A's in Agreement with Shintaro Fujinami

According to Jeff Passan, the Oakland A's are in agreement with 28-year-old right-hander Shintaro Fujinami on a one-year deal.

Right-hander Shintaro Fujinami and the Oakland A's are in agreement on a one-year deal, pending physical, a source tells ESPN. Fujinami, 28, is expected to join the A's rotation. He arrives from the Hanshin Tigers, where he spent 10 seasons.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 11, 2023

He does note that this deal is pending a physical, which has been a big sticking point this particular off-season, but generally those are passed no problem.

Fujinami debuted when he was 19 with Hanshin, and in the ten years he's pitched there, he has totaled 1,302 1/3 innings between the main club and the minor league club, to go along with a 3.17 ERA. This past season he tossed 107 1/3 innings with a 2.77 ERA, 1.118 WHIP, 9.6 K/9, and 3.0 BB/9 between both spots. With the NPB team, he tallied a 3.78 ERA, and his walk rate, which has been a concern for him dating back to 2017, sat at 2.8 BB/9 with NPB across 66 2/3 IP.

Fujinami averaged 96 on his fastball in 2022 and has been clocked at 101 in the past. He also has a ridiculous splitter that gets whiffs at a 34% clip. When batters could get some wood on it, the contact resulted in ground balls.

The big question here is what does this mean for the A's rotation moving forward, if he is expected to join the starting five?

KBO signee Drew Rucinski also seems like a good bet to start the season in the rotation. Cole Irvin and Paul Blackburn are definitely in there, unless they are now trade bait. James Kaprielian is in the rotation once he he ready to go.

That's five right there, and that doesn't include any of the A's recent trade acquisitions, like top prospects Kyle Muller or Ken Waldichuk. JP Sears would be on the outside looking in. Adam Oller and Adrián Martínez may need a little more seasoning in Triple-A, but they showed flashes of being solid big leaguers in 2022. Not to mention the talk of stretching out A.J. Puk to be a starter earlier this winter.

This signing likely means that a trade is going to happen at some point, because the A's have a lot of starting rotation options now, and the ones currently slotted into those spots are not the long-term answers for the club, or even the ones that were acquired by sending some fan favorites to other teams.

The A's likely have another move or two in store.