Potential Yankees Free-Agent Pitching Target Posted by NPB

Another New York Yankees pitching target has hit free agency, as Shota Imanaga was posted by Nippon Professional Baseball on Monday.

Imanaga’s NPB team, the Yokohama BayStars posted him per the Kyodo News, which starts the 45-day negotiating window for MLB teams. Imanaga must strike a deal by Jan. 11 or go back to the BayStars for another season.

Imanaga wasn’t the only Japanese pitcher posted on Monday. Naoyuki Uwasawa of the Nippon-Ham Fighters was also posted and has the same timeline to find a deal as Imanaga, per MLB.com.

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.

Imagana 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.

It’s unlikely a Yankees pursuit of Imanaga will preclude them from pursuing the top import this offseason, Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The Yankees will likely be among the teams that speak to Yamamoto and his representatives this week as the 25-year-old narrows down his options for a stateside visit in December.

He must find a deal by Jan. 4, and it’s likely he will, as he is expected to find a deal in excess of $200 million.

He has a career record of 70-29. In 2023 he had a 1.21 ERA with a 16-6 record and 169 strikeouts in 164 innings. He also threw his second no-hitter this year, a game in which Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was in attendance.

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.