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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

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.

Kazuma Okamoto Travels To U.S. For In-Person Meetings With Teams

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Star Nippon Professional Baseball third baseman Kazuma Okamoto has traveled to the United States for a series of in-person meetings as he enters the final stretch of his 45-day posting window, per a report from Yahoo Japan (hat tip to Yakyu Cosmopolitan). Okamoto and agent Scott Boras are narrowing the field of interested clubs as Okamoto nears his early-January deadline for an agreement.

To this point, each of the Blue Jays, Pirates, Red Sox, Padres and Angels have been prominently linked to Okamoto, who’ll turn 30 next June. The longtime Yomiuri Giants star, who’d been their team captain prior to being posted, is one of the most consistent sluggers in Japan. He’s a career .277/.361/.522 hitter in NPB who has reached 30 home runs in all but two of his 11 seasons. That includes 2025, when injuries limited him to 69 games, and 2024, when he “only” hit 27 homers in 143 games.

However, despite hitting a career-low 15 home runs this past season due to an elbow injury, Okamoto had the best production of his excellent NPB tenure on a rate basis. In 293 trips to the batter’s box, he slashed .327/.416/.598 with a robust 11.3% walk rate that matched his minuscule 11.3% strikeout rate. His 24.3% line-drive rate from this past season was a career-high, and Okamoto’s .271 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) was the second-best mark of his career, trailing only his 41-homer season from 2023.

Like countryman Munetaka Murakami, Okamoto is a corner infielder whose glovework concerns big league teams. He’s considered a better defender at third base than Murakami but is still viewed by many clubs as a player who’ll likely spend most (if not all) of his first MLB contract as a first baseman and/or designated hitter. Those defensive concerns contributed significantly to Murakami settling for a two-year deal that fell well short of industry expectations. Defensive concerns surrounding Okamoto aren’t as prominent, nor does he have the alarming swing-and-miss profile that also contributed to the bearish market for Murakami. However, Okamoto is four years older. Next year being his age-30 season will likely limit the length of his forthcoming contract (though perhaps not to the same extent as Murakami).

Of the teams connected to Okamoto thus far, there’s no clear favorite. The Blue Jays presumably still have Bo Bichette ahead of him on their wishlist — possibly Alex Bregman as well. Boston has also been pursuing both Bregman and Bichette (likely in that order). The Pirates have already acquired one first base option, signing Ryan O’Hearn, and have another in Spencer Horwitz. If they were to make a real push for Okamoto, they’d need to be confident in his ability to play third base. The Angels have a clearer path to playing time at the infield corners (particularly third base). The Padres won’t be displacing Manny Machado at third base, so Okamoto would need to play first base, with Jake Cronenworth manning second base and KBO acquisition Sung Mun Song shifting to the outfield or a utility role.

Of course, it remains perfectly plausible that other, yet-unidentified clubs are in the bidding. The A’s, Mariners, Twins, Rangers, D-backs, Marlins, Mets, Cubs and Nationals all have varying levels of questions at the infield corners. Not all of those teams have significant money to spend this winter — the Rangers, Twins and D-backs are all known to be reducing payroll relative to recent seasons — but any of the bunch could get creative with backloaded contract structures and/or shed payroll by another means to make room if Okamoto is deemed a sufficient upgrade. That’s a largely speculative list, to be clear, but given Okamoto’s track record in NPB, it’d be a surprise if “only” five MLB’s 30 teams had any interest in signing him.

It bears noting that while Okamoto was originally set to be posted on Nov. 19, MLBTR has confirmed that his posting didn’t become official until Nov. 21. That pushes his window to sign a contract with a big league club from the original Jan. 2 to Jan. 4. Whichever club signs him will owe the Giants a posting/release fee equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. That fee comes on top of the value of the contract itself. Subsequent earnings (club/player options, performance incentives, award bonuses, etc.) fall under that umbrella as well, once they’re officially reached.

Kohei Arihara Signs With NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

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Former Rangers right-hander Kohei Arihara’s bid to return to MLB is over. The veteran will remain in NPB, signing a four-year deal with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, reports Yuri Karasawa of World Baseball Network (Yakyu Cosmopolitan on X). Arihara will earn about $15.4MM, adds Karasawa.

After three seasons with the SoftBank Hawks, Arihara became a free agent on December 2. Reports emerged in late November that the righty was considering coming stateside. Instead, he’ll head back to the team he debuted with back in 2018. Arihara’s solid results with the club from 2018 to 2020 earned him a big-league look with the Rangers. After two injury-plagued MLB seasons, Arihara returned to NPB in 2023. He posted three strong years with the Hawks, including a 2.36 ERA over 26 starts in 2024.

It’s unclear if Arihara was generating interest at the MLB level. The notion that he would leave NPB may have been a negotiating tactic, and it seems to have worked. As Karasawa points out, the AAV of Arihara’s contract approaches $4MM, a hefty number by NPB standards. 

Arihara’s stint in MLB was ruined by a serious shoulder injury. After a handful of decent outings to open his career, the righty was slowed by an arm issue that ended up being an aneurysm in his throwing shoulder. Surgery knocked him out until the final month of the 2021 season. He was hammered for nine earned runs over 12 innings once he returned to the mound. Arihara made it back up with the Rangers the following year, but posted a 9.45 ERA across 20 innings. He was designated for assignment in September 2022 and hit free agency at the end of the season.

Photo courtesy of Jim Cowsert, Imagn Images

NPB’s Hanshin Tigers Sign Carson Ragsdale

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The Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball announced that right-hander Carson Ragsdale has signed a one-year contract.  Ragsdale hit the open market after being non-tendered by the Braves last month.

The move to Japan concludes a whirlwind five-month stretch for Ragsdale that saw the 27-year-old change teams four times on the waiver wire, and make his Major League debut.  His breakthrough in the Show consisted of two appearances with the Orioles in September, with very different outcomes — Ragsdale was torched for eight earned runs over three innings in Baltimore’s 11-2 loss to the Blue Jays on September 14, but he rebounded for two scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 6-1 loss to the Yankees on September 27.  As a result, Ragsdale’s career line as a big leaguer is a 14.40 ERA over five innings of work.

These two games represent two separate stints for Ragsdale in an Orioles uniform.  Claimed off waivers from the Giants in early August, Ragsdale was designated for assignment by the O’s after his rough MLB debut, and then claimed by the Braves.  He lasted just over a week in Atlanta’s organization since the Braves DFA’d Ragsdale in order to clear roster space for Charlie Morton, and Ragsdale was claimed again by the Orioles, paving the way for his second outing on a big league mound.  The yo-yo continued for Ragsdale when he was designated at the start of November, and then claimed once more by the Braves.

Signing a guaranteed deal with the Tigers represents some stability for Ragsdale in the wake of this transactional flurry, and a chance to showcase that he can do as a starting pitcher.  Ragsdale has a 5.15 ERA, 21.24% strikeout rate, and 11.73% walk rate over 143 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level, with most of that time spent in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League pitching with San Francisco’s top affiliate.  The 2025 season saw Ragsdale post only a 19.5% strikeout rate, after he easily cleared the 30% threshold earlier in his career while pitching in the lower minors.

Eighty of Ragsdale’s 89 career games in the minors came as a starting pitcher, and it can be assumed that the Tigers will give Ragsdale a look in their rotation.  The righty will try to become the latest hurler to re-invent himself with a move to Japan, and performing well in more of a generally pitcher-friendly environment could help boost Ragsdale’s stock for a possible return to North American baseball down the road.

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.

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