeda, Porcello and Owens.
Move Miley and clay for bullpen help and keep kelly as a long relief/spot starter and sign maeda? There no reason to think he can’t succeed in the majors.. Recent Jap pitchers have had some success