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Angels Sign Alek Manoah To Major League Deal

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The Angels announced they have signed right-hander Alek Manoah to a major league deal. Jeff Passan of ESPN previously reported the agreement and that Manoah will make $1.95MM next year. The Halos had multiple 40-man vacancies and didn’t need to make a corresponding move for the Covenant Sports Group client.

It’s a clear buy-low move for the Angels. Manoah was once a first round pick and top prospect, then became a Cy Young candidate as of a few years ago. But more recently, injuries and underperformance bumped his stock to the point that he was non-tendered by Atlanta last month.

The Blue Jays selected Manoah 11th overall in 2019. By 2021, he was making big league starts. He took the ball 20 times that year and threw 111 2/3 innings, allowing 3.22 earned runs per nine. His 8.7% walk rate was around average while his 27.7% strikeout rate was quite strong. 2022 was his first full season. He made 31 starts and logged 196 2/3 innings with a 2.24 ERA. His strikeout rate dropped to 22.9% but he also improved his walk rate to a 6.5% clip. He finished third in American League Cy Young voting behind Justin Verlander and Dylan Cease.

It’s basically been downhill since then. He struggled badly enough in 2023 to get optioned to the minors multiple times. He finished the year with a 5.87 ERA over 19 starts. His strikeouts dipped to a subpar 19% rate while his walk rate climbed to an ugly 14.2% pace.

Going into 2024, the Jays reportedly had some openness to trading Manoah, with the Angels checking in on him at that time. However, the Jays didn’t pull the trigger on a deal and he opened the 2024 season with Toronto. He was slowed by some shoulder soreness during the spring and began the season on the injured list. He was reinstated in May and then made five decent starts, with a 3.70 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. However, he then went back on the IL, this time due to an elbow sprain. He required Tommy John surgery in June of that year.

Manoah then spent the rest of that season on the IL. The Jays held him on the roster through the winter and tendered him a contract. They avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2.2MM salary for 2025.  They then put him back on the 60-day IL in March. He began a rehab assignment in July. Rehab assignments normally are capped at 30 days for pitchers but guys recovering from Tommy John can push that to 60.

By the middle of September, Manoah’s clock was up but the Jays had a rotation featuring Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Max Scherzer, with Trey Yesavage lurking in Triple-A. Manoah also hadn’t done much to force the issue, as he had a 19.6% strikeout rate and 12.8% walk rate during his rehab outings. He was reinstated from the IL but optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.

Later that month, the Jays needed a 40-man spot to reinstate Anthony Santander from the 60-day IL. Manoah was designated for assignment as the corresponding move. With the trade deadline having passed, the Jays had to put him on waivers, with Atlanta claiming him. They held him on their roster for a while but then non-tendered him. It might seem a bit odd to claim a player off waivers and then cut him shortly thereafter. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible Atlanta tried to sign him for 2026 but then non-tendered him when they couldn’t agree on the price point.

For the Halos, it’s a low-cost bet on a bounceback. The salary isn’t much beyond the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. Manoah also still has options, so it’s possible he could be pitching in Triple-A as depth.

Pitching has been a weakness for the club for quite a while and 2025 was no exception. The staff as a whole had a 4.89 ERA this year, putting them ahead of just the Rockies and Nationals. That includes a 4.91 ERA from the rotation, again ahead of just Washington and Colorado. Tyler Anderson became a free agent at season’s end, thinning out the group even more.

Going into 2026, there is very little certainty in the rotation group. Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano have two spots spoken for. Reid Detmers seems like he’ll get a chance to return to the rotation but he’s a big question mark after struggling in 2024 and then pitching out of the bullpen in 2025. There are a few other guys in the mix, such as Jack Kochanowicz, Caden Dana and Sam Aldegheri, though those guys have fairly mixed track records.

Since the offseason has begun, this is the second time the Angels have bought low on a former big name. A couple of weeks ago, they traded Taylor Ward to the Orioles in order to nab Grayson Rodriguez. It’s a somewhat similar situation to Manoah, as Rodriguez was the 11th overall pick in 2018 but has seen his career thrown off course by injuries. Perhaps the Angels will make more of a surefire rotation addition later in the winter but they have stuck with the less certain guys so far.

It’s hard to know what to expect from Manoah now. It’s been a few years since he was both healthy and effective. He was averaging just 91 miles per hour on his fastball in Triple-A this year. That’s almost three ticks below his 2022 season, when he averaged 93.9 mph. Perhaps being further removed from his surgery will allow him to find a new gear. If not, the Angels won’t have lost much. If it works out, Manoah will finish the 2026 season with less than six years of service, so he could be retained via arbitration for the 2027 season.

Photos courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images

Cubs Sign Scott Kingery To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs signed utility player Scott Kingery to a minor league contract, the team informed reporters (including Maddie Lee of The Chicago Sun-Times). He’ll be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

Kingery returned to the majors this past season, getting into 19 games with the Angels. It marked his first MLB action in three years. His 29 MLB plate appearances were the most he logged in a season dating back to 2020. The former top Phillies prospect recored four hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He has a lifetime .227/.278/.382 batting line in nearly 1200 career plate appearances, almost all of which came in Philadelphia from 2018-19.

Now 31, Kingery spent most of this year at Triple-A Salt Lake. He batted .228/.284/.402 while striking out in a quarter of his trips to the plate. It was a step back from his more impressive ’24 season with the Phillies’ top affiliate, when Kingery had a 25-25 season in the minors.

The Cubs won’t expect much offensively from the right-handed hitter. Kingery provides defensive versatility and plays anywhere on the diamond aside from first base and catcher. He’s an above-average runner who’ll compete for a spot on Craig Counsell’s bench during Spring Training.

Braves Sign Danny Young

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The Braves announced Tuesday morning that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Danny Young to a one-year, major league contract. It’s a split deal, paying the 31-year-old at different rates for time spent in the majors versus time in the minors. Young, a client of Dynamic Sports Group, goes onto Atlanta’s 40-man roster. He’ll be paid at a $925K rate in the majors, MLBTR has learned.

This will be Young’s second stint in Atlanta. He spent the 2023 season with the Braves organization as well, pitching 8 1/3 terrific innings in the majors and struggling in 15 2/3 minor league frames. Injuries limited his time on the field that year, and that’ll be the case in 2026 as well. Young has spent the past two seasons pitching well out of the Mets’ bullpen but underwent Tommy John surgery last May. By signing in Atlanta, he’ll reunite with Jeremy Hefner — his pitching coach with the Mets who has left and taken the same title with the Braves.

Young will open the ’26 season on the injured list as he finishes off the rehab from that Tommy John procedure. A source tells MLBTR that he began throwing last month and is targeting a return to game action before the All-Star break.

Young has pitched in parts of four major league seasons. He’s totaled 60 2/3 innings in that time and logged a 4.01 earned run average with far more intriguing rate stats: 29% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate, 53.3% ground-ball rate. Metrics like SIERA (3.02) and FIP (3.23) feel he’s been far better than his ERA would indicate, which isn’t a surprise considering his solid rate stats but bloated .344 average on balls in play.

Once spring training opens, Young will very likely be transferred to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. If Atlanta needs that spot sooner, they could run him through waivers in the offseason. The salary terms might allow Young to go unclaimed, and while he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, doing so would require forfeiting the guaranteed money on his split major league and minor league rates of pay.

If Young stays on the 40-man roster/60-day injured list until the time of his activation, he’ll give Atlanta another southpaw option in a bullpen that already includes Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer. Out-of-options lefties Dylan Dodd and Joey Wentz are also penciled into bullpen spots at the moment.

Should Young bounce back to form, he’s a potential long-term piece in the Atlanta ’pen. He enters the 2026 season with only 1.160 years of major league service time, meaning he can be controlled for five more seasons — all the way through 2030. Obviously, there’s a long way to go before that long-term control comes into play, but the fact that the Braves put him directly onto the 40-man roster suggests an openness to plugging Young into the mix beyond the current season if he performs well; notably, Bummer is a free agent following the 2026 campaign.

Orioles Sign Ryan Helsley

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The Orioles have signed right-hander Ryan Helsley to a two-year contract that allows him to opt out after the 2026 season. It’s reportedly a $28MM guarantee for the Wasserman client, who’d also receive a $500K assignment bonus if he’s traded. The salary is evenly distributed, so Helsley will decide on a $14MM player option next winter.

Felix Bautista underwent shoulder surgery last August that will keep the closer on the injured list until at least August 2026, and that timeline means one setback could sideline Bautista for the entirety of the 2026 campaign.  As a result, the Orioles headed into the offseason looking for multiple bullpen additions, including a pitcher with past experience as a closer.

Helsley fits that description, as he racked up 105 saves as the Cardinals’ primary ninth-inning choice from 2022-25.  This stretch saw Helsley named to two NL All-Star teams, he was the NL’s Reliever Of The Year in 2024, and he even received some down-ballot Cy Young Award consideration in both 2022 and 2024.  Overall, Helsley posted a 2.67 ERA, 29.12% strikeout rate, and 9.93% walk rate over 299 2/3 innings in a St. Louis uniform, from his debut with the team in 2019 until he was traded to the Mets at last July’s trade deadline.

Given the Cardinals’ struggles over the last few seasons and Helsley’s looming free agency, it was seen as a surprise that it took so long for the reliever to be traded.  (In fact, the Orioles were first rumored to be interested in Helsley back in May 2024.)  Even trading Helsley last winter in the wake of his excellent 2024 would’ve brought a greater return back to the Cardinals, though they still landed three prospects in the midseason deal with New York.  And, considering how things went south for Helsley with the Mets, it’s hard to say the Cards didn’t come out on top in the deal.

Over 20 innings and 22 appearances with the Mets, Helsley was torched for a 7.20 ERA, with his home run rate, strikeout rate, and walk rate all going in the wrong direction.  Helsley felt he was tipping his pitches during his time in New York, but whatever the cause, the move back into a setup role behind Edwin Diaz ended up as a wash.  Helsley’s struggles were one of the many reasons behind a disastrous second half for the Mets that saw the team slowly fade out of the playoff race and ultimately fall short of the postseason.

Despite this rough stretch, close to half the league reportedly had interest in Helsley on the open market.  The Blue Jays, Cubs, and Tigers were among the many teams who saw Helsley as a bounce-back candidate and, intriguingly, Detroit and some other clubs viewed Helsley as a potential starting pitcher.  Given how Helsley has never started a game at the MLB level, it would’ve been a surprising development to see him land somewhere as a rotation candidate, but he’ll now settle into his familiar closing role in Baltimore.

MLB Trade Rumors still ranked Helsley 36th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents. He topped our projection of a two-year, $24MM deal, and he might end up handily topping $24MM over a two-year timeframe depending on what happens with his opt-out clause.  If he rediscovers his 2024 form, Helsley will surely choose to re-enter free agency in search of a more lucrative longer-term contract.  The Orioles might not mind that scenario if Bautista is back healthy by that point, and Helsley could then be tagged with a qualifying offer heading into free agency next winter.

Helsley brings elite velocity and spin with his 99.3mph fastball, though batters teed off on Helsley’s fastball in 2025, and his slider has been the more effective of his pitches over the last few years.  The righty has long struggled to avoid walks or hard contact, though the home run ball was never a huge issue until his brief stint with the Mets.  It obviously wasn’t the ideal platform for Helsley as he entered free agency, yet it is understandable why the Orioles still felt comfortable in making a two-year investment in his services.

Even a two-year pact counts as a big step for an O’s front office that has been pretty conservative about investing heavily in free agents.  Much of Mike Elias’ seven-year stint in charge of the baseball operations department was spent rebuilding, of course, but Tyler O’Neill’s three-year, $49.5MM deal from last winter is the only other multi-year contract Elias has even given to a free agent.  The Orioles’ disappointing 75-win performance in 2025 may have raised the urgency level, as Baltimore has been linked to a number of top-shelf names in this year’s free agent market.

Between signing Helsley and re-acquiring old friend Andrew Kittredge, the back end of the Orioles’ bullpen looks much sturdier than it did at season’s end.  More relievers could still be on the way, but Baltimore’s primary pitching need is now rotation help.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that Helsley was in agreement with Baltimore on a two-year deal with an opt-out. Katie Woo of The Athletic had the $28MM guarantee, while The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported the $500K assignment bonus. The Associated Press reported the salary breakdown.

Inset photo courtesy of Brad Penner — Imagn Images

Rockies Sign Nicky Lopez, John Brebbia To Minor League Deals

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The Rockies have signed infielder Nicky Lopez and right-hander John Brebbia to minor league deals, reports Kevin Henry of the Denver Gazette. Both players will receive invites to big league spring training. Lopez is represented by CAA and Brebbia by Icon Sports Management.

Lopez, 31 in March, has largely been a glove-first infielder in his career. He did have a nice .300/.365/.378 showing in 2021 but that seems to have been fuelled by a .347 batting average on balls in play, far higher than any other season he has played. In his career, he has stepped to the plate 2,374 times with just seven home runs. His 14.3% strikeout rate is quite low but his 7.6% walk rate is subpar. Put it all together and he has a .245/.310/.311 line and 73 wRC+, indicating he’s been 27% below league average at the plate.

Despite the lack of punch with the bat, Lopez has been able to carve out big league playing time on the strength of his defense. He has experience at all four infield spots and in left field. Reviews on his shortstop defense are mixed. He’s been credited with -11 Defensive Runs Saved at that spot, although a lot of that comes from a -9 in just 344 2/3 innings with the White Sox in 2024. Outs Above Average, meanwhile, has ranked him as 33 runs better than par at short. Both metrics give him positive reviews at the other positions he’s played.

Lopez got pushed to a fringe roster player in 2025. He got close to everyday playing time from 2019 to 2024 but he only got into 19 games and received 28 plate appearances this year. He had brief stints with the Angels and Cubs early in the year, then was stuck in the minors for the final few months of the season, bouncing to the Diamondbacks, Yankees and Cubs again.

The Rockies have plenty of uncertainty on their roster. They just lost 119 games and are retooling the organization. On the infield, Ezequiel Tovar is locked in at short but the other positions are up for grabs. Tyler Freeman, Kyle Karros, Troy Johnston, Adael Amador, Warming Bernabel, Ryan Ritter and Blaine Crim are all on the roster but Freeman is the only guy in that group with more than 60 games in the big leagues. Freeman can also play the outfield and might end up there, depending on what other moves the Rockies make.

In short, there’s lots of room for a veteran infielder. The Rockies had guys like Orlando Arcia, Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer on the roster in 2025 as veteran utility types but they’re all free agents now. If Lopez eventually cracks the roster, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent as a guy with at least five years of big league service time.

As for Brebbia, he’s a buy-low move for the Rockies. He had a strong run from 2017 to 2023, tossing 299 2/3 innings for the Cardinals and Giants, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. His 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate over that span were both better than league average. He got enough leverage work to earn two saves and 47 holds in those seasons.

The past two years haven’t been as smooth, however. He signed a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the White Sox going into 2024. Between Chicago and a brief appearance with Atlanta late in the year, he had a 5.86 ERA. However, his 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate were still strong. His ERA spike seemed to be connected to a career-high 11 home runs allowed.

The Tigers signed him to a one-year, $2.75MM deal going into 2025, hoping for a bounceback. They didn’t get it. He struggled and was designated for assignment in June. Like the year before, he was briefly scooped up by Atlanta. He finished the year with a 7.71 ERA over 22 appearances. His 22.6% strikeout rate was around average but his 10.4% walk rate was subpar. His home run woes continued, as he allowed five in less than half as many innings pitched as in the year prior.

The Rockies had a collective 5.99 ERA in 2025, the worst such mark in the majors. They have very few experienced pitchers on the roster. Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela are the only two with more than five years of service time. Neither has been especially effective in recent years. If they get back on track in 2026, they will likely be traded since both are only signed through 2026, with contract options for 2027.

Brebbia is turning 36 in May and spent part of 2025 on the injured list due to a triceps strain. Maybe the odds of a bounceback aren’t great, particularly if he ends up pitching in Coors, but the Rockies need pitching more than any other club and will likely take a number of fliers on pitchers like this. They recently signed Parker Mushinski to a minor league deal and will certainly ink a few more deals of this type.

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

KBO’s Samsung Lions Sign Matt Manning

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The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced the signing of right-hander Matt Manning to a one-year, $1MM contract.  Manning was outrighted off the Phillies roster in September, and he elected minor league free agency earlier this month.

Manning was once one of baseball’s top pitching prospects, and he was a fixture of top-100 prospect rankings in the years following his selection as the ninth overall pick of the 2016 draft.  He posted solid numbers on his way up the Tigers’ minor league ladder until his MLB debut in June 2021, but the strikeout ability Manning displayed in the minors didn’t translate to his work in the Show.  Over 254 innings and 50 starts with Detroit from 2021-24, Manning posted a 4.43 ERA, 7.8% walk rate, and only a 16.4% strikeout rate.

Some injuries hampered Manning during this time, but the Tigers eventually decided to move on entirely from the right-hander.  Manning spent the entire 2025 season in the minors, first with Triple-A Toledo and then with the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate in Reading after the Tigers designated Manning for assignment and traded him to Philadelphia just before the trade deadline.

Manning turns 28 in January, so between his relative youth and his past pedigree as a top prospect, it is a little surprising that he didn’t draw interest from any MLB teams on a minor league contract.  The fact that Manning inked his deal with the Lions relatively early in the offseason, however, perhaps suggests that he wasn’t interested in waiting perhaps several more weeks to land a non-guaranteed deal, and then going through the grind of another season in the minor leagues.  Manning is also now out of minor league options, so even if he did make a big league roster, he might’ve been facing more DFAs and outrights, plus potential moves to other teams on waiver claims or trades.

Rather than ride this carousel, Manning will get a $1MM payday from the Lions.  The KBO League is generally a hitter-friendly league, yet the lesser level of competition might help Manning get his career on track.  There have been several instances of pitchers who have used stints in the KBO to rework their pitching repertoire, post some strong numbers, and get back onto the radar of big league teams, so chances are we haven’t seen the last of Manning in a Major League organization.

NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines Sign Jose Castillo

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The Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of left-hander Jose Castillo.  The Mets chose to non-tender Castillo earlier this month, passing on the southpaw’s projected $1.7MM arbitration salary.

The move overseas to Japan may seem like small potatoes given the transactional maelstrom that was Castillo’s 2025 season.  He saw big league action for four different teams (the Diamondbacks, Mets, Mariners, and Orioles) while compiling a 3.94 ERA over 32 innings.  Beginning the season on a minor league deal with Arizona, Castillo was designated for assignment in May and then traded to the Mets, and he subsequently bounced around on a series of waiver claims.  Castillo actually had three separate stints with the Mets, with the latest coming in early November when he was claimed off Baltimore’s waiver wire.

Castillo is out of minor league options, making him a necessary DFA candidate whenever a team wants to move him off its active roster.  He would probably be facing another round of designations, outright assignments, and waiver wire visits if he’d signed a minor league deal with a Major League team this winter, so it perhaps isn’t surprising that Castillo has opted for the relative security (and a guaranteed salary) of this deal with the Marines.

Though Castillo has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons, that resume consists of his 32 innings in 2025, 38 1/3 innings with the Padres in his 2018 rookie season, and just two innings spread over a single game with the Padres in each of the 2019, 2022, and 2023 campaigns.  Multiple injuries (including a Tommy John surgery) shelved Castillo for almost the entirety of the 2019-21 seasons, and he pitched primarily in the minors with the Padres, Marlins, and Diamondbacks from 2022-24.

While a small sample size of big league work, Castillo’s career 4.11 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, and 9.6% walk rate are all respectable for a pitcher with such a journeyman resume.  He also has a 4.21 ERA over 130 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.  Control has been an issue for Castillo, but he has always been able to rack up strikeouts and generate grounders.  Castillo doesn’t turn 30 until January, so there’s still plenty of time for the left-hander to explore a future move back to North American baseball depending on how things work out during his Marines tenure.

Kohei Arihara Considering MLB Return

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Former Rangers right-hander Kohei Arihara is interested in returning to MLB, per a report from Yahoo Japan (h/t to Yakyu Cosmopolitan). Arihara is set to become a free agent on December 2. He’s been with the SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball for the past three seasons.

Arihara began his career in NPB, spending six seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. His solid work at Japan’s highest level earned him a two-year, $6.2MM deal with the Rangers in December 2020. Arihara pitched in parts of two seasons for Texas from 2021 to 2022. He struggled to a 6.64 ERA across 10 starts with the Rangers in his first season. The results were even worse the following year, when Arihara posted a 9.45 ERA over five appearances. He was designated for assignment in September 2022 and elected free agency at the end of the year.

The righty’s stateside debut was marred by a serious injury early in the season. The team discovered an aneurysm in Arihara’s shoulder, leading to surgery that sidelined him until September. Arihara was crushed for nine earned runs over 12 innings after coming back from the injury.

Arihara excelled in his return to NPB, putting together three productive seasons with the Hawks. He posted a pristine 2.31 ERA in 17 starts with the team in 2023. Arihara nearly matched that mark across a longer sample the following season, recording a 2.36 ERA over 26 starts on his way to 14 wins. He won another 14 games this past season, though his ERA did creep over 3.00.

The 33-year-old Arihara seems to be past the health issues that plagued his previous MLB stint, tossing at least 175 innings in back-to-back seasons. He’s certainly built some momentum toward a possible return to the big leagues. The Yahoo Japan report noted that the Yomiuri Giants are also interested in Arihara’s services.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Dayan Viciedo Signs With Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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Veteran infielder Dayan Viciedo has signed a contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars for the 2026 season, per an announcement from the BayStars.

Viciedo, now 36, is a Cuban slugger who played in parts of five seasons in the majors with the White Sox from 2010 to 2014. Considered to be among the league’s best prospects after hitting well in the Cuban National Series as a teenager before defecting to play in the majors, Viciedo impressed in a 38-game cup of coffee when he hit .308/.321/.519 across 106 plate appearances for the White Sox in 2010. That seemed to portend a promising future, but Viciedo wouldn’t enjoy a full season at the big league level in 2012. In parts of three seasons as a big league regular for the White Sox, he hit just .250/.294/.425 with a wRC+ of 95.

While he did flash consistent 20-homer pop with the bat, Viciedo was held back by a free-swinging approach that led him to walk in just 5.3% of his trips to the plate during his years as a regular. A 95 wRC+ is hardly unplayable at the big league level, but Viciedo primarily played the outfield corners during his time with the White Sox and received poor grades for his fielding on the grass. Given that, it was hardly a surprise when the White Sox cut him loose prior to the 2015 season. He spent 2015 in the A’s and White Sox farm systems before making the jump to NPB’s Chunichi Dragons in 2016.

Viciedo has done quite well for himself overseas. In 1001 NPB games over the years, he’s managed to hit .287/.352/.458 with 141 career homers. Things began to take a turn for the worse for Viciedo in recent years, however, as he began to struggle in Central League play. After difficult back-to-back seasons for the Dragons in 2023 and ’24, Viciedo actually departed Japan and signed with the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos. In 38 games for his new club, Viciedo looked like his old self and slashed .276/.359/.462 with eight homers.

That was enough to catch the attention of the BayStars, and he signed with them back in July to finish out the 2025 season in Japan. He hit .259/.322/.383 in 43 Central League games last year and now will return to the BayStars for a full season in 2026 as he looks to re-establish himself in NPB. He was joined by former big leaguers Mike Ford, Tyler Austin, and Yoshi Tsutsugo in the BayStars’ lineup during the 2025 season. While Viciedo played primarily the outfield corners during his time in the majors, he’s primarily been a first baseman in NPB and will likely fill a first base/DH role for the BayStars in 2026.

Jo Hsi Hsu Signs With NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

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Taiwanese right-hander Jo Hsi Hsu has signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. It’s a three-year deal with incentives worth more than $9.6MM USD. Yihsuan Wang of Yahoo Taiwan relayed the club announcement. Hat tip to CPBL Stats for relaying the details in English.

The 25-year-old righty has turned some heads with his results in the CPBL. He has thrown 305 innings for the Wei Chuan Dragons, including 114 innings in 2025 with a 2.05 earned run average. He struck out 28% of batters faced this year while limiting walks to a tiny 3.3% rate.

It was reported last week that the Dragons would make him available via the posting system and that Hsu was considering a jump to Major League Baseball, though a move to NPB seemed more probable.

A scouting report from Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs suggested that many MLB clubs would likely view Hsu as a reliever. They then wondered if that would lead him to Japan in an attempt to further prove himself as a capable starter against a higher level of competition.

Hsu’s motivations aren’t known but he will indeed head to Japan. He is still quite young, so perhaps a move to North America will become viable down the road if he puts up good numbers for the Hawks.

Photo courtesy of Jasen Vinlove, Imagn Images

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