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Latest On Kyle Hart

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Thirty-two-year-old lefty Kyle Hart isn’t a household name but nonetheless stands as an interesting free agent for clubs seeking rotation depth this winter. The southpaw has pitched in just one big league season, yielding 19 runs in 11 innings for the Red Sox during the shortened 2020 season. Hart, however, has a decent Triple-A track record and just tore through the Korea Baseball Organization in 2024, logging 157 innings with a 2.69 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate. He was awarded the Choi Dong-won Award — the KBO equivalent of MLB’s Cy Young Award — for those efforts.

MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports today that Hart has some level of interest from six big league clubs, one of whom has been trying to free up some payroll space before adding Hart or another free agent. At the very least, that’s indicative of a team (or teams) being willing to put forth a big league offer to sign the lefty. Though there hasn’t been much reporting on Hart’s ongoing free agency this winter, he was linked to the Orioles, Astros, Twins, Brewers and Yankees in late December. More than half the league is reported to have at least checked in, though that obviously doesn’t indicate serious interest from all those parties.

Hart’s breakout overseas is reminiscent of recent KBO success stories like Erick Fedde, Chris Flexen and Merrill Kelly, among others. That said, he’ll pitch all of next season at 32. That’s a notable difference from recent KBO-to-MLB arms. Fedde returned ahead of his age-31 season and had the benefit of being a former first-round pick and top prospect. Kelly was 30 when he signed a modest two-year deal with Arizona on the back of a terrific four-year run in South Korea. Flexen’s lone season in the KBO was his age-25 campaign. He returned on a two-year deal with the Mariners at just 26 years old. Of the bunch, Fedde’s $15MM guarantee over two years is the largest contract.

Hart is older than the rest of that group and lacks the prospect pedigree Fedde had. Like many of those pitchers, however, he’s benefited from demonstrable changes to his pitching repertoire since heading to the KBO. He added a new sweeper this season, began throwing his four-seamer up in the zone/above the zone to get some chases, and has used his changeup more heavily. His heater isn’t the type of power offering that modern teams covet, sitting low-90s and peaking around 94 mph, but it’s generally easier for a lefty to get by with lesser velocity than a righty.

Whether that’s enough to sell a major league front office on his viability as a big league rotation cog remains to be seen. Fedde, the most successful of the group in the KBO, won the Choi Dong-won and was named KBO MVP after posting a flat 2.00 ERA with better strikeout and walk rates (29.5% and 4.9%, respectively) than Hart turned in this past season.

If not a return to Major League Baseball, Hart will still have ample opportunity to earn money in Asia. He’s drawn interest from both KBO clubs and teams in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per Dierkes.

MLB Conducted Investigation Prior To Roki Sasaki’s Posting

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Prior to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball officially posting right-hander Roki Sasaki for major league clubs last month, Major League Baseball conducted an investigation before authorizing Sasaki’s posting. Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times reported this afternoon that MLB’s investigation was in order to “ensure the protocol agreement had been followed” and involved interviews with multiple parties. A report from Fabian Ardaya, Dennis Lin, Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal, and Will Sammon of The Athletic added more details this evening, noting that the primary focus of the league’s probe was not Sasaki himself but rather the Marines. Both reports emphasize that the league found nothing that substantiated rumors of an illegal arrangement taking place.

That the league’s investigation focused on the Marines may seem somewhat surprising, but The Athletic’s report notes that the current posting system limits the payout for the Marines to just 25% of Sasaki’s total bonus. That’s a weak financial incentive for a club parting ways with its star player and represents not only a step back from the large posting fees players like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Seiya Suzuki have garnered for their clubs in recent years but also the $20MM posting fee the Nippon Ham Fighters were able to charge in exchange for Shohei Ohtani’s services when he signed with the Angels as an international amateur under the previous posting system back in December 2017. That relative lack of financial compensation for Sasaki’s services raised concerns among league officials for the potential for an under-the-table payment.

While MLB’s investigation found no wrongdoing by any party, speculation around the game of the possibility of an handshake agreement between Sasaki and the Dodgers grew significant enough to draw a strong denial from agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, who represents the right-handed phenom. As described in The Athletic’s report, clubs around the game felt uncertain about Sasaki’s goals throughout his posting process as teams like the Mariners and Red Sox failed to land a meeting with the 23-year-old while large market teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets did in spite of suggestions that he may prefer to avoid the spotlight.

Regardless of that confusion, it became clear earlier this week that Sasaki had narrowed things down to three finalists: the Dodgers, Padres, and Blue Jays, each of whom then visited with Sasaki in their respective cities and began to prepare their offers. According to The Athletic’s report, San Diego told Sasaki’s camp that they would be willing to trade to maximize their bonus pool and offer Sasaki the entirety of those funds while the Dodgers lined up a trade with the Phillies to add additional bonus pool money in the event that they landed Sasaki. The Blue Jays were especially aggressive in their pursuit of Sasaki, however.

While all three clubs were clearly willing to add significant bonus pool dollars in order to land Sasaki, Toronto acquired $2MM in international bonus pool space from the Guardians by taking on the majority of the money owed to center fielder Myles Straw over the next two years despite not actually having a deal in place with the right-hander. The impetus behind that trade utlimately did not work out for Toronto as Sasaki wound up choosing Los Angeles. Despit that, The Athletic’s report indicates that the Blue Jays believe Straw could be a worthwhile addition in his own right and that the money they took on to land him won’t be prohibitive as they continue to look for ways to upgrade their roster. Notably, center fielder Daulton Varsho is not expected to be ready for Opening Day and the addition of Straw could give the club some depth at the position while Varsho recovers.

Phillies Sign Koyo Aoyagi To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies have signed former NPB pitcher Koyo Aoyagi to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to MLB camp, the team announced. The Hanshin Tigers made him available via the posting system on December 4.

Aoyagi’s posting window would have closed this evening. Had he not signed with a major league team, he would’ve returned to the Tigers. Aoyagi preferred a non-roster invite over staying with the NPB club. It’s unclear what his salary would be if he makes the major league roster. The Phils would owe a 20% posting fee to the Tigers on whatever salary or bonuses Aoyagi unlocks.

The 31-year-old righty projects as a depth arm. While he worked as a starting pitcher for the Tigers, Aoyagi throws from a sidearm slot that’s more commonly found in the bullpen. He’s coming off a pedestrian season which he split almost evenly between the Tigers and their minor league affiliate. Aoyagi made 12 starts at Japan’s top level and pitched 11 times in the minors.

During his work at the highest level, he turned in a 3.69 ERA across 61 innings. His 13% strikeout rate would be nearly 10 percentage points below the MLB average. He showed decent but not exceptional control, walking 7.8% of batters faced. His career track record is a bit more impressive. He owns a 3.08 ERA with a 17.1% strikeout percentage across nine NPB campaigns. This was his second consecutive middling season, though. Aoyagi was tagged for a 4.57 ERA across 100 1/3 innings for the Tigers in 2023.

The 5’11” hurler pitched for Japan at the 2020 Olympics (held in Tokyo a year late as a result of the pandemic). Japan went 5-0 and won the gold medal, though Aoyagi was tagged for five runs in 1 2/3 innings across two appearances. He did not make the nation’s World Baseball Classic roster two years later.

Roki Sasaki Reportedly Informs Several Teams They Are Out Of Running

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3:10pm: The Rangers have also been informed that they are out of the running, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Diamondbacks never got a meeting with Sasaki and won’t be the destination either, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix.

2:56pm: The Mets have also been informed that they are out of the running, per Joel Sherman of The New York Post.

2:35pm: The Yankees have been told that right-hander Roki Sasaki will not be signing with them, reports Jack Curry of Yes Network. That’s the second team that is reportedly out, with the Giants having also been told that they won’t be Sasaki’s destination. Andy Martino of SNY adds that the Mets aren’t expected to sign him either, though it’s unclear if they have been given a clear denial like the Giants and Yankees. As for teams that are still in the mix, Sasaki reportedly met with the Padres in San Diego recently, per a report from Dennis Lin, Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. This was after his recent meeting with the Blue Jays in Toronto.

Sasaki has been on the radar of MLB clubs for years, but his situation became very interesting once it became clear that he would be coming over to North America this winter. Since he is not yet 25 years old, he is considered an amateur under MLB’s international signing rules. That makes a massive difference in his earning power and opens him up to potentially sign with any club.

Per the international bonus pool system, each club has a limit on how much signing bonus money they can give to international amateurs, with this year’s pools ranging from $5-8MM. Broadly speaking, the large-market clubs have the smaller pools and vice versa. Teams can trade for more pool money but can’t add more than 60% of their initial pool allotment.

The Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki’s Nippon Professional Baseball club, will also be owed a posting fee. However, the value of that fee will be a percentage of his signing bonus and won’t be a large number either. Per the NPB posting rules, the fee is 20% of a deal’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of further spending. Since Sasaki will be capped by the pool system, his deal will lead to a modest bonus, with the posting fee adding 20%.

Had Sasaki waited until he turned 25, he would have been considered a professional and could have signed a deal for any amount. That’s the route Yoshinobu Yamamoto took, eventually securing a $325MM deal from the Dodgers.

It can be debated as to who is the better pitcher between Yamamoto and Sasaki, but the point is that there’s tremendous upside in getting Sasaki aboard for such a small investment. Teams that normally don’t sign top free agents can become theoretical fits, while the larger clubs have big payrolls and competitive balance tax concerns, making them very interested as well.

By coming to North America now, Sasaki has seemingly illustrated that maximizing his short-term earnings is not his top priority. Since each club has roughly the same ability to offer him a bonus now, he should be focused on non-financial criteria for making his decision. It could come down to geography, a club’s reputation developing pitching or perhaps a team’s long-term competitive outlook. His agent, Joel Wolfe, said the plan was for teams to make pitches before the holidays. Sasaki would then travel to visit the home cities of certain clubs after the holidays.

A decision needs to come soon. Sasaki can’t officially sign until January 15 when the new pool year starts, but he also has to be signed by January 23, when his posting window closes. Now that there’s only a handful of days left, it seems he is narrowing the field.

The Yankees and Mets both reportedly met with Sasaki in December but it seems that he won’t be coming to New York to join either club. Both teams already have plenty of rotation options, though they surely would have welcomed the problem of adding Sasaki into the mix and further crowding things. The Yankees are already feel good enough about their pitching depth that they are reportedly shopping Marcus Stroman.

Perhaps signing Sasaki wouldn’t have added too much to the urgency to trade Stroman. MLB teams often use six-man rotations when folding in a Japanese pitcher, as the NPB usually sees starters throw once a week as opposed to the five-day rotation in North America. It’s a moot point now but the Yanks still project to start the year with a strong group that includes Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, which is why Stroman’s available.

The Mets have more uncertainty in their rotation but still have plenty of arms to potentially fill out their rotation. Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes, Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill are all possibilities. There are question marks with many of those names but that’s eight viable candidates of varying degrees for five rotation spots.

Many observers have considered the Dodgers and the Padres to be the two most likely landing spots, so it’s not especially surprising that San Diego is still in the mix. No one can be sure what Sasaki’s priorities are, but it’s been suggested that the club’s West Coast location and strong performance in recent years are points in their favor, as well as Sasaki’s friendship with Yu Darvish.

As pointed out by The Athletic and others, the Padres could probably use Sasaki more than any other club. They have known financial constraints but plenty of holes to fill, which is why players like Luis Arráez, Dylan Cease, Jake Cronenworth and Robert Suarez have been in trade rumors this winter. Adding a pitcher of Sasaki’s caliber at such a discounted rate would be tremendously helpful for them.

As of right now, the rotation projects to include Darvish, Cease and Michael King, with plenty of question marks beyond that. Adding Sasaki would give the Padres a very strong front four, but it could also perhaps increase the chances of the Friars trading Cease for players that are cheaper and more controllable but less proven.

It’s still anyone’s guess what team will be chosen by Sasaki and why. As mentioned, the Jays are still a possibility, based on Sasaki’s recent trip to Toronto. The Padres are obviously in there as well. The Athletic mentions the Dodgers, Rangers, Cubs and Mariners are clubs that are thought to be in the mix. It’s unknown if Sasaki will visit with any of those other clubs but resolution is coming soon, with more information perhaps trickling out in the coming days.

NPB’s Orix Buffaloes Close To Signing Edward Olivares

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The Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball are close to a deal with outfielder Edward Olivares, according to multiple reports out of Japan and Venezuela.  Olivares signed a minor league contract with the Mets last month, but it seems as though New York will be releasing (or has already released) Olivares so he can pursue this opportunity with the Osaka-based Buffaloes.

Olivares hit only .224/.291/.333 with five homers in 196 PA with the Pirates last season, playing sharing right field duty with Connor Joe and Bryan Reynolds during the first half of the season.  Olivares’ final MLB appearance with Pittsburgh came on July 7, and the Pirates designated Olivares for assignment and subsequently outrighted him off their 40-man roster in August.

After making his big league debut with San Diego in 2020, the Padres moved him to the Royals at that season’s trade deadline, and Olivares has played 217 of his 285 MLB games in a Kansas City uniform.  The Royals tenure was highlighted by a .270/.322/.410 slash line (106 wRC+) over 559 plate appearances during the 2022-23 seasons, with Olivares making 385 of those trips to the plate in a semi-regular role in 2023 as Kansas City’s left fielder.  The outfield-needy Pirates were inspired enough by that performance to trade for Olivares in December 2023, but he couldn’t continue that production during his short time in Pittsburgh.

More recently, Olivares has been tearing it up in Venezuelan Winter League, which might well have caught the Buffaloes’ attention.  Despite that deal with the Mets, it isn’t uncommon for MLB teams to simply release players from minor league contracts if the player is relatively low on the depth chart.  Olivares is also out of minor league options, which would have complicated his chances of sticking in New York’s organization anyway even if he had cracked the Mets’ active roster at some point.

Olivares now looks set to start a new chapter in his career as he enters his age-29 season.  He’ll join Jordan Diaz and Luis Perdomo as two of the non-Japanese members of the Buffaloes’ roster, as the Osaka squad looks to rebound from a disappointing 63-77-3 record in 2024.

NPB’s Orix Buffaloes Sign Jordan Diaz

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The Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced this week that they’ve signed former A’s infielder Jordan Diaz. Reports out of Japan first emerged in November that the Buffaloes were nearing a deal with the Colombian-born infielder, but the contract was not finalized until Wednesday.

Diaz, a right-handed hitter who spends most of his time between second and third base, appeared in 105 major league games between 2022-23. The bulk of those reps came in ’23, when Diaz appeared in a little more than half of the team’s games. Diaz didn’t make much of an offensive impact, as he hit .227/.276/.358 across 344 trips to the plate. The A’s optioned him to Triple-A to begin last season. They designated him for assignment and outrighted him off the 40-man roster towards the end of May.

The 24-year-old spent the rest of the year with the A’s top minor league team. He had a strong season, hitting 22 homers with a .301/.362/.529 slash through 436 plate appearances. Diaz is up to a .311/.363/.523 batting line over 724 trips to the plate in the Pacific Coast League. That’s a hitter-friendly environment, of course, but Diaz has shown plus contact skills with decent power at every minor league stop.

Rather than pursue another minor league contract to stay in affiliated ball, Diaz will parlay his strong Triple-A numbers to a guaranteed deal in Japan. He’s young enough to attract MLB interest down the line if he performs well against NPB pitching.

Tyler Nevin To Sign With NPB’S Seibu Lions

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Infielder/outfielder Tyler Nevin is heading overseas to sign with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per multiple reports out of Japan. Salary figures have not been publicly reported.

Players that head to foreign leagues often have strong numbers in the minors but less so in the majors, a category that Nevin certainly falls into. He has received 591 plate appearances at the major league level over the past four years, suiting up for the Orioles, Tigers and Athletics. He produced a line of .204/.299/.315 in those, which translates to an 81 wRC+, indicating he was 19% below league average.

Over the past three years, he stepped to the plate 639 times at the Triple-A level. His 10.2% walk rate and 17.2% strikeout rate in that time were both solid numbers and he also hit 26 home runs, helping him produce a combined .313/.391/.536 line and 135 wRC+.

Those minor league numbers got Nevin some big league chances but he couldn’t take advantage of them and exhausted his final option year in 2023, which left him struggling to hold a roster spot in 2024.

This year, Nevin likely would have been ticketed for more of the same if he had stayed in North American ball, probably settling for a minor league deal and maybe the occasional major league opportunity. Instead, by heading to Japan, he will likely earn himself a bit more of a financial guarantee and perhaps a decent chance at lengthy playing time at a high level.

Nevin is capable of playing all four corner spots and could slot into any of those for the Lions. If he has a nice season, perhaps he could parlay that into a return to North America down the line, or a bump to a higher salary level while staying in Asia.

Trey Wingenter Signs With NPB’s Seibu Lions

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The Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced that they have signed right-hander Trey Wingenter, relayed by Yakyu Cosmopolitan. Salary figures for the Ballengee Group client were not disclosed.

Wingenter, 31 in April, has shown potential in his North American career but without really cementing himself as a major leaguer over a long stretch. His biggest chunk of big league playing time was with the Padres in 2018 and 2019. In that time, he tossed 70 innings for the Friars, allowing 5.14 earned runs per nine innings. His 33.1% strikeout rate was impressive but he also gave out free passes at a 13% clip.

He then spent a long time in the wilderness, as Tommy John surgery and some back surgeries prevented him from pitching in the majors from 2020 to 2022. In 2023, he was back in the bigs with the Tigers, but right shoulder tendinitis put him on the injured list for almost half the year. He finished the year with a 5.82 ERA in 17 big league appearances, though he may have been unlucky in that sample. His .333 batting average on balls in play and 64.7% strand rate were both on the unfortunate side, leading to a 3.43 SIERA and 3.96 FIP as he struck out 28.9% of batters faced and limited walks to a 9.2% clip.

In 2024, he re-signed with the Tigers on a minor league deal but didn’t get called up to the majors with them, eventually bouncing to the Red Sox and Cubs. He only logged 8 1/3 big league innings last year and allowed nine earned runs in that small sample, getting non-tendered by Chicago at season’s end. His minor league numbers on the year were more intriguing, however. Between the three clubs, he tossed 48 1/3 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.98 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.

If Wingenter had stayed in North America this year, he likely would have been limited to another minor league deal. Even if he got a roster spot at some point, he may have had a hard time hanging onto it since he exhausted his final option year in 2024. Instead, he’ll head overseas and join the Lions. Though the salary figures weren’t reported, it’s possible he locked in a nice guarantee that he would not have found in affiliated ball. If he can turn the opportunity into a solid season, perhaps he can parlay that into a return to North America or another contract in Asia for the 2026 season.

Dodgers Meet With Roki Sasaki

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Reports regarding a number of clubs meeting with right-hander Roki Sasaki have trickled out in recent weeks, with the Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Giants, and Rangers all reportedly having received an in-person meeting with the right-hander as his unusual free agency begins to play out. Those five clubs have now been joined by a sixth, as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports that the Dodgers have had an in-person meeting with the top international player available to teams this winter.

It’s hardly a surprise to hear that the Dodgers have met with the 23-year-old phenom. L.A. and San Diego have been viewed by many as clear favorites to land the right-hander since before it was clear he would be posted this winter and the chatter connecting Sasaki to the Dodgers in particular became loud enough that Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, issued a strong denial of the notion that a “handshake” agreement has already been reached with the club. MLBTR’s Steve Adams and Tim Dierkes were present for later comments by Wolfe regarding Sasaki’s free agency made at the Winter Meetings in Dallas, wherein Wolfe first revealed that a preliminary round of in-person visits at a central location would be taking place shortly after the Winter Meetings had come to a close. At the time, Wolfe noted that Sasaki planned to head back to Japan for a week or two afterwards to celebrate the holidays before returning for additional visits with teams ahead of the end of his posting window next month.

Given that timeline, any meetings that have occurred between Sasaki and teams to this point in the winter are likely to have been preliminary in nature, offering Sasaki an opportunity to become more familiar with the organizations he had at least some level of interest in. The reported group of six clubs to have reached that stage is not necessarily exhaustive, and it’s entirely possible that other clubs met with Sasaki prior to the holidays without the meeting being reported publicly. That could include the Padres, who have long been considered a potential front-runner for Sasaki’s services alongside the Dodgers.

The 23-year-old’s combination of incredible talent and unique circumstances figure to make him perhaps the single most sought-after player available this winter. The righty’s career 2.10 ERA in 394 2/3 NPB innings as a 23-year-old with his prime still ahead of him would surely land him firmly in the conversation for a massive payout in free agency on the heels of Sasaki’s countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto landing a 12-year, $325MM deal with the Ddogers last winter via the posting system. That sort of financial windfall won’t be available to Sasaki, however, as he is less than 25 years old and is therefore considered an international amateur per the rules of MLB. That means he’ll be signing a minor league contract with a bonus restricted to the signing club’s international bonus pool space, a reality which essentially removes the financial advantages and disadvantages clubs normally contend with in free agency. Shohei Ohtani famously went through the same process when he first jumped to MLB, and in doing so surprised the baseball world by landing with the Angels.

Virtually any team could benefit from adding a pitcher with Sasaki’s talent to their rotation, and the Dodgers are of course no exception. Even after signing Blake Snell to a five-year deal earlier this winter with veteran Clayton Kershaw widely expected to reunite with the club later in the offseason, the Dodgers’ rotation is severely lacking in certainty. Snell, Kershaw, Ohtani, Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May is a formidable group of hurlers who could all generate All-Star caliber performances in 2025, but each has major injury concerns attached to them and cannot be counted on for anything close to 30 starts in a season. Adding Sasaki to the mix would give the club yet another high-quality rotation option to work with, and the on-paper excess of starting pitching options should make it easy for L.A. to manage the right-hander’s innings after he was slowed by shoulder and oblique injuries of his own in recent years while pitching for NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines.

NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters Re-Sign Drew VerHagen

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The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan announced yesterday that they’re bringing back righty Drew VerHagen on a one-year deal. The Vayner Sports client first joined the Fighters on a one-year contract with a 2025 player option last winter. While it seems he explored free agent possibilities in lieu of the player option, he elected to return to Hokkaido all the same.

VerHagen divided the ’24 season between the Fighters and their minor league affiliate. He posted similarly solid numbers at both stops. The 34-year-old tossed 49 innings of 3.12 ERA ball at Japan’s top level and managed a 3.06 mark across 47 minor league frames. He fanned a slightly above-average 20.6% of NPB opponents against a 5% walk rate.

That was VerHagen’s third season with the Fighters overall. He pitched for the team between 2020-21 and now carries a 3.44 earned run average in 256 2/3 NPB innings. Around the separate stints in Japan, he has appeared in parts of eight MLB campaigns. VerHagen worked as long reliever for the Tigers between 2014-19. He returned to the majors in 2022 for a two-season run with the Cardinals. After posting a 6.65 ERA during his first year in St. Louis, he rebounded with a 3.98 mark across a career-high 61 innings in 2023.

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