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NPB’s Yomiuri Giants Sign Bobby Dalbec

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The Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball have signed infielder Bobby Dalbec to a one-year contract, according to multiple reports from Japan.  MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that Dalbec’s salary is worth more than $1MM.

A highly-touted prospect during his time in the Red Sox farm system, Dalbec is now 30 years old and at a crossroads in his baseball career.  Dalbec burst onto the scene with a .959 OPS and eight home runs over his first 92 plate appearances in the majors in 2020, and his first full MLB season saw the slugger hit .240/.298/.494 with 25 homers over 453 PA with the Sox in 2021.  Beyond that lopsided slash line, Dalbec struck out in 156 of his 453 PA.

The swing-and-miss eventually overwhelmed Dalbec’s production entirely, as he batted only .199/.272/.328 over 520 PA with the Red Sox and White Sox from 2022-25, with a 37.5% strikeout rate to show from that stretch.  Boston parted ways with Dalbec after the 2024 season, and after a minor league deal with Chicago led to only seven MLB games in 2025, Dalbec elected free agency after being designated for assignment in May.  Subsequent minors contracts with the Brewers and Royals didn’t result in any more big league playing time, and Dalbec became a minor league free agent at season’s end.

Dalbec hasn’t been able to figure things out against MLB pitching, but he has a career .263/.351/.520 slash line and 89 homers over 1534 PA at the Triple-A level.  Even with a 33.57% strikeout rate accompanying those numbers, Dalbec’s ability to produce in Triple-A ball bodes well for his chances of carrying his power over to NPB.  It is easy to see why the Giants think Dalbec can bring plenty of thump to their lineup, and if Dalbec can cut back the strikeouts, he might put himself back on the radar for big league teams down the road.

Yankees’ Allan Winans Granted Release To Pursue Opportunity In Japan

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December 18th: Winans is signing with the Seibu Lions, according to various sources.

December 17th: The Yankees have granted right-hander Allan Winans his release so that he can sign with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It’s not yet clear which team the 30-year-old righty will be joining. His release opens a spot on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which is now down to 36 players.

Situations such as this one tend to benefit all parties. The Yankees will lose some depth, but Winans wasn’t a lock to last the whole offseason on their 40-man roster anyhow — particularly since he’s out of minor league options. Japanese teams typically pay a release fee of a few hundred thousand dollars to a player’s MLB club in order to facilitate the release. Winans, meanwhile, will earn far more pitching overseas than he would on a split big league deal that sees him oscillate between Triple-A and the majors.

Winans has pitched in each of the past three major league seasons, albeit sparingly. He’s totaled 49 1/3 innings between Atlanta and New York but been roughed up for a 7.48 ERA in that time. His track record in Triple-A is superlative, however. He’s spent parts of fours seasons between the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett and the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, combining for a 2.79 ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 355 1/3 innings.

Despite that success at the top minor league level, Winans has been hit quite hard in the majors. The flat 90 mph he’s averaged on his four-seamer in the big leagues is well below the average in today’s era of increased velocity but is more common in NPB, where the average heater sits closer to 91 mph. Given his sharp command and strong track record in the minors, Winans should command a rotation spot in NPB and could fare quite well.

It’s increasingly common to see pitchers thrive overseas and come back to North America on notable free agent deals, though most typically throw harder than Winans. Pitching well in Japan could also position him to re-sign on a more lucrative deal in subsequent seasons. There are plenty of former fringe 40-man players in the majors who’ve gone overseas and enjoyed lengthy, lucrative careers pitching in NPB, the Korea Baseball Organization and/or Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.

Miguel Sanó Finalizing Deal With NPB’s Chunichi Dragons

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The Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball are finalizing a one-year deal with slugger Miguel Sanó, reports Francys Romero. The signing is pending a physical.

Sanó hasn’t played in the regular season since being released by the Angels in July 2024. He has played winter ball in his native Dominican Republic for the past couple years. After posting an .856 OPS in 2024-25, Sanó has hit .315/.376/.663 with nine homers in 24 games this winter. That form earns him his first professional stint in Asia.

A former All-Star with the Twins, Sanó has a couple 30-homer seasons in the big leagues. He owns a .233/.325/.477 line with 164 home runs in just under 3000 career plate appearances. Sanó’s most recent above-average showing came in 2021. Injuries, strikeouts and his lack of defensive value pushed him to the fringe of MLB rosters after that. He played in 48 games with the Twins and Angels between 2022-24.

Foster Griffin Receiving Major League Offers

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Left-hander Foster Griffin has been eyeing a return to the majors after a strong three-year run in Japan. He’s received at least one multi-year offer, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.

The 30-year-old Griffin was a first-round pick, 28th overall, by the Royals back in 2014. He pitched in parts of two big league seasons between Kansas City and Toronto but totaled only eight innings. Griffin pitched well in the minors in 2021-22 and parlayed that into interest overseas, signing a one-year deal with the Yomiuri Giants.

Griffin re-signed with the Giants after a big first season and wound up spending three years in their rotation. He pitched to a sharp 2.57 ERA in 315 2/3 frames and fanned 25.1% of his opponents against a tidy 5.5% walk rate. Griffin still doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting in the low 90s with his fastball, but he works with a deep arsenal. He primarily relies on a four-seamer, slider, cutter and changeup (in that order) but also mixes in a splitter, curve and two-seamer on occasion.

Griffin was on his way to another strong set of results in 2025 when he suffered a leg injury over the summer. He wound up pitching in only 14 games but totaled a terrific 1.62 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in 78 innings. (Griffin also tossed 11 minor league innings, bringing him to 89 on the season overall.) He’s healthy now and going through a normal offseason progression.

Sources told MLBTR that Griffin has spoken to around eight teams with varying levels of interest. His priority in free agency will be latching on with a club that has clear rotation openings and a path to seize a starting job next season. It’s an understandable approach for a pitcher entering his age-30 season. A one- or two-year deal would put him back on the market ahead of his age-31 or age-32 season. That’s still young enough to command a more notable free agent deal if he can spend the next year or two proving himself as a credible big league starter by incorporating some of the changes he’s picked up overseas.

Teams in need of top-of-the-rotation upgrades aren’t going to look at Griffin’s NPB work and think it can transfer over. But the 6’3″, 225-pound lefty ought to be a relatively low-cost option for a club looking to plug some stable innings with a tinge of upside into the back of its rotation.

Griffin doesn’t have the premium velocity and whiff rate of Cody Ponce, who signed a $30MM deal with the Blue Jays in free agency earlier this winter, but we’ve still seen some solid paydays for pitchers returning to North America in recent years. Drew Anderson ($7MM) and Ryan Weiss ($2.6MM) both signed one-year, major league contracts coming back from Asia this winter. Left-hander Anthony Kay signed for two years and $12MM with the White Sox last week. Bringing starters back over from Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization is an increasingly popular way for teams to seek budget innings at the back of the rotation, which should bode well for Griffin on the back of a trio of nice seasons.

Sean Reynolds To Sign With NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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Former Padres right-hander Sean Reynolds is signing with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. It’ll be the first overseas stint for the Ballengee Group client.

Reynolds, 27, was non-tendered by the Padres last month. He pitched parts of two seasons with the Friars after coming over alongside first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper in the trade that sent lefty Ryan Weathers back to the Marlins. Reynolds was outstanding in a small sample with the ’24 Padres, yielding only one run while piling up 21 punchouts in 11 innings (42.9% strikeout rate). He was hit hard in 2025, however, surrendering 16 runs on 20 hits and 17 walks in 27 frames. The resulting 5.33 ERA was an eyesore, and Reynolds saw his massive 2024 strikeout rate quite literally halved (21.4%).

Health may have played some role in Reynolds’ 2025 struggles. He opened the year on the shelf due to a stress reaction in his right foot and was promptly tagged for five runs in only 1 2/3 innings upon returning from the injured list. Reynolds then settled in with a tidy 2.14 earned run average over his next 21 frames before being optioned to Triple-A El Paso. He pitched well for the Chihuahuas for the next couple months and was recalled in September — only to be tagged for six runs (with nine walks) in his final 4 1/3 big league innings.

Reynolds has been a pure reliever throughout his professional career and will presumably be used in that same role over in Japan. The righty sat 96 mph with his four-seamer this past season and coupled the pitch with a slider clocking in at an average of 86.1 mph. He won’t turn 28 until April, so with a strong year or two pitching in Asia, there’s potential for him to eventual return to North American ball.

White Sox Sign Anthony Kay To Two-Year Deal

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December 9th: The White Sox officially announced the Kay signing today.

December 3rd: The White Sox and left-hander Anthony Kay are reportedly in agreement on a two-year, $12MM contract. The former first-round pick and top prospect, who’s represented by CAA, will be paid $5MM in each of the next two seasons and has a $2MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option for the 2028 season. He can earn another $1.5MM via incentives. Kay has spent the past two seasons pitching well for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

It’s a familiar page in general manager Chris Getz’s playbook: sign a former first-rounder to a two-year deal on the heels of a strong run pitching in one of the top leagues in Asia.

That strategy worked out reasonably well when Chicago signed Erick Fedde for two years and $15MM in the 2023-24 offseason following a terrific season in the Korea Baseball Organization; Fedde was traded to the Cardinals in a three-team swap in July 2024, netting the White Sox Miguel Vargas and minor league infielders Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez. Vargas was a league-average bat for the South Siders in 2025 and is controlled another four seasons. Albertus and Perez rank within the top 25 prospects in the Sox’ system.

The Sox will hope for similar results in their similarly priced investment into Kay. The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

Kay has changed his pitch repertoire since moving to NPB. He sat 94.1 mph with a four-seamer, 87.9 mph with a cutter and 86.2 mph with a slider during his limited big league work from 2019-23. He’s added about three miles per hour to that cutter and also begun throwing a sinker that he didn’t have during his last run in North America, which he credits with generating more soft contact. He’s still throwing a sweeper and occasional changeup, and the lefty has also dabbled with a curveball. (He spoke about those changes and more in an October chat with Fansided’s Robert Murray.)

From 2019-23, Kay pitched 85 1/3 innings between the Blue Jays, Cubs and Mets. It was the Mets who originally selected him 31st overall back in 2016, though they were actually the third team for whom he pitched in the majors. New York traded Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson to the Blue Jays in exchange for Marcus Stroman back in 2019, and Kay made his MLB debut not long after the swap.

Things never clicked for Kay in the majors. He’s been tagged for a 5.59 ERA with a solid 22.4% strikeout rate but an ugly 12% walk rate. Opponents averaged 1.27 homers per nine innings against him. He didn’t fare much better in terms of run prevention in parts of four Triple-A seasons, logging a 5.40 earned run average in 148 1/3 innings pitched.

As we saw with Fedde and with yesterday’s three-year, $30MM deal between the Blue Jays and Cody Ponce, what Kay did in his prior MLB work holds virtually no bearing on his newfound payday. He’s a different pitcher now than he was at any point in 2019-23, and the White Sox are paying him based on the their belief that the changes he’s implemented while pitching in Yokohama will beget better results back in Major League Baseball.

There’s inherent risk, but at this price point, it’s also hard to fault a White Sox club that’s still in the midst of a rebuilding effort. Kay will either pitch well, at which point he’d emerge as a nice trade chip, or he’ll continue to struggle and the Sox will be out a relatively modest $5MM per season. The overall scope of this commitment is less than the $15MM paydays we saw for aging veterans in their late 30s/early 40s last year (e.g. Charlie Morton, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Alex Cobb). It’s a life-changing deal for Kay but a small-scale gamble for the team.

Kay steps into a rotation mix that has plenty of options but is lacking when it comes to established contributors. Right-handers Shane Smith, Sean Burke and Davis Martin all pitched between 134 and 146 innings with ERAs between 3.81 (Smith) and 4.22 (Burke). None of the three has more than one full season of big league success. Smith was a Rule 5 pick at last year’s Winter Meetings and a rookie in 2025.

Those four are now favored to open the year in manager Will Venable’s rotation. Jonathan Cannon is tentatively penciled into the fifth spot for the time being, but he struggled greatly in 2025 and has minor league options remaining. Prospects Ky Bush and Drew Thorpe could be midseason options as they work their way back from Tommy John surgery performed last spring. Lefties Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith rank among the game’s top pitching prospects and could be ready at some point next summer as well.

There’s still room for the Sox to add some veteran innings. Getz has previously voiced a reluctance to commit to free agents beyond the 2026 season — though he did so with Kay, albeit in moderate fashion. There ought to be plenty of veteran arms looking at one-year deals, whether that’s a back-of-the-rotation innings eater (e.g. Michael Lorenzen, Patrick Corbin) or an upside play coming off an injury or poor performance (e.g. Nestor Cortes, Walker Buehler, Dustin May). The White Sox’ payroll currently projects at just $68MM, per RosterResource, so there’s room for Getz & Co. to bring in several additions to fill out the rotation, bullpen, outfield and infield.

Murray first reported that the two parties had agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal. The Athletic’s Will Sammon added details about the specific breakdown and incentives.

Cooper Hummel To Sign With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars

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Former Astros outfielder Cooper Hummel is expected to sign with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. It’s a one-year deal with a club option for 2027. Hummel is now represented by GSI, per an Instagram post from the agency in late November. He appeared in 37 games between Baltimore and Houston last season.

The 30-year-old Hummel spent time with four different organizations in 2025, including two stints with the Astros. The club designated him for assignment in late March, and he joined the Yankees on a minor league deal. New York released Hummel in late May, and he latched on with the Orioles. He appeared in one game with the team, striking out in his only at-bat. Hummel was then DFAed and soon found himself back in Houston. He earned semi-regular at-bats with the Astros until he was designated for assignment yet again. Hummel closed the year at Triple-A in the Rays’ system.

Hummel hit just .170 with three home runs and a stolen base at the big-league level last year. He now has a 58 wRC+ across 119 career games. Hummel debuted with the Diamondbacks in 2022. He came to the organization from the Brewers in a trade headlined by Eduardo Escobar. Hummel slashed .176/.274/.307 in 201 plate appearances with Arizona, his most extensive MLB work to date. He also had brief stretches with Seattle in 2023 and Houston in 2024.

Strikeouts have been a consistent issue for Hummel. He posted a 29.5% strikeout rate between the Orioles and Astros last season. He’s at 31.2% for his big-league career. Hummel had better contact numbers in the minors and also showed a tremendous eye at the plate, but has struggled to reproduce those results at the highest level.

Hummel is the latest in a slew of signings for Yokohama. The club also signed infielder Dayan Viciedo and added reliever José Ruiz in recent weeks.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

Jose Ruiz Signs With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars

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The Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced yesterday that they’ve signed reliever José Ruiz. MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports that it’s a one-year deal with a 2027 club option. The OL Baseball Group client is guaranteed $1.2MM and can collect another $200K per season in incentives.

Ruiz, 31, split last season between the Phillies and Braves. He opened the year in Philadelphia’s big league bullpen but was hit hard, giving up 13 earned runs across 14 1/3 innings. They designated him for assignment and lost him on waivers to Atlanta at the beginning of June. Ruiz didn’t get much of a look from the Braves, who dropped him after he gave up three runs to the Rockies in his second appearance. He cleared waivers that time around and spent the rest of the season in Triple-A.

Atlanta flipped Ruiz to the Rangers as a salary offset in the Dane Dunning deal a month later. He didn’t make it back to the majors with Texas. The Venezuelan righty pitched well in Triple-A, though, combining for a 2.73 ERA in 33 innings. He struck out 24% of opponents against an excellent 5.4% walk percentage.

Ruiz has logged some big league action in each of the past nine seasons. He spent most of his career with the White Sox but was a useful middle reliever for the Phillies as recently as 2024. This is his first stint in Asia. The $1.2MM guarantee is better than he would’ve received had he sought minor league opportunities in affiliated ball. He’s young enough to explore a return down the line if he pitches well in Japan.

NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines Sign Jose Castillo

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The Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of left-hander Jose Castillo.  The Mets chose to non-tender Castillo earlier this month, passing on the southpaw’s projected $1.7MM arbitration salary.

The move overseas to Japan may seem like small potatoes given the transactional maelstrom that was Castillo’s 2025 season.  He saw big league action for four different teams (the Diamondbacks, Mets, Mariners, and Orioles) while compiling a 3.94 ERA over 32 innings.  Beginning the season on a minor league deal with Arizona, Castillo was designated for assignment in May and then traded to the Mets, and he subsequently bounced around on a series of waiver claims.  Castillo actually had three separate stints with the Mets, with the latest coming in early November when he was claimed off Baltimore’s waiver wire.

Castillo is out of minor league options, making him a necessary DFA candidate whenever a team wants to move him off its active roster.  He would probably be facing another round of designations, outright assignments, and waiver wire visits if he’d signed a minor league deal with a Major League team this winter, so it perhaps isn’t surprising that Castillo has opted for the relative security (and a guaranteed salary) of this deal with the Marines.

Though Castillo has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons, that resume consists of his 32 innings in 2025, 38 1/3 innings with the Padres in his 2018 rookie season, and just two innings spread over a single game with the Padres in each of the 2019, 2022, and 2023 campaigns.  Multiple injuries (including a Tommy John surgery) shelved Castillo for almost the entirety of the 2019-21 seasons, and he pitched primarily in the minors with the Padres, Marlins, and Diamondbacks from 2022-24.

While a small sample size of big league work, Castillo’s career 4.11 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, and 9.6% walk rate are all respectable for a pitcher with such a journeyman resume.  He also has a 4.21 ERA over 130 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.  Control has been an issue for Castillo, but he has always been able to rack up strikeouts and generate grounders.  Castillo doesn’t turn 30 until January, so there’s still plenty of time for the left-hander to explore a future move back to North American baseball depending on how things work out during his Marines tenure.

Kohei Arihara Considering MLB Return

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Former Rangers right-hander Kohei Arihara is interested in returning to MLB, per a report from Yahoo Japan (h/t to Yakyu Cosmopolitan). Arihara is set to become a free agent on December 2. He’s been with the SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball for the past three seasons.

Arihara began his career in NPB, spending six seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. His solid work at Japan’s highest level earned him a two-year, $6.2MM deal with the Rangers in December 2020. Arihara pitched in parts of two seasons for Texas from 2021 to 2022. He struggled to a 6.64 ERA across 10 starts with the Rangers in his first season. The results were even worse the following year, when Arihara posted a 9.45 ERA over five appearances. He was designated for assignment in September 2022 and elected free agency at the end of the year.

The righty’s stateside debut was marred by a serious injury early in the season. The team discovered an aneurysm in Arihara’s shoulder, leading to surgery that sidelined him until September. Arihara was crushed for nine earned runs over 12 innings after coming back from the injury.

Arihara excelled in his return to NPB, putting together three productive seasons with the Hawks. He posted a pristine 2.31 ERA in 17 starts with the team in 2023. Arihara nearly matched that mark across a longer sample the following season, recording a 2.36 ERA over 26 starts on his way to 14 wins. He won another 14 games this past season, though his ERA did creep over 3.00.

The 33-year-old Arihara seems to be past the health issues that plagued his previous MLB stint, tossing at least 175 innings in back-to-back seasons. He’s certainly built some momentum toward a possible return to the big leagues. The Yahoo Japan report noted that the Yomiuri Giants are also interested in Arihara’s services.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

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