Cubs Have New Free Agency Options After Japanese Postings

If The Chicago Cubs swing and miss on the top Japanese free-agent pitcher on the market, they could have their shot at two other pitchers that were posted on Monday.

While Yoshinobu Yamamoto is unquestionably the top pitcher from Nippon Professional Baseball on the free-agent market, pitchers Shota Imanaga, who plays for the Yokohama BayStars, and Naoyuki Uwasawa of the Nippon-Ham Fighters, should draw plenty of interest from MLB teams.

Both were posted on Monday by their respective teams, per The Kyodo News and MLB.com. Teams now have 45 days to negotiate with the pair before their rights revert back to their former clubs. That deadline is Jan. 11.

Yamamoto was posted last week and the belief is that 11 to 14 teams are interested in speaking to him, and those conversations should be happening this week.

If Yamamoto doesn’t get a deal done by Jan. 4 he reverts back to his club, the Orix Buffaloes. That is considered unlikely, as the 25-year-old is expected to sign a deal in excess of $200 million after throwing his second no-hitter this year.

He has a career record of 70-29 and had a 1.21 ERA in 2023, with a 16-6 record and 169 strikeouts in 164 innings.

Imagana isn’t a consolation prize, though. He’s a quality pitcher in his own right, even though he’s five years older than Yamamoto.

He has posted an ERA of less than 3.00 in two of his past five seasons. Since 2019 he has a 2.79 ERA, with a 26.2 percent strikeout rate and a 5.9 percent walk rate.

In 2023, he struck out nearly 30 percent of the hitters he faced in 148 innings, as he posted a 2.80 ERA. He walked just 3.8 percent of the hitters he faced. In 2022, he threw a no-hitter.

Imanaga could get a five-year deal valued at $85 million, per projections by MLB Trade Rumors.

Uwasawa, a right-hander who will turn 30 in January, has a 19.7 career percent strikeout rate. He has a solid walk rate (7.5 percent) and is coming off a 2023 in which he had a 2.96 ERA in 170 innings and walked just 5.9 percent of the hitters he faced.

He’s thrown more than 1,000 innings and has a career ERA of 3.19.

Imanaga and Uwasawa are the latest Asian players to be posted.

Outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, who plays for Kiwoom Heroes in Korean Professional Baseball, should be posted in December. Teams will have 30 days to sign him once he’s posted.

Lee has played in the KBO since he was 18 years old. He spent two years with Nexen before joining Kiwoom. He’s been an incredibly consistent hitter in the KBO, as he’s batted over .300 in each of his seven seasons and has a lifetime batting average of .340. He also has a .992 fielding percentage.