Most of the focus this week has been on the concluding posting windows for NPB stars Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto. They’re not the only two Japanese free agents whose situations will be resolved within the next few days. Right-hander Kona Takahashi will also need to sign this week if he’s going to make the jump to MLB this offseason.
As MLB.com’s Brian Murphy noted at the time, Takahashi was formally posted by the Seibu Lions on November 21. That’s the same date as Okamoto’s posting. Both players have until Sunday, January 4 at 4:00 pm Central to sign. Imai was posted two days earlier, so his 45-day window closes on Friday afternoon.
Imai and Okamoto are reportedly meeting with clubs in Los Angeles this week. There’s little doubt that both players are going to sign before the end of their posting deadlines. That’s less clear with Takahashi, who doesn’t have nearly the same swing-and-miss upside that Imai brings to the table. Takahashi struck out only 14.3% of batters faced across 24 starts in 2025. He has never recorded a strikeout rate higher than 20% in an NPB season.
Takahashi is headed into his age-29 season. He has been an effective control artist in Japan, walking fewer than 7% of batters faced in consecutive seasons. He posted a 3.04 earned run average over 148 innings last year and owns a 3.39 mark over parts of 11 NPB campaigns. James Fegan and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote in October that Takahashi projected as a fifth starter in MLB. FanGraphs grouped him alongside Anthony Kay and Foster Griffin in that tier. Kay went on to sign a two-year, $12MM deal with the White Sox. Griffin signed a one-year deal at $5.5MM with Washington.
A Japanese-language report from Sanspo in the middle of December indicated that Takahashi’s camp was in contact with three unnamed teams. It’s not known if he has received any MLB offers, nor is it clear that Takahashi would make the move to affiliated ball if teams are only willing to put minor league proposals on the table. If he doesn’t sign with an MLB club, he’d remain with the Lions.
Go get him Buster. So the fans whining about ‘needing a Japanese player’ can finally STFU lol.
Giants or Cubs!
Low risk high reward, White Sox should be all over this
Getz just might swoop in at the last minute and get Kona as well. It’d be pretty cool to have Kona join on a potentially more improved White Sox team in 2026.
That’s a low risk for sure…. But not a high reward. He’s been good in Japan not great. Japanese baseball on average is comparable to US levels as if there was a league in between AA and AAA.
Best case scenario, he ends up an “OK” mid relief guy.
But more than likely he’ll end up a long relief trash man who gets brought in when a starter gets bombed and it’s too early to go to your quality BP arms when he’s in MLB. But he’ll spend most of the time going up and down from the minors while always clearing waivers. Then on that contract he signs now is up he’ll be back in Japan on the first flight.
He’s got good control but his stuff is bland over there, so over here it’s subpar.
There’s no real reward here.
Let me rephrase a tad….. I can’t say there’s absolutely no reward.
Basically the absolute best case scenario. If every card in the world falls exactly right.
He ends up shigetoshi hassagawa.
A serviceable mid relief guy you bring in to eat a few innings here and there when you’ve got a little cushion
@CJCue- I think you made an important distinction in your second comment and respect you adding that extra bit. I think your overall assessment is logical.
I guess you guys probably knew how good piazza or Lofton were gonna be and thought it was ridiculous they were drafted in the 62nd and 27th rounds of that draft.
Yeah they already picked up Kay to fill the role of #5 innings eater so agree its unlikely given limited upside
Nope, as that’s a very different situation. It’s much more difficult to forecast how an 18-22 year old who hasn’t grown into his body or played pro ball will develop than a 29 year old with a low K rate in Japan.
But even so, those two examples are obvious outliers. How many 27th and 62nd round picks became quality MLB players?
Hard to see the high reward potential from his performance in Japan, which is why there’s been limited interest from MLB teams. At best he could be a guy to fill one of the last spots on the roster, but teams usually prefer those guys to have optionality to/from AAA
High reward being relative to a rebuilding team, if he shows any aptitude they can flip him for something. They have money to spend and the easiest/cheapest trade chips are relievers and starting pitchers.
Rays like control artists. Or maybe the A’s?
A’s!
Kona Takahashi will be forever remembered when he winning the summer Koshien, not his time in pro
Well, I’m more worried about Tatsuya Imai. I hope the Astros are over this if it’s a short term deal, but… you never know.
Also, can MLB teams “post” their players?
You landed him and no, MLB teams can trade but not post players. They can only trade them to other MLB teams.
I know. That was before
Guardians is a long shot for Takahashi. Go get them Cleveland Front Office
I’m just here to make my case for Kona going to the O’s. He feels like that player, along with Ranger Suarez, that can get the O’s to the playoffs .