Ranking the Blue Jays’ Fit for 4 Newly Posted International Players
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It's time for Toronto to go for Sato.
Teruaki Sato (pronounced te-roo-ah-kee sah-toh) is the prize of this year's four players being posted, three from Japan's NPB and one from Korea's KBO.
Last year, Toronto struck gold with Japanese 3B Kazuma Okamoto, who became not only the club's top slugger, but also a quesadilla-eating phenomenon, with Kaz-Adillas being sold at Rogers Centre.
The four players were posted yesterday, and teams can begin negotiating with them today. Ken Rosenthal reported in The Athletic that teams will not be able to negotiate with the four posted players beyond December 1st if there is a lockout.
The last time there was a lockout, MLB paused the 45-day posting window, and club's could negotiate with the players after the lockout ended.
Not this time...
When the clock strikes midnight on December 1st, the posted players turn into pumpkins for this upcoming season. So let's take a deeper look at the four players and their fit for Toronto, ranking them and giving each a letter grade in terms of meeting Toronto's needs.
#1 - Teruaki Sato - Fit Grade: A-
Let's start by looking at how Sato's 2026 Triple Crown season for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Central League (.306, 39 HR, 106 RBI) compares to Munetaka Morikami and Kazuma Okamoto's final seasons in Japan, both in 2025, and Seiya Suzuki's final NPB season in 2021.
Player | Year | Age | OBP | SLG | K% | BB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Suzuki | 2021 | 27 | .433 | .639 | 16.3% | 16.3% |
Okamoto | 2025 | 29 | .416 | .598 | 11.3% | 11.3% |
Murikami | 2025 | 25 | .379 | .663 | 28.6% | 14.3% |
Sato | 2026 | 27 | .383 | .609 | 26.7% | 11.1% |
ZiPS projects Sato to put a 118 wRC+ in 2027 (20% better than league average)j versus Okamoto's 121+ for his first season stateside and Murakami's 130.
Sato has plus-plus power but also a lot of swing-and-miss. Okamoto's strikeout rate jumped from 11.3% in Japan to 28.8%, and Murakami, the better comparable, had a strikeout rate of 35.4%.
Sato is a poor defender at both third base and in right field. He is a high-risk, high-reward slugger, much like Murakami was when the White Sox signed him last offseason.
Toronto, though, needs offense after finishing dead last in MLB in runs and home runs, and 26th in slugging percentage.
Seiya Suzuki would be the more proven and likely better option in right field. He is far better defensively, but Sato is in his prime.
A five-year deal with Sato covers ages 27-31, while a four-year deal with Suzuki covers ages 32-35. Sato will cost a bit more if you include the posting fee to Hanshin. A three-year deal with Suzuki makes sense. If he wants longer, Toronto may well pivot to Sato.
The complicating factor is they may need to make a decision on Sato first.
# 2- Kaima Taira - Fit Grade: B+
Taira has sizzling stuff, perhaps second only to Skubal among free-agent pitchers. He led NPB with a 1.36 ERA and .96 WHIP in 23 games after moving back to the starting rotation in 2026, following 31 saves and a 1.71 ERA in 2025 as a closer.
The question with Taira is durability. He is 5'8", and since 1979 only old friend Marcus Stroman has topped 100 innings in MLB at 5'8" or shorter. Taira has topped 100 innings only twice in Japan, and has never made more than 23 starts in a season (he made 23 in both 2023 and 2026). He missed time in 2024 with a
His highest ERA in eight NPB seasons is 2.40. In every other season, it has been below 2, with a career ERA of 1.78. The stocky 220-pound Taira, nicknamed The Fire Hydrant, has a seven-pitch mix, including an elite slider and splitter, plus a high-spin fastball that has reached 102 mph.
Taira's 2026 season compares reasonably well with that of some recent star Japanese pitchers who have transitioned stateside.
Player | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taira | 146 | 1.36 | .96 | 8.7 | 2.8 |
Yamamoto | 171 | 1.16 | .86 | 9.3 | 1.5 |
Darvish | 232 | 1.44 | .83 | 10.7 | 1.4 |
Taira is projected on Fangraphs list of the Top 50 Free Agents to get a 3 year deal in the ballpark of $15M per year.
Taira has electric stuff, but he may be a shorter-stint starter for a Toronto rotation that needs some length and innings with only Dylan Cease and Jose Soriano projecting for a full starter's workload at this point. Taira has a high floor because he could be.a bullpen weapon if he cannot start, but that is not the Blue Jays' biggest area of need.
This is Kaima Taira. He is 5-foot-8, 220 pounds and throws up to 100 mph. He also might be the best starting pitcher available this winter outside of Tarik Skubal. More on him, Teruaki Sato (the class’ best hitter) and Hiromi Itoh: https://t.co/cOHKPO8tDn pic.twitter.com/yHTSuY7Zc7
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 10, 2026
#3 - Hiromi Itoh - Fit Grade C+
Itoh stands only one inch taller than Taira at 5'9", but is more of an innings eater, having logged 196 2/3 and 172 2/3 innings the past two years. In 2025 he was the Sawamura Award, Japan's Cy Young, but his strikeout rate dropped from 24.5% to 21.8% in 2026 and his ERA jumped to 3.18 (career mark of 2.92).
He has worked at least 153 innings in the past five years and 172 in the past three. Fangraphs has him ranked as the #30 free agent just behind Shota Imanaga and three spots behind old friend Kevin Gausman.
If the Blue Jays are looking for a number five starter to eat innings, Itoh might work, but his fastball sits around 92 and some see him more as a bullpen arm in MLB.
He is projected to sign a 3-year deal worth around $12M per year. For that price, I would go with Taira's upside.
4) Si Hwan Roh - Fit Grade D-
I am a no on Roh. His best position is third base, which he doesn't play all that well. Many see him as a first baseman, but that spot is taken by a guy coming off laser eye surgery.. He struck out over 25% of the time in the KBO, compared to the league average. He is not jsut a poor man's version of Sato, he is a homeless man's version.
The KBO talent level is usually pegged somewhere between Double-A and Triple-A, and even though Roh has been a a 30+ home run hitter in Toronto as a high strikeout, right-handed DH bat he does not bring enough to the table to be worth the Blue Jays roster spot or time.
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Adam Steinmetz writes about the Toronto Blue Jays for On SI. Adam is also the editor and publisher of the Boston Sunday Sports Section, a weekly digital publication covering the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins. A two-time winner of the Best Collegiate Sports Writer award in Philadelphia, he began his career with freelance work for The Philadelphia Daily News and The Palm Beach Post before building a successful career outside of journalism. He returned to sports writing last year, contributing to Pitcher List—including coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays—before launching Authorenticity on Substack, where he explores the human stories within baseball. The Boston Sunday Sports Section is his most ambitious project — the thinking fan’s modern Sunday Sports Section focused on the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins.