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Shohei Ohtani

Quick Hits: Otani, Red Sox, Brewers, Phillies

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The new collective bargaining agreement will significantly damage Japanese superstar Shohei Otani’s earning power if the 22-year-old immigrates to the majors before he turns 25, but that might not prevent him from coming to the big leagues prior to 2019. Hideki Kuriyama, Otani’s manager with the Nippon-Ham Fighters, said Thursday that he expects the right-handed ace/left-handed hitter to head to the majors next offseason (Twitter link via Jim Allen of Kyodo News). Otani will have to take a minor league deal if he signs with a major league team before he turns 25. That means he’d need to accrue six years of service time before becoming a major league free agent and having a real chance to cash in via the open market. As of last weekend, the Fighters were planning on posting Otani a year from now.

A couple more notes from around baseball:

  • The Red Sox and Brewers set the wheels in motion for Tuesday’s Travis Shaw/Tyler Thornburg trade at the general managers meetings in early November, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe in a highly detailed piece that’s worth a full read. Milwaukee GM David Stearns told Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski that the Brewers would want Shaw and more in return. “’I said, ‘Well, it would be something we’d be interested in talking about,'” Dombrowski recalled. Talks went dormant as the two sides awaited a new CBA, which Major League Baseball and the players’ union reached Nov. 30. Then, less than a week later at the winter meetings, the Red Sox agreed to send Shaw and two minor leaguers – shortstop Mauricio Dubon and right-hander Josh Pennington – to the Brewers for Thornburg.
  • The rebuilding Phillies might have another lean year or two ahead, but GM Matt Klentak expects their ever-growing core of young talent and the franchise’s spending ability to form a lethal mix soon. “One of the advantages that we have as a big market club is that we’ve been able to take advantage of the past couple of years to trade some key assets to get younger,” Klentak told Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice. “Another huge advantage we have is that we have a very dedicated ownership that we know will spend when the time is right.” That time might be two winters away, when free agency could feature such superstars as Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw and Josh Donaldson.

Latest On Shohei Otani

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There was hope last weekend that two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Otani would be on his way to the major leagues after next season, but it may be time to pump the brakes on that optimism. Major league officials met with international scouting directors Tuesday and informed them that there will be no special treatment for Otani under the new collective bargaining agreement, reports FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links). Thus, if the right-handed ace/left-handed hitter’s current team – the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – does make him available to major league clubs after next season, the international rules included in the CBA will significantly limit his earning power.

As the CBA stipulates – and as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan details – teams only have between $4.75MM to $5.75MM per year to spend on international free agents who are under 25. They can trade for up to 75 percent more spending room, meaning $8.3MM to $10MM is the most any club would be able to allocate to Otani. Moreover, Otani wouldn’t have the ability to become a major league free agent until he has six years of service time. That further takes away incentive for him to immigrate to the majors until at least after the 2019 season, when he’ll be 25.

Under the prior CBA, international restrictions would have only applied to Otani until he turned 23. His 23rd birthday is next July, meaning he could have been in position to sign a mega-deal a year from now had the previous rules stayed in place.

“Just when Otani was about to come over, they changed the rules” a major league scout who works in Japan told Jim Allen of Kyodo News.

Otani has garnered significant hype as a pitcher, even generating Noah Syndergaard comparisons, thanks in part to a fastball that can touch 102 mph on the radar gun. He dominated in Nippon Professional Baseball last season with a four-pitch mix, recording a 1.86 ERA, 11.2 K/9 and 3.87 K/BB in 140 innings. Otani broke out as a hitter, too, with a stellar .322/.416/.588 line and 22 home runs across 382 plate appearances. As a result, the NPB named him both the best pitcher and top hitter of the 2016 season. Now, to the chagrin of MLB fans, it seems Otani will remain a member of the NPB for at least three more seasons.

Nippon-Ham Fighters Planning To Post Shohei Otani After 2017 Season

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The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters are planning to post two-way superstar Shohei Otani after the 2017 season, according to a report from Sponichi (Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has follow-up tweets).  Should the team follow through next winter, Otani would immediately become one of the most sought-after members of the 2017-18 free agent class.

Since the Fighters have five remaining years of control over Otani before he was eligible to come to North America as a full free agent, this move comes as quite a surprise.  Otani just turned 22 last July and he helped lead the Fighters to the 2016 Japan Series championship after an all-around spectacular season.  Not only did Otani post a 1.86 ERA, 11.2 K/9 and 3.87 K/BB rate over 140 innings, he also hit .322/.416/.588 with 22 homers over 382 plate appearances as a designated hitter.  In Otani’s four professional seasons, he sandwiched a good year at the plate in 2014 between mediocre hitting performances in 2013 and 2015 before his superstar-level breakout this year.

Otani has long drawn the attention of MLB scouts, and he even considered foregoing Nippon Professional Baseball altogether in order to go to the majors as a teenager before agreeing to accept being drafted by the Fighters.  The right-hander has a four-pitch arsenal that includes a fastball that has topped out at 102mph, though he generally throws it in the 95-97mph range.  As a hitter, Otani swings from the left side and has displayed tape-measure power.

At the end of the 2017 season, Otani will be 23 and will have played five seasons in NPB, which would’ve made him eligible to sign with any team as an international free agent under the old rules of the collective bargaining agreement.  (Though he would’ve been subject to the existing posting rules for Japanese players.)  Under the new collective bargaining agreement, international players will only be ineligible from the stricter international bonus pool system if they’ve played six years in a recognized top league (like Cuba’s Serie Nacional) or are older than 25; years old.  It isn’t yet clear whether those rules apply to just Cuban players or to all international talents.  In any case, the overall stricter international signing policies have created some debate about when and how Otani would be impacted, though Passan tweeted earlier this week that some adjustments could be made to accommodate Otani or other Japanese players.

Assuming some adjustments are indeed made to allow Otani to be posted normally, any MLB team willing to cough up a $20MM posting fee to the Fighters will be eligible to negotiate with Otani.  Once he agrees to a (no doubt very sizeable) contract with a North American club, only the team that actually signs Otani would pay that $20MM fee to Nippon-Ham, leaving the Fighters with relatively little financial incentive to be posting their best talent.  One would think that Otani has perhaps requested to be posted, hence the early decision by the team.

International Notes: Otani, KBO, Bass, Wieland

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Though Japanese star Shohei Otani is generating a lot of discussion in MLB circles after his incredible two-way campaign in the NPB, he’s not a realistic candidate to come over this winter, as J.J. Cooper of Baseball America explains. For one thing, his Japanese club — the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters — has no incentive to make him available, since they are capped at a $20MM transfer fee that they’d be sure to have available in future years. And Otani himself has good reason to wait, because at just 22 years of age he’d be subject to MLB’s current international bonus rules. While that could change if the CBA is modified, as things stand his signing would be subject to a 100% tax on the amount by which a bonus exceeds a team’s signing pools. Given his anticipated value, that would represent an enormous hit to his earning capacity. Plus, ten teams — the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Royals and Blue Jays — wouldn’t even realistically be able to pursue him, since they are banned from giving out more than $300K to international players in this signing period. Otani pitched 140 innings with a 1.86 ERA, 11.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in NPB this season and also batted .322/.416/.588 with 22 homers in 382 plate appearances as a DH. In previous years, he’s also played in the outfield on days when he is not pitching.

More notes on the international scene…

  • Major League Baseball has tendered a pair of status checks on Korean left-handers Kwang-hyun Kim and Woo-chan Cha, according to Jee-ho Yoo if Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The Korea Baseball Organization informed MLB that both Kim and Cha are unrestricted free agents and free to sign with any domestic or international team. As Yoo notes, the agreement between MLB and KBO stipulates that MLB teams interested in signing Korean players must go through the status check via league offices before pursuing a KBO free agent. We’ve touched on both lefties here, and both could be viable options for big league clubs in a thin market for pitching. Of the scouts I’ve spoken to regarding Korean free agents, Kim draws stronger reviews, and some believe Cha may be better suited for ’pen work. Kim, 28, posted his third straight season with a sub-4.00 ERA this past year — no small feat in the hitter-friendly KBO. The SK Wyverns hurler worked to a 3.80 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 137 innings but missed some time with a midseason elbow issue. The 29-year-old Cha, meanwhile, had a 4.38 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in 141 2/3 innings.
  • Also via Yoo’s piece, left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang isn’t yet sure whether he’ll pursue opportunities in Major League Baseball for a second time. The 28-year-old southpaw was posted two winters ago and drew interest from the Twins and Rangers, but his Korean team, the Kia Tigers, didn’t accept the top bid for his services (presumably deeming it too low to part with their top pitcher). Yang has a 3.02 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in his past 373 KBO innings, though he was significantly better in 2015 than in 2016.
  • Former Padres/Astros/Rangers righty Anthony Bass announced on Twitter this week that after spending a season in Japan, he’s eyeing a return to the Majors. Bass, 29, posted a 3.65 ERA with a 71-to-47 K/BB ratio in 103 2/3 innings as a teammate of Otani with the Fighters en route to an NPB Championship this past season. In 278 1/3 innings at the big league level, Bass has a 4.40 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate. Bass made 14 starts against 23 relief appearances in Japan and has also started 18 big league games and 87 minor league games, so he could try to pitch himself as a rotation option in a market that is devoid of quality starters.
  • Right-hander Joe Wieland, who has appeared in the Majors with the Padres, Dodgers and Mariners, signed a one-year deal with Japan’s DeNa Yokohama BayStars last week, the team announced (Japanese link via Sanspo). Wieland will take home $825K, per the Sanspo report. Wieland appeared in one game with Seattle last year and has a 6.32 ERA in 52 2/3 Major League innings overall. The former fourth-round pick had Tommy John surgery back in 2012 early in his Padres career and was never able to fully recover and establish himself in the Majors. He’ll head to Japan for his age-27 campaign with the opportunity to earn significantly more than he would’ve were to have spent the bulk of the 2017 campaign in Triple-A once again.

Quick Hits: Otani, Archer, Rays, McCutchen, Bucs

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If Japanese ace Shohei Otani were a free agent this offseason, “He’d be by far the best pitcher on the market,” one general manager told Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com. Considering the current class lacks front-end starters, that’s not a surprise. However, the 22-year-old right-hander would also draw plenty of interest on a robust market. Otani led the Nippon Ham Fighters to a Japan Series title this past season while recording a 1.86 ERA, 11.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 over 140 innings. The left-handed batter was also outstanding offensively, hitting .322/.416/.588 with 22 home runs in 382 plate appearances, and could become a two-way star in the major leagues eventually. One GM would have no problem allowing Otani to hit on days he doesn’t pitch. “Sign me up. I think every one of the 30 teams would be in the mix,” he said. Otani has only played four years in Japan and won’t be eligible to come to the majors of his own volition until after his ninth season, but the Fighters could post him before then and receive $20MM in return from the team that wins his services. There are multiple GMs who don’t expect that to happen until 2018, though, per Bloom.

More from around baseball:

  • The Rays are in position to take advantage of the lack of enticing starters on this year’s market, opines Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The club has trade candidates in a pair of righties – Chris Archer and Jake Odorizzi – and southpaw Drew Smyly, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Friday that the Rays departed this week’s GM meetings with confidence that they’d deal at least one of them. Righty Alex Cobb also holds appeal, writes Topkin, even though he pitched to an 8.59 ERA in 22 innings this year after missing all of 2015 because of Tommy John surgery. “The demand is there,” GM Erik Neander said of his pitchers. “When you have really good players, especially in an area where there is need across the league, I think it certainly plays that way.”
  • The Rays’ best starter, Archer, lamented the team’s financial limitations in an interview with MLB Network Radio on Thursday. “I think in order for us to be successful, we’ve got to spend more money,” he said (via Topkin). “You look at the teams that were in contention this year and they were all around the $100-million payroll mark or more. And we’re in the $70 million payroll (range).” Archer continued, “I get it. We might not be capable of spending with the Yankees and Red Sox. But if we keep harping on it then it permeates the minds of the players. And we don’t want the players to think that we’re at any competitive disadvantage.” President of baseball operations Matt Silverman responded to Archer’s comments Friday, telling Topkin, “We share Chris’ passion. There’s no value in harping on the competitive disadvantages in baseball. It’s our reality. And it’s what helps motivate us to find new ways to win.”
  • The Pirates held trade talks over the summer involving center fielder Andrew McCutchen, the longtime face of the franchise, and GM Neal Huntington has continued to field inquiries on the 30-year-old. Regarding the interested teams, Huntington told the Associated Press after the GM meetings, “They recognize that we haven’t been averse to moving guys as their contract nears expiration. It’s a part of how we believe we need to do things to continue to be competitive and continue to give ourselves a shot to win.”  McCutchen has a maximum of two years left on his contract, including a $14.5MM club option in 2018.

Quick Hits: Colon, Otani, Lincecum, Phillies, Royals

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In one of the best, most shocking moments of the season, Mets right-hander Bartolo Colon hit his first career home run Saturday night, a two-run shot off the Padres’ James Shields. It took Colon until the age of 42 to go yard, making him the oldest player in major league history to finally break through with a homer. The ball exited Colon’s bat at 97 mph and traveled 365 feet at pitcher-friendly Petco Park, according to Statcast (data and video courtesy of SI Wire). Colon savored the accomplishment by taking a 30-second trot around the bases. He also impersonated Babe Ruth on the mound by turning in a nice pitching performance, throwing 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball in a 6-3 win.

We won’t top that tonight, but here’s more from the sport:

  • Japanese right-hander Shohei Otani might be willing to leave his homeland for the majors if teams see him as both a pitcher and a hitter, tweets Jim Allen of Kyodo News. The 21-year-old Otani is in the midst of his third straight dominant season as a pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, and he’s on an early offensive tear with a .308/.362/.654 line in 58 plate appearances. Otani is a career .251/.306/,450 hitter with 23 home runs (including five this year) in 615 PAs. “He’s going to have to make a choice. Either way he’s going to be an All-Star-caliber player as a hitter or pitcher,” an American League scout told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe in February.
  • The Phillies were among the many teams with a scout in attendance at free agent righty Tim Lincecum’s showcase Friday, reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. At 31, Lincecum would become the elder statesman of the Phillies’ young rotation if he were to sign with them, though the club may have simply been doing its due diligence when it scouted the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
  • Omar Infante has gotten the vast majority of playing time for the Royals at second base this year, but his days as the everyday option there are winding down, writes Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. “I’m just trying to find ways to keep him productive,” said manager Ned Yost. “Sometimes more recovery time makes him more productive. So playing him four days a week or three days a week or five days a week is better than seven days a week. His arm is shortening up and his range is shortening up.” After a stretch of solid production with multiple teams from 2009-13, Infante joined the Royals on a four-year, $30.25MM contract and immediately began a steep decline. In 1,126 plate appearances with Kansas City, Infante has hit a paltry .238/.269/.328 – including a .247/.284/.326 line in 96 PAs this season. Fellow Royals second baseman Christian Colon hasn’t been any better offensively in the early going, having slashed .250/.300/.286 in 30 PAs.

Cafardo On Managers, Shields, Lee, Otani

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Here’s the latest from the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo:

  • Cafardo asked a variety of MLB players, managers, coaches and front office personnel who the best managers in the game were and compiled his annual ranking of the 30 skippers. Topping the list is Joe Maddon of the Cubs, whose sabermetric strategies have “revolutionized” managing much in the way Tony La Russa’s tactics did a generation ago, according to Cafardo. Maddon is followed by Bruce Bochy of the Giants and Buck Showalter of the Orioles.
  • The Padres could potentially wait to trade James Shields until this summer’s deadline, Cafardo writes. While Shields’ first year in San Diego was not terrible, he might have spooked potential suitors with the 33 home runs he allowed last season. If he were to get off to a good start in 2016, that might rebuild his trade value.
  • Chris Lee will be one of the Orioles’ “must-see” pitchers this Spring, Cafardo writes, noting that Lee throws 97 MPH with a good changeup and slider. The Astros traded Lee to the Orioles last May for only a pair of international bonus spots. However good his stuff might be, Lee’s statistics don’t yet indicate that he’s a top prospect — in 145 innings last year, he only struck out 98 batters. It should perhaps be noted, though, that the Orioles promoted him very aggressively, and he was quite young for Double-A by the time he reached that level.
  • Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher Shohei Otani has been training with his team in Arizona, and as we noted yesterday, he’s been generating a lot of buzz. As Cafardo notes, the 22-year-old isn’t likely to be posted anytime soon, although US-based scouts feel he could be a star in the Majors, either as a hitter or a pitcher. “He can do both,” says a scout from the American League. “He’s going to have to make a choice. Either way he’s going to be an All-Star-caliber player as a hitter or pitcher.” With his triple-digit fastball, Otani will likely remain a pitcher.

International Notes: Otani, Padres, Ona, Morejon, Lazarito, Cards

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22-year-old righty Shohei Otani, a standout in Japan’s NPB, has been drawing plenty of attention lately as his Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters train in Arizona. It’s not hard to see why, as the power righty is coming off of a season in which he put up a 2.24 ERA over 160 2/3 innings, with 11.0 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9. Otani, who is also a productive hitter, says he’s always dreamed of playing in the majors, as MLB.com’s Barry Bloom writes. But it’s not yet clear when that chance will arise. As Eric Longenhagen explains for ESPN.com, his current team has little incentive to post him now, given that it is capped at $20MM regardless of when it does so. But he does add that some believe the Fighters would allow him to depart if a request was made. If and when that occurs, you can expect a bidding frenzy unlike many others. As Ben Badler of Baseball America puts it on Twitter, he rates Otani higher than any pitching prospects currently in MLB organizations.

Here’s more from the broader baseball world:

  • The Padres are expected to make some noise on the international market, as Badler writes and Longenhagen also covers in the above-linked piece. San Diego appears to be the favorite to land two high-end Cuban talents: 19-year-old outfielder Jorge Ona and young southpaw Adrian Morejon. (The Cubs had been seen as having an edge on the latter, per Badler, but now seem to have made way for the Pads.) Per the report, the club is also primed to add a few significant July 2 prospects from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
  • GM A.J. Preller has long been known for his international attention and acumen, and it seems that he’s now putting that background to work as his organization looks to rebuild a lightly-regarded farm system. Indeed, the team appears to be giving quite a bit of attention to yet another young Cuban player, Lazaro “Lazarito” Armenteros, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune details. Like the Braves, San Diego would need to convince him to wait until the next July 2 period to avoid incurring penalties (for exceeding this year’s international spending caps) that would foul up other significant moves.
  • We’ve heard previously that the Friars are among the clubs expected to bust their budgets in the coming July 2 signing season, and the Cardinals appear set to join them, Badler reports (building upon a recent report that St. Louis was looking to be aggressive). He notes that there’s some interplay with the possibility that the organization could be penalized relating to the Astros computer breach scandal, which might cost draft picks (or, conceivably, international money). Two names to watch for St. Louis, per Badler, are top Venezuelan outfielder Victor Garcia and 17-year-old Cuban center fielder Jonatan Machado.
  • The recent MLB international prospect showcase had players from eight countries in attendance, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez writes, and there’s hope for further expansion in the future. Athletics GM David Forst says that the process of evaluating young international players has changed dramatically in recent years, with events like this featuring actual game action (rather than just workouts) providing a chance “to see these kids play in games against their peers and similar competition.”

International Notes: Gurriel, Oh, Cardinals, Matsuda, Otani

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Here’s the latest player news from abroad…

  • A recent goodwill trip to Cuba from several Major League stars was “the greatest experience of my life,” Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tells MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez.  Gurriel, possibly the top Cuban prospect still in the country and the latest member of Cuban baseball’s most iconic family, was honored to meet such stars as Miguel Cabrera (“my hero,” Gurriel said) and Clayton Kershaw.  He also received an informative pep talk from Jon Jay about what’s expected to play in the big leagues, and “hearing those words from a Major League player is something that will stay with me forever,” Gurriel said.  The youngest Gurriel and his older brother Yuliesky — considered by many as the best player in the Serie Nacional — have both drawn lots of attention from MLB scouts but Lourdes Jr. insists that they will only leave Cuba with the government’s permission.  (Note: the brothers are reportedly now going by ’Gurriel’ rather than the more commonly-known ’Gourriel’ spelling that the family has used for decades.)
  • The Cardinals’ signing of Seung-hwan Oh marks what the club hopes is the beginning of a strong pipeline of Asian talent, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes.  In a three-part series (all links here), Langosch details how the Cards have developed their process for scouting Asian players essentially from scratch over the last decade.  The piece also includes the news that St. Louis had interest in Nobuhiro Matsuda as a utility infielder earlier this winter before the team instead traded for Jedd Gyorko.
  • The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters are holding their spring camp in Arizona at the Padres’ Spring Training facility, giving North American scouts a first-hand look at right-hander Shohei Otani, Baseball America’s Bill Mitchell writes.  Otani is only 21 but he was attracting interest from MLB scouts even out of high school before deciding to begin his pro career in Japan.  Otani owns a 101-mph fastball and has a 2.72 ERA and 421 strikeouts (against 136 walks) over his first 377 2/3 career innings, and he also has a .729 OPS in 557 PA as a part-time outfielder.

NL West Links: Betancourt, Venable, Hall

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The Dodgers’ losing streak extended to five games after dropping a 3-2 result to the Astros today.  It was another rough outing for the struggling Los Angeles bullpen, as Kenley Jansen blew a save by allowing Houston to tie the game in the ninth, and Chris Hatcher picked up the loss after giving up a 10th-inning walkoff homer to Jason Castro.  Entering Sunday, Dodgers relievers had combined for a 6.00 ERA since the All-Star break, the second-worst bullpen ERA of any club in the second half.  Here’s some more from around the NL West…

  • Rafael Betancourt was designated for assignment by the Rockies earlier today, and the veteran reliever told reporters (including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding) that he’s at peace with the fact that his 12-year career could be over.  He isn’t too optimistic about another team picking him up, saying “I don’t see any team that’s a contender right now that is looking to” acquire a struggling 40-year-old.  Betancourt may be a little hard on himself; several ERA indicators (3.32 FIP, 4.27 xFIP and 3.67 SIERA) show that he’s pitching much better than his 6.18 ERA would imply, and his velocity, strikeouts and walk rates are around his career averages.  Betancourt has been hurt by a .328 BABIP and a stunningly low 52.6% strand rate over his 39 1/3 innings of work.
  • The Dodgers declined to claim Will Venable on trade waivers, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets.  Los Angeles is rather deep with outfield options but, as Morosi notes, the Dodgers could’ve used Venable in center with Joc Pederson struggling.  The Dodgers were hardly alone in passing on Venable, who went through waivers and then garnered interest from several teams.  The Padres dealt Venable to the Rangers last week.
  • The Diamondbacks are eager to make an impact in Japan both marketing-wise and in terms of player acquisitions, team president Derrick Hall told Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times.  “For us, we’ve always looked to be identified with someone in Japan.  We’re still hoping to find that talent one day,” Hall said.  “It’s a dream of mine personally to have a Japanese player in a D’Back uniform, as well as a Mexican-born player who can have an impact. Because I’ve seen what a difference that makes having grown up and cut my own teeth in the Dodgers organization all those years. Of course I was around during the time of Nomo-san and Nomomania and that was electric.”
  • Hall, Tony La Russa, Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez recently traveled to Japan on a goodwill tour on the Diamondbacks’ behalf, and while they weren’t specifically there to scout players, they did see Kenta Maeda and Shohei Otani pitch in NPB action.  Arizona was one of several teams linked to Maeda last offseason before the righty decided to re-sign with the Hiroshima Carp.  Maeda could be posted this winter, while Otani is just 21 and it’ll be at least a few seasons before the Nippon Ham Fighters consider making him available to North American teams.  Hall said the D’Backs are “going to be aggressive” on signing talent they believe in, though given the large fees involved in signing top-flight Japanese talent, “it makes it more difficult for teams like us in smaller markets.  When we write that big a check, we cannot miss. We’ve gotta be right.”
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