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Nippon Professional Baseball

Miguel Yajure Signs With NPB’s Yakult Swallows

By Mark Polishuk | December 9, 2023 at 11:30am CDT

Right-hander Miguel Yajure has signed with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to Yahoo Japan (Japanese language link).  It’s a one-year contract for the 25-year-old Yajure, worth approximately $550K.

Originally an amateur signing for the Yankees out of Venezuela in 2015, Yajure made his MLB debut in 2020 by pitching seven innings over three games.  That offseason, New York included Yajure as part of the four-player package sent to the Pirates in the trade that brought Jameson Taillon to the Bronx.  Unfortunately for Yajure, his time in Pittsburgh as limited to 16 appearances and 39 1/3 big league innings (for a 8.69 ERA) over the 2021-22 seasons, as he was injured for a large portion of the 2021 campaign and simply didn’t pitch very effectively in either the majors or minors in 2022.

Yajure hasn’t been back to the majors since, as he spent all of 2023 pitching in the Giants’ minor league system after San Francisco claimed him off waivers from the Pirates last winter.  Over 75 1/3 total innings (60 1/3 with Triple-A Sacramento), Yajure struggled to a 6.07 ERA and a 10.79% walk rate, with a decent but unspectacular 22.73% strikeout rate.

Yajure has mostly worked as a starter in the minors, and will probably be part of the Swallows rotation even though he is quoted in the Yahoo Japan as being open to any role.  The righty elected to become a minor league free agent after last season, and he’ll now head to the Tokyo-based club for a new chapter in his career (and a much bigger guaranteed payday than he’d find in minor league ball).  Since he’s only entering his age-26 season, there’s plenty of time for Yajure to land back in the majors in the future, if he can pitch well in NPB and re-establish his value as a starter or perhaps as a relief pitcher.

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Nippon Professional Baseball Transactions Miguel Yajure

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NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines Sign Jimmy Cordero

By Anthony Franco | December 7, 2023 at 8:08pm CDT

Relief pitcher Jimmy Cordero signed a contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The team announced the move yesterday.

Cordero reached free agency last month after being non-tendered by the Yankees. On July 5, MLB had leveled a season-ending suspension after determining that Cordero had violated the domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

The right-hander pitched in 31 games for New York last season. He posted a 3.86 ERA with a 25.8% strikeout rate across 32 2/3 innings. In parts of four major league seasons between four teams, he owns a 4.36 ERA.

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Nippon Professional Baseball Transactions Jimmy Cordero

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Franchy Cordero, Albert Abreu Sign With NPB’s Seibu Lions

By Steve Adams | December 7, 2023 at 10:41am CDT

First baseman/outfielder Franchy Cordero has signed with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, his representatives at Republik Sports announced today on Instagram. He’ll be joined on the Lions roster by another former Yankee, right-hander Albert Abreu, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray, who reports that Abreu is also set to sign there. Abreu is represented by Vayner Sports.

Cordero, 29, has long tantalized Major League teams with his rare blend of immense raw power and plus speed. Persistent plate discipline and strikeout issues have undercut his upside in both departments, however, as indicated by a career .217/.283/.395 batting line in 797 plate appearances between the Padres, Red Sox, Royals and Yankees. He spent the 2023 season with the latter, enjoying a hot first week before falling into a prolonged slump and ending up with a .188/.211/.478 slash in 71 plate appearances.

The allure of Cordero’s raw tools is apparent to anyone who’s seen him enjoy a productive game in the big leagues or even just in glancing at his career line in the minors. He’s a .301/.384/.538 hitter with 54 home runs, 77 doubles, 22 triples and 42 steals (in 50 tries) over the life of 306 Triple-A contests. Cordero’s hit tool (or lack thereof), free-swinging approach and generally sub-par defensive grades in the outfield have all held him back. He’ll look to improve on each in his first venture overseas. He won’t turn 30 until next September, so with a good year or two in Japan, it’s feasible that he could eventually return to North American ball and make an impact.

As for Abreu, he’ll join his former and once-again teammate in his own debut in Asia. The hard-throwing righty was long considered one of the top prospects in the Astros and Yankees organizations — Houston traded him to New York in the Brian McCann swap — but he’s yet to find sustained MLB success.

Abreu tossed 59 innings for the Yankees in 2023, logging a 4.73 ERA with a 22.8% strikeout rate and 13.1% walk rate. The Yankees non-tendered him last month rather than pay him a raise in arbitration.

Command has been a consistent issue for Abreu, who carries a career 4.58 earned run average, 22.4% strikeout rate, 12.9% walk rate and 47.4% grounder rate. He’s averaged 97.9 mph on his sinker in his career, including 97.5 mph in 2023, and generates plenty of ground-balls with that pitch. However, Abreu doesn’t miss bats at the level you’d expect from someone with that type of velocity, as evidenced by his pedestrian career strikeout rate, below-average 10.2% swinging-strike rate and a sub-par 28.3% chase rate.

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Nippon Professional Baseball Transactions Albert Abreu Franchy Cordero

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Free Agent Notes: Imanaga, Fedde, Barnes

By Nick Deeds | December 2, 2023 at 9:24pm CDT

Left-hander Shota Imanaga was officially posted by the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball late last month, kicking off a 45-day window during which he’ll be eligible to sign with major league clubs. While Imanaga only just officially joined the ranks of MLB’s free agents days ago, he’s long been expected to be posted this offseason. That’s allowed Imanaga’s free agency to develop considerable buzz in recent months.

While he’s largely been overshadowed by NPB superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’s widely considered the top starting pitcher on this offseason’s market, Imanaga is an impressive pitcher in his own right who is expected to be a potential mid-rotation arm in the big leagues with a low-nineties fastball as part of a deep pitch mix that Brandon Tew of Sports Info Solutions recently profiled. MLBTR ranked Imanaga tenth (sixth among starting pitchers) on our annual top 50 free agents list and projected him for a five year, $85MM deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggests that Imanaga’s market may be even stronger than expected, noting in a recent article that while teams were initially hopeful the southpaw could be had on a deal similar to the five-year, $75MM pact Kodai Senga landed last offseason, his final deal figures to exceed that, potentially to the point of approaching a $100MM guarantee.

Should Imanaga’s contract ultimately reach the $100MM range suggested by Passan, it would be a major win not only for Imanaga but also the BayStars. Imanaga’s free agency is subject to the MLB/NPB posting system, under which the team that signs the left-hander would owe the BayStars a posting fee worth as much as 20% of Imanaga’s total guarantee, with the percentage going down as the price of Imanaga’s contract goes up. If Imanaga were to sign for $100MM guaranteed, the BayStars would receive approximately $16.9MM, or just over $2MM more than they would receive if Imanaga signed an $85MM deal in line with MLBTR’s projections. The Cubs, Red Sox, and Mets have all been connected to Imanaga so far this offseason, though it’s certainly possible more teams are involved in the bidding for the 30-year-old’s services.

More free agent notes from around the league…

  • Former Nationals top prospect Erick Fedde is among the most interesting free agents on the market this offseason after a dominant season with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization. Previous reports have indicated that Fedde, who sports a career 5.41 ERA across six seasons in the majors but altered his repertoire before dominating to the tune of a 2.00 ERA across 30 starts with the Dinos this year, has garnered interest from both the Dinos and MLB clubs. Su-eun Jeon of Baseball Korea (h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO) adds additional clarity to those reports, noting that Fedde has received interest from two MLB teams and a team in Japan’s NPB in addition to the offer he’s received to return to the Dinos. While it’s possible that Fedde could look to return to stateside ball this offseason, it’s worth noting that no former big leaguer returning from the KBO has secured a guarantee of even $10MM in the majors. That could lead Fedde to bet on himself by either remaining with the Dinos in hopes of a similarly dominant season in 2024 to further bolster his case for a more significant pact, or even consider a move to Japan in order to face NPB’s stiffer competition.
  • Fedde isn’t the only American-born player of note who could look to return to the majors this offseason, as MLB Network’s Jon Morosi suggests left-hander Charlie Barnes is expected to garner MLB interest in free agency this offseason. Barnes, 28, was a fourth-round pick by the Twins in the 2017 draft and made nine appearances with the big league club in 2021. He struggled to a 5.92 ERA and 5.06 FIP in 38 innings of work for Minnesota across nine appearances. He’s spent the two years since then pitching for the KBO’s Lotte Giants, with a combined 3.46 ERA in 61 starts. Looking just at his 2023 season, Barnes struck out 20% of batters faced with a 3.28 ERA in 170 1/3 innings of work. In addition to the aforementioned MLB interest, Morosi suggests that the Giants are expected to have strong interest in retaining Barnes, who served as the ace of their staff this season.
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2023-24 MLB Free Agents Korea Baseball Organization Nippon Professional Baseball Notes Charlie Barnes Erick Fedde Shota Imanaga

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NPB’s Hanshin Tigers Sign Javy Guerra, Re-Sign Sheldon Neuse

By Steve Adams | November 30, 2023 at 8:03pm CDT

The Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced this week that they’ve signed right-hander Javy Guerra for the 2024 season (Japanese language link via Yahoo Japan). Hanshin has also re-signed infielder Sheldon Neuse and right-hander Jeremy Beasley, per the team’s web site. It’ll be the second season with the Tigers for both former big leaguers and Guerra’s first overseas.

Guerra, 28, once ranked as one of the top prospects in all of baseball while rising through the Red Sox and Padres systems as a shortstop. After struggling at the plate as he climbed the minor league ladder, however, he moved to the mound and has now appeared in each of the past five big league seasons, splitting time between the Padres, Rays and Brewers. Guerra is one of the game’s hardest throwers, averaging 98 mph on his heater and at times climbing into triple digits, but he’s battled significant command issues that have hampered his results.

In 63 MLB innings, Guerra has walked 14.3% of his opponents. He hasn’t balanced that out with the type of gaudy strikeout rate one might imagine either, setting down just 15% of his opponents on strikes. The poor command of his power repertoire has contributed to an ugly 6.43 ERA in the big leagues, but Guerra sports a career 2.87 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and far more palatable 9.6% walk rate in 78 1/3 Triple-A innings across two seasons. He’ll look to match that form more closely with the Tigers. And, at 28 years of age, if Guerra can harness his power arsenal in NPB and improve his command, he’s young enough to parlay this stint into a big league return down the road.

As for Neuse, he’ll be a familiar name for fans of the A’s, Dodgers and perhaps the Nationals (who selected him in the second round of the 2016 draft and traded him to Oakland alongside Jesus Luzardo for both Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle). The now-28-year-old infielder hit .212/.262/.296 in parts of three seasons between Oakland and Los Angeles (420 plate appearances) and turned in a .240/.295/.328 batting line with Hanshin last season.

As for Beasley, the 28-year-old pitched 24 2/3 innings of 5.84 ERA ball between the D-backs and Blue Jays from 2020-22. He tossed 41 innings for the Tigers’ top-level club in 2023 (plus 44 innings with their minor league squad) and handled himself quite nicely, logging a 2.20 ERA with a 25.3% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in that time.

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Nippon Professional Baseball Transactions Hanshin Tigers Javy Guerra Jeremy Beasley Sheldon Neuse

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NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters Post Naoyuki Uwasawa For MLB Clubs

By Steve Adams | November 27, 2023 at 12:49pm CDT

The Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball have posted right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa for Major League teams, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The Fighters announced in October that they would honor the 29-year-old righty’s wishes to be posted. Like Yokohama BayStars left-hander Shota Imanaga, who was also formally posted today, Uwasawa’s 45-day posting window will now kick off tomorrow morning.

Uwasawa, who’ll turn 30 in January, logged 170 innings of 2.96 ERA ball this past season, albeit with a sub-par 17.8% strikeout rate that could temper some enthusiasm. His career mark of 19.7% is a bit better but still not the type of rate that generally catches they eyes of MLB front offices in a market that heavily rewards power arms with swing-and-miss stuff. Uwasawa does sport a sharp 7.5% walk rate in his career, including a particularly impressive 5.9% mark this past season.

Back in September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that Uwasawa’s fastball velocity on the year was averaging 90.8 mph. Paired with his pedestrian strikeout rate, that lack of velocity will give Major League teams some trepidation about how he’ll stack up against MLB opposition. The average MLB fastball among starting pitchers in 2023 was 93.8 mph — 94.2 mph if focusing in solely on right-handed starters.

Of course, that doesn’t entirely rule out success. Kyle Hendricks sat at an average of 87.8 mph with his “heater” this past season, while fellow righties like Bryce Elder (90.7 mph), Dane Dunning (90.6 mph) and Kenta Maeda (91 mph) were all in the same general vicinity as Uwasawa over the course of generally successful seasons. The majority of right-handed starters who sat in this range struggled, but as with all rules, there are exceptions. Uwasawa could well prove to be such an exception, and his broader track record in Japan could still pique some team’s interest — particularly if (as is expected) his price tag is considerably lower than the other, higher-profile NPB arms who are being posted.

In parts of nine NPB seasons, Uwasawa has amassed 1118 1/3 innings of 3.19 ERA ball with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. He’s been particularly effective in recent years, compiling a 3.08 ERA over his past six NPB seasons. He made the NPB All-Star team in both 2021 and 2023. Uwasawa also tossed two shutouts and averaged better than seven innings per season this year.

If Uwasawa indeed finds a big league contract this offseason, any team signing him will owe a posting/release fee to the Fighters — his former club. The MLB/NPB posting system stipulates that in addition to the money paid to the player himself, his new team must pay a release fee to the former club that is equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM, plus 15% of any money thereafter.

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Nippon Professional Baseball Naoyuki Uwasawa

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NPB’s Yokohama BayStars Post Shota Imanaga

By Steve Adams | November 27, 2023 at 8:53am CDT

The Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball formally posted top left-hander Shota Imanaga for Major League clubs on Monday, per the Kyodo News. It’s been known for months that Imanaga would be posted for big league clubs, but the timing of the move wasn’t clear until last Wednesday, when MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that Imanaga would be posted today.

Once MLB approves the posting and notifies teams that Imanaga is indeed available (a formality), that will kick off a 45-day negotiation window. One week ago today, NPB’s Orix Buffaloes posted ace and reigning three-time Sawamura Award winner (NPB’s Cy Young equivalent) Yoshinobu Yamamoto for MLB clubs. His negotiation window officially commenced the following morning. Imanaga will likely follow an identical pattern, with his negotiation window formally opening Tuesday morning.

Imanaga, who turned 30 in September, just wrapped up a second straight season with a sub-3.00 ERA and his third in the past five seasons. He tossed 148 innings of 2.80 ERA ball for the BayStars in 2023, punching out 29.5% of his opponents against a sensational 3.8% walk rate. Since 2019, he’s posted a collective 2.79 earned run average, 26.2% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate. A 2022 no-hitter headlines that five-year run of excellence.

While he may not bet the unusually young power arm that his countryman Yamamoto is, Imanaga is nonetheless viewed as a potential mid-rotation starter in MLB. Back in September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that he’d added some life to his fastball and was sitting in the 92-93 mph range. He also has a splitter, curveball and cutter/slider, as examined in Brandon Tew’s breakdown of that 2022 no-hitter over at Sports Info Solutions

Any team that agrees to sign Imanaga will also be agreeing to pay a posting/release fee to the BayStars — the size of which is dependent on the size of Imanaga’s contract. In addition to the guaranteed money owed to the pitcher himself, his new team will need to pay a release fee equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. MLBTR predicted a five-year, $85MM contract for the lefty, which would come with a $13.875MM release fee owed to the BayStars on top of the contract itself. Future club/player options and earnings unlocked via incentives/bonuses are also subject to that system (and, in this hypothetical instance, would come with a 15% fee owed to the Yokohama club).

To this point, Imanaga has been linked to several MLB clubs — most recently the Cubs but also the Dodgers and Red Sox. It stands to reason that virtually every mid- or large-market club with a need for pitching will have some degree of interest. Imanaga has been one of the steadiest performers in Japan for the better part of a half decade and has thus been heavily scouted by MLB teams for quite some time now. He’ll likely be on the radar for other bigger-spending teams like the Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Giants, Angels and Blue Jays (to name a few) over the next six-plus weeks.

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Newsstand Nippon Professional Baseball Shota Imanaga

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Patrick Murphy Agrees To Deal With NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

By Darragh McDonald | November 22, 2023 at 5:35pm CDT

Right-hander Patrick Murphy has agreed to terms with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The deal, which is pending a physical, will be for one year with a 2025 option as well as performance bonuses and escalators.

Murphy, 29 in June, spent 2023 with the Twins on a minor league deal. He began the year in a fairly typical relief role but got stretched out for the final two months of the season. From the start of April to August 1, he tossed 44 2/3 innings over 33 appearances with an earned run average of 4.63. He struck out 25.3% of opponents but gave out walks at a 16.1% clip. He made nine more appearances from there and tacked on another 40 2/3 innings with a 2.66 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate.

Prior to this year, he was a third-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2013. He made it to the majors with that club and eventually went to the Nationals via a waiver claim. Between those two teams, he threw 39 2/3 major league innings from 2020 to 2022 with a 4.76 ERA, but he didn’t get to the big leagues in 2023.

Had he stayed in North America for 2024, he likely would have been limited to minor league offers but will instead head to Japan, where he should be in line for a larger salary and an opportunity to prove himself in what’s generally considered to be the strongest league outside of MLB. It’s unclear if the Fighters plan on using Murphy as a starter or reliever but he did both in 2023 and could perhaps provide them with some flexibility. If he fares well overseas, he could parlay that into a return to the majors down the road, a path taken by guys like Miles Mikolas, Chris Martin, Nick Martinez and others.

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Nippon Professional Baseball Transactions Patrick Murphy

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Shota Imanaga Likely To Be Posted By Monday

By Steve Adams | November 22, 2023 at 10:03am CDT

The Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball are planning to post left-hander Shota Imanaga for Major League teams sometime between now and Monday, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. While prior reporting had indicated that Imanaga might not be posted until fellow NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto had already signed, it instead appears that Imanaga will be posted about a week after Yamamoto. That creates some overlap in the two posting periods but also gives Imanaga at least a few days for teams that miss out on Yamamoto to explore the possibility of instead signing him.

While both Imanaga and Yamamoto are highly regarded, Imanaga is widely expected to sign the lesser contract in terms of both years and dollars. That’s due partially to the fact that Yamamoto is regarded as the superior pitcher, of course, but the primary reason for Yamamoto being projected to sign a deal more than twice as lucrative as Imanaga is the age gap between the two. Yamamoto just turned 25 in August; Imanaga turned 30 in September.

As such, Imanaga’s age is more in line with that of standard Major League free agents, who tend to reach the open market around 30-31 years of age. There are exceptions, but particularly among pitchers, a player reaching the market in his mid-to-late 20s is quite rare.

Although Imanaga doesn’t have the bonus allure of being an atypically young free agent, he nonetheless figures to command a weighty long-term deal himself. The southpaw’s 2023 season featured 148 innings of 2.80 ERA ball — his second straight sub-3.00 mark and his third in five years. (The two other seasons “only” saw Imanaga post marks of 3.08 and 3.23.) Imanaga fanned 29.5% of his opponents this past season against a superlative 3.8% walk rate.

Dating back to 2019, Imanaga boasts a 26.2% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in addition to a cumulative 2.79 earned run average — including a no-hitter in the 2022 season. He isn’t necessarily overpowering in terms of velocity, though MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted late in the year that he’d added some life to his heater and was averaging between 92-93 mph during the 2023 season. He pairs that heater with a splitter, curveball and cutter/slider hybrid, as noted in Brandon Tew’s breakdown of that 2022 no-hitter over at Sports Info Solutions.

Whenever Imanaga is posted, it will mark the start of a 45-day window for him to negotiate with all 30 MLB clubs. Any team that agrees to sign Imanaga will also be agreeing to pay a release fee to the BayStars — the size of which is dependent on the size of Imanaga’s contract. In addition to the guaranteed money owed to the pitcher himself, his new team will need to pay a release fee equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. MLBTR predicted a five-year, $85MM contract for the lefty, which would come with a $13.875MM release fee owed to the BayStars on top of the contract itself. Future club/player options and earnings unlocked via incentives/bonuses are also subject to that system (and, in this hypothetical instance, would come with a 15% fee owed to the Yokohama club).

To this point, Imanaga has been linked to several MLB clubs — most recently the Cubs but also the Dodgers and Red Sox. It stands to reason that virtually every mid- or large-market club with a need for pitching will have some degree of interest. Imanaga has been one of the steadiest performers in Japan for the better part of a half decade and has thus been heavily scouted by MLB teams for quite some time now. He’ll likely be on the radar for other bigger-spending teams like the Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Giants, Angels and Blue Jays (to name a few) over the next six to seven weeks.

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Newsstand Nippon Professional Baseball Shota Imanaga

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto Officially Posted By Orix Buffaloes

By Mark Polishuk | November 20, 2023 at 12:00pm CDT

November 20: As expected, Yamamoto has been officially posted, as relayed by Joel Sherman of The New York Post. The posting window begins a 7 am Central on November 21 and goes until 4 pm Central on January 4.

November 17: Yoshinobu Yamamoto is one of the offseason’s most talked-about free agents, and he’ll finally be fully available to Major League teams in a few days’ time.  ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (via X) that Yamamoto is “expected to be posted” this coming Monday, so his negotiation window to speak with MLB teams will officially begin on November 21.

It is widely expected that Yamamoto will shatter the record for the largest contract ever given to a player coming from Nippon Professional Baseball to the majors for the first time, with MLB Trade Rumors projecting a nine-year, $225MM deal for the right-hander.  Because Yamamoto is only 25 years old, it is quite possible that he might seek an opt-out clause or two in his eventual contract, allowing him the chance to re-enter the market in a few years’ time in search of an even larger deal after he has established himself as a frontline Major League pitcher.

Yamamoto has been utterly dominant over his seven seasons with the Buffaloes, posting a 1.82 ERA over 897 innings.  With a 26.43% strikeout rate and small walk (5.9%) and home run (1.03%) rates, Yamamoto’s numbers are pretty eye-popping across the board, leaving scouts and evaluators with little doubt that he’ll be at least a solid big league pitcher with a clear ceiling as a potential ace.  Since Yamamoto is so young, there should be plenty of prime years left, and there is much less wear-and-tear on his arm than most other premium free agent pitchers in history, considering how it is very rare for players to be available to the open market at age 25.

Technically, Yamamoto is not a completely free agent yet, as per the rules of the MLB/NPB posting system.  Come Tuesday, Yamamoto will have 45 days to negotiate with Major League teams, giving him until January 4 to sign a contract to come to North America.  Yamamoto would return to the Buffaloes for the 2024 NPB season if no deal is reached within that 45-day window, yet with so much interest in his services, it certainly feels like he has pitched his last game in a Buffaloes uniform for the foreseeable future.

The Buffaloes are entitled to a posting fee once Yamamoto signs, so a Major League team will have to pay up some extra money beyond whatever they give to Yamamoto himself.  The Buffaloes will receive 20% of the contract’s first $25MM in guaranteed money, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and then 15% on anything beyond the $50MM mark.  Should Yamamoto land that projected $225MM deal, then, that would mean a $35.625MM posting fee to the Buffaloes — not a bad payday, yet a bittersweet one considering that the Osaka-based team is losing such a proven star.

The Phillies, Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Tigers, Cardinals, Cubs, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Giants, Padres, and Dodgers have all been linked to Yamamoto to varying degrees, whether it has been club officials or scouts on hand in Japan to see the righty pitch in person, or offseason reports indicating that Yamamoto is high on a team’s list of priorities.  It seems entirely possible that Yamamoto’s list of suitors could be even longer, given the somewhat unique opportunity to sign an elite pitcher at such a young age.

Negotiations will begin in earnest Tuesday, with quite a bit of impact on the overall pitching market.  Because Yamamoto’s free agency would come with a hard deadline, it is possible some of the other top arms on the market might wait until after he signs, to better gauge the field of remaining suitors.  With so many teams in need of pitching, missing out on Yamamoto could make teams more eager (and thus more willing to spend big) to acquire one of the other pitchers left.  Some reports have suggested that Shota Imanaga, his representatives, and NPB’s Yokohama DeNA Baystars might wait until after Yamamoto is off the market to go ahead and start Imanaga’s own posting window.

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Newsstand Nippon Professional Baseball Transactions Yoshinobu Yamamoto

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