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Rangers To Sign Kohei Arihara

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TODAY: MLB Insider Jon Heyman provided some clarification as to the financial specifics today (via Twitter). As presumed yesterday, the posting fee will amount to $1.24MM, while the Rangers will pay out $6.2MM over the course of the two-year contract. Arihara will make $2.6MM in 2021 and $3.6MM in 2022, adds MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter).

Dec. 25: The Rangers are in agreement with right-hander Kohei Arihara, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a two-year contract in the $6-7MM range, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (via Twitter).

Arihara, 28, has spent the past six seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball. In 836 career innings at Japan’s highest level, Arihara compiled a 3.74 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. He has been especially productive over the past two years. Arihara posted a minuscule 2.46 ERA with a career-best 8.8 K/9 in 2019. This past season, he managed a 3.46 mark with 7.2 K/9 across 132.2 innings.

Writing for Baseball America on the heels of Arihara’s peak season in 2019, Jason Coskrey noted that the right-hander works in the low-90’s and primarily leans upon his fastball, changeup and slider. Arihara has up to seven distinct pitches in his arsenal, though, and Coskrey notes he’s adept at using his secondaries to keep opposing hitters off balance. He also has a long history of throwing strikes, not having issued more than 2.2 walks per nine innings pitched in any of his last five NPB seasons.

Arihara’s not known for especially overpowering raw stuff, and that’s been borne out in his relatively low strikeout rates. Shun Yamaguchi, who signed a similar contract with the Blue Jays last offseason, consistently posted heftier strikeout totals over his time in Japan than did Arihara. So too has Tomoyuki Sugano, the higher-profile NPB starter available to MLB teams via the posting system this winter. That could suggest Arihara’s more suited for the back of the rotation, although he figures to have a decent opportunity for innings in Texas.

Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles will presumably try to bounce back from dismal 2020 seasons. Dane Dunning will certainly get a rotation job after coming over from the White Sox in the Lance Lynn trade. There’s a lot of uncertainty beyond (and even among) that trio, though. Kolby Allard was knocked around last season and hasn’t yet established himself as a big league caliber starter. Kyle Cody, who never worked more than five innings, was the only other player still on the roster to start multiple games for Texas last season.

In addition to Arihara’s salary, the Rangers will owe the Fighters a release fee under the terms of the MLB-NPB posting system. The Fighters will receive a sum equal to 20 percent of the contract value. Depending upon the contract’s specific terms, that would put the posting fee in the $1.2MM – 1.4MM range. Texas’ total outlay is around $7.5MM, hears Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter).

The Red Sox and Padres were reportedly the other finalists in the bidding for Arihara, whose posting window was set to expire tomorrow. San Diego and Boston will now have to turn elsewhere in their hunt for additional rotation depth.

Fernando Romero Signs With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars

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DECEMBER 25: The BayStars have announced their agreement with Romero (h/t to the Japan Times). It’s a one-year deal with a club option for 2022. Romero will reportedly make $724,000 next season.

DECEMBER 18, 7:03pm: Romero will sign with the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets. The Twins will receive roughly $300K in return.

DECEMBER 18, 4:15pm: The Twins activated right-hander Fernando Romero from the restricted list and then released him, Chris Miller of the Star Tribune reports. Romero, who is from the Dominican Republic, was unable to secure a visa to the United States last season.

This is certainly not the way the Twins expected their relationship with Romero to end, as he was among their top prospects for multiple seasons. Baseball America ranked Romero as the Twins’ sixth-best farmhand in 2018 and wrote that he could turn into a second or third starter “if he can round out his third pitch.”

The 25-year-old Romero did collect 11 starts with the Twins from 2018-19, during which he averaged about 96 mph on his fastball, but the results weren’t great. He combined for 69 2/3 innings during those seasons and recorded a 5.17 ERA/4.49 FIP with 8.14 K/9, 3.88 BB/9 and a 47.4 percent groundball rate. Romero has been better in Triple-A ball, where he owns a 3.88 ERA and has registered 8.0 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in 148 1/3 innings. It’s likely some other team will take a chance on him now that he’s available to sign.

Adeiny Hechavarria Signs With NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines

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Infielder Adeiny Hechavarría has agreed to a deal with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced yesterday (h/t to the Japan Times). It’s a one-year deal worth a reported $970,000.

Hechavarría, 31, has appeared in the big leagues in each of the last nine years. Signed out of Cuba by the Blue Jays, he made his MLB debut with Toronto in 2012. That November, Hechavarría was part of the twelve-player blockbuster that sent José Reyes and Mark Buehrle to the Jays. He spent the next four seasons as the Marlins’ regular shortstop. He never hit for power or drew many walks, but Hechavarría made a lot of contact and rated as a plus defender at the position. As he got into his late-20’s, he became something of a journeyman depth infielder. Over the past four years, Hechavarría has suited up for the Marlins, Rays, Pirates, Yankees, Mets and Braves. He has slashed .251/.289/.387 with 23 home runs over 953 plate appearances in that time.

Last season, Hechavarría only picked up 63 plate appearances with Atlanta. He was left off the playoff roster during their run to the NLCS and became a free agent after the season.

International Signings: Alcantara, Overton

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A pair of former big leaguers have signed with teams in Asia over the past few days.

  • Right-hander Raúl Alcántara is joining the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball, per a team announcement. The 28-year-old will be making his first trip to Japan’s highest level; he has spent the past two seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization. After posting solid but unspectacular numbers with the KT Wiz in 2019, Alcántara found a new gear this past season. Over 198.2 innings with the Doosan Bears in 2020, he worked to a 2.54 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9. That earned him the Choi Dong-Won Award as the KBO’s top pitcher and sufficiently impressed the Tigers to bring him aboard. Alcántara’s big league experience consists of 46.1 innings of 7.19 ERA/7.45 FIP ball with the 2016-17 Athletics.
  • One of Alcántara’s former teammates in Oakland, Dillon Overton, also secured a job overseas. He signed with the Rakuten Monkeys of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, the club announced. A former A’s second-rounder, Overton combined for a 9.13 ERA/7.74 FIP across 47.1 MLB innings with Oakland and Seattle from 2016-17. The 29-year-old southpaw spent the 2018-19 seasons in the high minors with the Padres but didn’t make it back to the highest level. This will be his first season in a foreign pro league.

Report: Padres, Rangers, Red Sox Are Finalists For Kohei Arihara

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The 30-day posting window for right-hander Kohei Arihara is set to close on December 26, and Arihara is apparently set to choose between three MLB teams.  According to reports out of Japan, the Padres, Rangers, and Red Sox are the finalists for Arihara’s services.

San Diego was the only team known to have interest in Arihara, though it isn’t any surprise that pitching-needy teams like Texas and Boston are also looking into the 28-year-old.  Interestingly, the Padres, Rangers, and Red Sox have also been linked to Tomoyuki Sugano, another high-profile NPB name on the market.  Sugano’s posting window doesn’t close until January 7, so it’s possible that whichever team lands Arihara could drop out of the race for Sugano.

Comparisons between the two pitchers are inevitable, and Sugano certainly has the more successful track record in Nippon Professional Baseball, as a two-time Sawamura Award winner and one of the better pitchers in the entire league over the last decade.  Sugano is also 31, however, while Arihara doesn’t turn 29 until August.  Arihara would also presumably be available at a lower price tag, which is certainly a factor for any team in this offseason.

Arihara has a 3.74 ERA, 3.23 K/BB rate, and 6.7 K/9 over 836 innings for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.  After winning Pacific League Rookie Of The Year honors in 2015, Arihara had a strong sophomore campaign in 2016 before his production took a dip in 2017-18.  He righted the ship with his finest season, as Arihara has a 2.46 ERA and 8.8 K/9 (both career bests) over 164 1/3 frames for the Fighters in 2019.

As per a scouting report from Will Hoefer of the Sports Info Solutions blog after that big 2019 season, Arihara has a plus changeup, and a fastball that can touch 95mph (though Arihara prefers to mix speeds to keep batters guessing).  Arihara has good command over these two pitches “and a slider that flashes plus,” and Hoefer projects the righty as “a middle of the rotation starter for an MLB team.”

Such an arm would surely be attractive to the three reported finalists.  The Padres are looking for rotation help in the wake of Mike Clevinger’s Tommy John surgery, and the Rangers and Red Sox are both looking for live arms just to fill out a rotation after their pitchers largely struggled in 2020.  In Texas, Arihara would slot in alongside veterans Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles, with newly-acquired Dane Dunning also tabbed for a rotation spot after being acquired in the Lance Lynn trade.  Boston’s pitching staff is even more open, given the uncertainty over how Eduardo Rodriguez will bounce back from the health problems that kept him off the mound in 2020, the ever-present injury concerns for Nathan Eovaldi, and an overall lack of experience among other starting options.

According to the MLB/NPB posting system, Arihara has been free to negotiate with any Major League club over his 30-day period, and once he signs with a team, that team will owe the Fighters a release fee that will vary based on the size of Arihara’s contract.  The Fighters will receive a sum of 20 percent of a contract’s first $25MM, and then 17.5 percent of the next $25MM, and 15 percent of any dollars spent beyond the $50MM threshold.

NPB/KBO Notes: Dice-K, Mengden, Almonte, Yoon

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Daisuke Matsuzaka is still going. The 40-year-old righty signed a one-year deal with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball earlier this week, according to the Japan Times, rejoining the club for which he starred from 1999-2006. Matsuzaka was with the Lions in 2020 as well, although he spent the year rehabbing from back surgery that prevented him from pitching. The former Red Sox right-hander returned to NPB in 2015 and has since pitched with the SoftBank Hawks and Chunichi Dragons. He’s thrown just 5 1/3 innings since the conclusion of the 2018 season due to injuries, but he’ll hope for a healthier go of it as his career comes full circle with the Lions in 2021.

Some more notes on former big leaguers, the KBO and NPB…

  • Former Athletics right-hander Daniel Mengden has held negotiations with a club in the Korea Baseball Organization, per a report from South Korea’s Naver Sports (Korean language link). There’s no indication a deal has been completed yet. Mengden spent his first five professional seasons in Oakland, where he pitched to a 4.64 ERA/4.58 FIP and posted 6.66 K/9 against 3.03 BB/9 over 302 2/3 innings. He only threw 12 1/3 frames last year after undergoing three offseason surgeries (two to repair an intestinal issue, another on his elbow). The A’s outrighted the 27-year-old in September.
  • The KBO’s KT Wiz have signed outfielder Zoilo Almonte to a one-year, $525K guarantee with up to $250K in incentives, Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency relays. The ex-Yankees farmhand, 31, spent the previous three seasons with Chunichi, with which he slashed .316/.375/.484 and hit 31 home runs in 967 plate appearances. As Yoo notes, Almonte will replace 2020 KBO MVP Mel Rojas Jr., who left KT for the NPB’s Hanshin Tigers earlier this month.
  • Retired righty Suk-min Yoon is attempting to become a professional golfer in Korea, Yoo reports. Yoon was a highly successful starter with the KBO’s Kia Tigers, which led the Orioles to sign him to a contract worth a guaranteed $5.75MM over three years entering the 2014 campaign. He never threw a pitch for the Orioles, though, instead spending the year at Triple-A, and the O’s released him in 2015. Yoon returned to the Tigers and pitched in 2015, ’16 and ’18, but he hung up his cleats after a shoulder injury derailed his career.

NPB’s Hanshin Tigers To Re-Sign Robert Suarez

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The Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball are re-signing right-hander Robert Suárez, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). Suárez will return to the Nishinomiya-based club in 2021 and has a player option for 2022. Altogether, the deal comes with a guarantee in the $6.75MM range, per Morosi.

A 29-year-old reliever, Suárez has spent the past four seasons at Japan’s highest level. He has a cumulative 3.53 ERA across 142.2 relief innings for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and the Tigers. This past season, his first as a Tiger, Suárez logged a 2.24 mark over 52.1 innings, with a solid combination of 8.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.

Suárez has never played affiliated ball in the United States, but he’d drawn some attention from MLB teams this winter on the heels of that strong season, Morosi notes. Instead, he’ll remain with the Tigers, where he figures to again serve as the primary closer for the Central League team.

Rakuten Golden Eagles To Sign Adam Conley

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Left-hander Adam Conley has agreed to a deal with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, according to SportsGrid’s Craig Mish (via Twitter).  Talks between Conley and the Eagles were first reported by Sponichi Annex two weeks ago.

Once a promising starter in the Marlins rotation, Conley struggled in 2018 but seemed to again turn a corner after taking on a full-time relief role in 2018.  In 2019, however, Conley posted a 6.53 ERA over 60 2/3 innings and was hit hard by both right-handed and left-handed batters.

Conley didn’t make any appearances for the Marlins this past season, as he was placed on the injured list for unspecified reasons (though it was around the time of the Marlins’ COVID-19 outbreak) and was then outrighted off the 40-man roster in September.  After opting to become a free agent, the 30-year-old southpaw will now head to Japan for a new chapter of his career.

Mel Rojas Jr. Signs With NPB’s Hanshin Tigers

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Dec. 9: Rojas is guaranteed $5MM over his two years with Hanshin, reports Hector Gomez of Z Sports 101 in the Dominican Republic (Twitter link). ESPN’s Buster Olney hears the same, adding that Rojas can earn up to $500K worth of incentives in each season of the deal.

Dec. 8: 2020 Korea Baseball Organization MVP Mel Rojas Jr. is heading to Nippon Professional Baseball on a two-year deal, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com. He’ll join the Hanshin Tigers. Financial details aren’t yet available.

Rojas, the son of former major leaguer Mel Rojas, was a third-round pick of the Pirates in 2010. He never reached the majors with the Pirates or the Braves, who acquired him in a minor trade in 2016, but has found his niche overseas.

Rojas signed a $400K contract with the KT Wiz of the KBO in 2017 and then slashed .321/.388/.594 with a whopping 132 home runs in 2,218 plate appearances. The 30-year-old Rojas batted .349/.417/.680 with 47 homers in 628 PA en route to MVP honors in 2020.

Following his tremendous effort this year, Rojas drew major league interest in recent weeks, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes and Steve Adams wrote. However, instead of going to MLB, he will remain in Asia.

Yomiuri Giants Formally Post Tomoyuki Sugano For MLB Teams

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The Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball have formally posted right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano for Major League teams. His 30-day posting period will begin tomorrow morning at 8am and run through Jan. 7 at 5pm ET, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi.

Sugano, 31, is one of the most prominent pitchers in Japan. A two-time winner of the Sawamura Award — Japan’s Cy Young equivalent — he’s viewed as one of the top talents on the market behind Trevor Bauer, who is still in a class of his own among free-agent hurlers.

After a down season (by his lofty standards) in which he posted a 3.89 ERA in 2019, Sugano rebounded in 2020 with 137 1/3 innings of 1.97 ERA ball, averaging 8.6 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9 along the way. Overall, dating back to the 2015 season, Sugano has thrown more than 1000 innings with a 2.19 ERA while averaging better than eight strikeouts and fewer than two walks per nine frames.

Some fans may remember Sugano from a strong showing in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The right-hander shined in a strong outing against Team USA, allowing just an unearned run with six strikeouts and one walk over six innings and eliciting high praise from skipper Jim Leyland.

“I can’t tell you, for me, tonight, how impressed I was with their pitcher,” Leyland said at the time (link via MLB.com’s Joe Trezza). “I mean, I thought he was really good. Located on the ball on the outside corners, fastball. Threw 3-0 sliders. That’s pretty impressive.” Leyland plainly called Sugano a “big league pitcher” after that game. (Those interested can check out all 81 of Sugano’s pitches from that game in this YouTube clip.)

Sugano’s fastball averages 92-93 mph and, like his curveball, boasts a strong spin rate. Sports Info Solution’s Will Hoefer took a look at him last October, calling him at least a No. 4 starter in the big leagues, and that was after an injury-hindered campaign as opposed to the strong 2020 showing Sugano just authored. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel also labels him a likely fourth starter, noting that he’d have a chance at three years with an annual value in excess of $10MM in a normal offseason but projecting a slightly more measured two-year, $24MM deal due to the sport’s revenue losses. Sugano would’ve been included on MLBTR’s own list of the game’s top 50 free agents had it been known for certain that he’d be posted at the time of publishing.

Major League teams will have the next 30 days to negotiate with Sugano, who is exempt from international bonus pools and free to sign a contract of any length and for any amount. In addition to the money paid to Sugano on his contract, the team that signs him will also owe a release fee to the Yomiuri Giants. That fee is equal to 20 percent of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5 percent of the contract’s next $25MM in value, plus an additional 15 percent of any money guaranteed thereafter.

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