It was already known that left-hander Shota Imanaga would be posted this offseason, and reports out of Japan yesterday indicated that the Yokohama DeNA Baystars have officially agreed to the left-hander’s request to explore the North American market. “If someone has a dream he wants to realize, and we think he has the ability to achieve it, we want to support that,” DeNA executive Tatsuhiro Hagiwara told the Kyodo News and other outlets.
To be clear, the Baystars have only agreed to post Imanaga, and haven’t yet officially posted the southpaw for MLB teams. Once Imanaga’s posting window properly opens, he’ll have 45 days to negotiate with Major League clubs. If no deal is reached within the 45 days, Imanaga will return to the Baystars for the 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball season, and he’d have to wait until next offseason to again vie for a North American contract.
The 30-year-old Imanaga is one of the more intriguing players available this winter, and MLBTR ranked him 10th on our list of the top 50 free agents of the 2023-24 class. We’re projecting a five-year, $85MM pact for Imanaga, befitting his status as one of Japan’s top pitchers of recent years. Imanaga is a two-time NPB All-Star, has a 3.18 ERA and 25% strikeout rate over 1002 2/3 career innings with the Baystars, and he won a gold medal with Japan’s championship team at this year’s World Baseball Classic.
Imanaga is subject to the MLB/NPB posting system, so a big league team would have to give the Baystars a posting fee on top of whatever they end up paying Imanaga. The posting fee is worth at least 20% of the guaranteed value of Imanaga’s contract, with the Baystars receiving more money depending on the total value. For instance, if Imanaga did sign for that projected $85MM, his new Major League club would owe the Baystars $14.65MM.
Despite this impressive resume, Imanaga is only the second-best NPB starter on the market, behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto. MLBTR ranks Yamamoto third on our top 50 list and in line for a nine-year, $225MM commitment, based on Yamamoto’s ability and the fact that he is only 25 years old. Yamamoto is also tied to the posting system via the Orix Buffaloes, and interestingly, Imanaga’s reps at Octagon might be aiming to keep their client out of Yamamoto’s shadow. According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Baystars might not officially post Imanaga until after Yamamoto has already signed.
This strategy carries some risk. For one, Yamamoto’s own posting window has yet to begin, though he is expected to be made available to MLB teams relatively soon. Even if the Buffaloes posted Yamamoto tomorrow, he would still have until December 26 to land a contract, and it seems possible he might take closer to the 45-day maximum to finalize what will likely be one of the winter’s larger contracts. For example, since many of the same big-market clubs are pursuing both Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, Yamamoto’s camp might see if Ohtani could sign first, thus providing more clarity on Yamamoto’s market.
Should this scenario occur, Imanaga might not be posted until sometime in January, creating a bit of a time crunch. A 45-day window would put Imanaga close to the start of Spring Training, if Imanaga and Octagon also needed time to negotiate with clubs to find an acceptable contract. This would leave Imanaga with less time to not just find a new team, but to acclimate himself to his new continent, new city, and new coaching staff prior to Spring Training, and it would make sense that Imanaga would want time to properly ramp up for his debut MLB debut.
On the other hand, it isn’t an uncommon tactic for an upper-tier free agent to wait until later into the offseason to sign. If Yamamoto and some other free agent pitchers and trade candidates are off the board by the time Imanaga is available to be posted, he might have fewer suitors in general, but the remaining suitors might be more desperate (and thus more willing to get into a bidding war) to land one of the few top-tier rotation options still unsigned.
Mets goin after him Yamamoto & Ohtani this off-season
So is Dodgers and every top spending organization will be on Ohtani and Yamamoto. I think Ohtani is a Dodger and Yamamoto is a Yankee. This would solidify their rotation that Yankees haven’t seen in 2 decades. If Yankees owner and GM botch on signing Yamamoto, then owner is worse than Bob Nutting. Bob is the cheapest of the cheap. It would tell me that Hal is taking notes from Mr. nutting and will always accept mediocrity. I don’t mean to offend Yankee fans here, but Hal is way to conservative for a club that should be winning the pennant more often than they have in the last 20 years.
It’s somewhat silly to say “Team A has to sign Player B… or else it’s a failure” because players decide whom to sign with. You can have the best offer on the table and the player will still hold the decision. In other words, it takes two to tango and summarizing an Offseason as a “failure” because Player B didn’t sign is a fruitless endeavor.
Of course a large market will get them because it is all geared that way. International signings should have been changed long ago like so many things in MLB.
It’s silly to say I’m a failure for going 0-10 with girls because girls didn’t want to tango? Wow thanks… now I know I’m not a narssacist!
Please. Perfect system? Same old crap from the large market apologists. As long as your team gets yours, you don’t care how the game is getting destroyed in the other two thirds of the markets. It’s old and tired, just like Robby the robot saying nothing to see here.
Funny during the Marge Schott years the Reds were always top 5-10 in payroll. So much for players not wanting to play in Cincinnati, huh? But the game was different then, local TV deals especially more equitable than today.
Maybe they should move your team to rural Kansas, maybe you would have an eye opening experience.
@This one belongs to the Reds: “Of course a large market will get them because it is all geared that way. International signings should have been changed long ago like so many things in MLB.”
Soooo, screw over international players who are trying to get the most money possible in order to help miserly small market owners who will end up trading them anyway when their contracts are close to up and they’re about to get more expensive. Maybe teams like your Reds should, you know, spend more. Spend some of that revenue sharing money instead of always crying poor.
Why should the international players be treated any different than American players?
Revenue sharing money pales in comparison to the large local TV contracts the 10 large markets have over and above the other 20 teams. They don’t cry poor as the large market apologists like you always claim, they just can’t possibly keep up with the exploding salaries the large markets created to begin with.
“They don’t cry poor as the large market apologists like you”
I am not a ‘large market apologist’, whatever that even means. I am for the players getting what they can and not curbing their salaries to placate cheapskates like the owners of the Reds and the Pirates, who are only interested in profits and not fielding a competitive club.
There are several reasons that international players should be treated differently. For starters, they’re frequently already under contract with a team in their home country. Another reason is age. Shota Imanaga is already 30 years old. You’re telling me he should be treated the same as American players and go through the draft and be pre-Arb until he’s 34, then Arb-eligible, then hit free agency as a 37 year old? If so, you will see the well of established international talent dry way up.
Interesting that you label me as an apologist when you’re the one who wants to overhaul an entire system just so non-competitive owners like Bob Castellini can luck into controlling and suppressing a player’s earnings potential.
Problem is Owners, Players, Agents, and Media all want large market teams to have the financial advantage.
“Perfect system.”
May I present to you today’s winner for Most Outlandish Comment.
Congrats iverbure!
If you have read this site regularly, you would know I probably call Castellini out as much as anyone the past couple of years for being cheap. They can spend 130-140M because they have done it before and have instead given the fans the big middle finger.
But like a politician, you are deflecting from the main issue. Interesting you didn’t mention the Guardians, Tigers, or any of the other 15 other teams or so affected by the same system.
You seem to be more concerned with a need for player salaries going out of control than have a competitive game. International players can either play in the best league in the world under the same rules everyone else lives by or stay home.
@This one belongs to the Reds: Oh, poor you. Cry me an Ohio River and let me know what time the pity party starts.
And I’ve been meaning to ask you: Which one belongs to the Reds?
“It’s a PERFECT system” for the richest teams. The Yankees haven’t had a losing season in over 30 years. The Braves win the NL East about 90% of the time. The Dodgers win the West all but 1 year, when SD snuck in. A cap gives every team a chance, not just the biggest spenders.
Really? Most of the owners are billionaires who, rather than invest back into the team, pockets the profits while crying broke and how unfair the system is. To paraphrase Cohen, those owners should try spending on their team instead of their whining. Set a goal to be a .500 team and watch as attendance goes up along with revenue. Instead of an Ohtani, maybe snatch a Soler. Instead of a Trea Tuner, you get a Jeff McNeil. Rather than a Soto maybe a Sterling Marte. Put butts in the seats and maybe then you can go all in on a superstar that can push you that final step toward the post season.
“Perfect system”.
Maybe follow curling, as baseball is not your strong suit.
It’s the system in place and the system we have.
If you want to be angry and whine about it, be my guest, but what’s the point?
Can’t forget the giants will be throwing money around like a drunken roughneck on payday lol. They could very well land someone this time.
I can’ t Imanaga given a crappa
Curly- That’s a lot like my Hawaiian middle name: Ainokea (I-nOh-cAir-Ah)
=P
Gwynning, Ainlik that
peace out
Thats hilarious.
@piratesfan
What if Yankee scouting doesn’t like him as much as you do? Are you gonna kick in some money and take part of the risk? Or are you just jealous because the Pirates won’t be bidding?
@stymeedone why should I be jealous? Odd question to ask someone who was simply making a modest opinion. Yankees have been moderate level with Hal as owner. Nothing like what old George did that made me hate the Yankees. Right now, Yankees are on a “small market” mentality. Which is crazy to think about when I lived most of my life watching the Yankees buying players yearly. Even put themselves in many World Series. So, to the standard of any Yankee fan, Hal is dropping the ball and repping the profits. Yankees have more going for them than what the Pirates could even imagine. Own network to larger fan base. Pirates don’t need to bid on these top international stars, they can ruin their “rebuild to rebuild” other ways like through the draft or trading their system. Just think, year 6 of another rebuild and 8 years since that infamous Archer trade. They have done enough to ruin their future without botched attempts at high profile international prospects
Hal isn’t conservative, he’s primarily–to an extreme almost–concerned with business.
Cashman obviously should not be the GM, having failed to make the WS 19 of 20 years. But Yankees are perennially relevant in October and income is great. So Cashman remains.
Hal has spent lots of money, Cashman has wasted lots of money.
Asians love to golf and New York has some of the best courses in the country so it makes sense to use that as a recruiting tool
The Carolinas probably have the most…not that there is anyone who can use that.
Lots of states have great golf courses. And that is not going to be a deciding factor for him
Generalize much?
Generalizing would be to say they love cameras and taking pictures. Golf is more specific.
@Slider: it is very generalizing to say that “Asians” (ie, everyone from Turkey to Japan, Russia to Indonesia, etc) like to play a sport. Do you mean East Asians? Japanese? Even still, that’s generalizing as even googling shows scant references to Ohtani or Imanaga caring about golf.
So you’re saying all Asians golf? Racist much?
Ever been to a baggage claim? See who is picking up their golf clubs. End of story
More than anything tho “the Asians” like being closer to home if they can help it, and New York/Boston, though it still has prestige in the countries that follow baseball, is geographically farther away.
Also helps that with the exception of A’s, all the West Coast teams are hunting for top of the market pitching help…
Hogwash. They come before spring training and leave after the season. They wouldn’t fly home on an off day or the all star break even if they played in Hawaii. If they are committing to playing in the US the three hour time zone between the West and East Coast is irrelevant. The decision will come down to money, years, chance to win, and ultimately golf courses
Unlikely either want to pitch for the Mets.
While Eppler was there, the Mets were the odds-on favorites to land Yamamoto. Not sure if that has changed with his departure.
And you’re basing this on. . .? Mets can and probably will offer a ton of money to either player, so don’t count them out.
Tend to agree. It seems the Mets are where great players go to die.
@nosake I would love for you to be more specific on that comment.
Look at their roster over the past couple of years. Who did they sign that helped them win the pennant? Where are those players now?
I definitely think Yamamoto would have no problem signing with the Mets, especially with Kodei Senga signed there already. I think everyone can see Shohei Ohtani signing with the Dodgers this off-season especially if the price is right. With all that said I see Yamamoto signing in NY with the Mets or Yankees.
I see the Mets outbidding any team on Yamamoto, but will money be enough in this case?
I don’t think the Mets will push as hard to sign every free agent superstar like last year. As we have seen with them, the Padres, and even somewhat the Yankees, throwing money to every top tier free agent doesn’t always pan out. Mets have failed two years in a row with this theory. They may get a top tier player but I doubt they spend the bank on every big player. Hopefully they’ve learned by now the formula doesn’t work, as they’ve traded Scherzer and Verlander to try to fix their issues.
Wouldn’t be surprised if MLB looks to standardize the posting period date. We already have a 40 man roster deadline, a free agency date, a date to accept QO, salary arbitration date and a non-tender date.
There should be some professional courtesy and “wiggle-room” since you’re dealing with another professional League. The current way is fine; it offers the NPB teams plenty of space to handle their own business.
The rules on posting are agreements hammered out between the leagues so those courtesies are built into whatever process they negotiate. A standardized period might make sense to us, but apparently not to NPB and MLB.
Cannot find any articles on here about it since MLB made it official, so going to post this here. Yariel Rodriguez was declared a free agent by MLB and can now sign with any team.
The thing I found most interesting is that he has been working out in the Dominican Republic at the Padres facility while establishing residency in that country over the past year.
As far as his free agency goes, maybe I didn’t go back far enough. Lots of posts on here since November 4th.
This site had an article on Yariel Rodriguez a few days ago.
I did a search and didn’t see one so added that post here but thanks for letting me know they had. There have been a huge number of posts since the end of the WS.
What I found interesting is that he has been working out at the Padres DR facility while waiting to get legal residency there and this site named the Padres as one of the favorites to sign him.
For some reason, searching ‘Yariel’ on this site isn’t giving me any results, but through googling, I found the link to all of their articles on him:
mlbtraderumors.com/players/yariel-rodriguez
Awesome. Thank you.
I have said Imanaga will be a cub for almost a year now. I would prefer Yammamoto but I just have a feeling they sign him; maybe Chapman, Hoskins and a few relievers and call it a day. Who knows though.
That would be a pretty good off-season.
I can see Dodgers skipping on YY and chasing Ohtani and Imanaga
I agree they might end up with those two, especially if Yamamoto is going to command over $200 million.
They should try to reduce the season to 60 games again. That’s been their sole means of success since Bush Sr. was president.
Curious question as i have not been able to find it. Does the posting fee get counted against the luxury tax and if it does does it get spread across the life of the contract or does it hit all in one year.
The posting fee does NOT count against the luxury tax
thanks
It should.
@reds
it falls into international signings where they do have caps but does not usually count against the luxury tax until they get called up to the mlb team if i remember right. This is why there was a guy that signed with the red sox didnt get called up because the signing bonus was so high.
They have a specific rule for NPB where if a player is before 25 then they cant go over the international allotment cap then they have all the percents listed above and they go straight to mlb team i believe. So thats why i wasnt sure how it worked cap wise.
Roll – You are thinking of Rusney Castillo. He signed a major league deal(as opposed to a signing bonus). This was before teams were limited to international budgets.
Red Sox took him off the 40 man and sent him to minors. Castillo of course accepted since he didn’t want to give up his 13M salary. The thing was his 13M salary didn’t count against the salary cap as he was in the minors. They were able to bring him up and demote him as no one was going to claim him and Castillo wasn’t going to elect free agency and forego that money.
The rules were later changed that would have counted his full salary against the cap if he was called up. He ended up not getting called up after that.
Imanaga.. do do do do do imanaga do do do do
imanaga do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do
( you’ll have to imagine your own muppets)
Can Japanese players who have yet to be posted (or their agents) talk to MLB clubs? If so it would make sense to gauge the market and then wait until after Ohtani signs to be posted, just to give yourself maximum flexibility.
No no no, strictly verboten! He has to be posted prior to initiating any talks with MLB clubs. He’ll have 45 days to wine, dine and sixty-nin…err… negotiate with clubs.
Boston media outlets are saying Boston will be going at Yamamoto hard, willing to outbid for him. At only 25, I hope Boston lands him. 25 mils is 20 mils less than Ohtani, leaving 20 for another starter.
He’s got a 2.85 kwERA since 2020 so I could see some potential there. Probably bump that up to an ERA of 3.80 for the transition to the MLB and it should make him a decent #3 starter. He’s shown he can pitch against MLB players so I hope he can sign somewhere.
$14.65M is not “at least 20%” of $85M.
“The posting fee is worth at least 20% of the guaranteed value of Imanaga’s contract”
============================
The percentages are 20%, 17.5%, and 15%. The term “at least 20% does not apply, since it can never be more than 20%.
Imanaga there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No Hell below us
Above us only sky
Shota is certainly a name to give your child
Why is MLB forcing the Oakland A’s Out of Oakland?!
Why was Reggie Jackson’s bid to buy the Oakland A’s REJECTED?!
Jackson’s Partners in the Deal were not “broke guys”.
You many have heard of them: Bill Gates and Paul Allen
Oakland is a Majority Minority City run by Women of Color
Instead, Commissioner ( at the time) Bud Selig insisted that the deal had to be with
his former Fraternity Brother for a much lesser sale price?!
DOES THIS READ LIKE INSTITUTIONALIZED RASCISM TO YOU?!
I DON’T KNOW, BUT I LOOKED IT UP AND HERE IS WHAT I FOUND IN THE CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY:
policies, rules, practices, etc. that have become a usual part of the way an organization or society works, and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race:
YOU BE THE JUDGE
Also, read the article and interview with Reggie Jackson.
Reggie claims he was threatened to be “blacklisted from every working again in major league baseball if he brought a lawsuit to challenge Bud Selig and Major League baseball on the actions taken to block him from Owning a Major League Baseball Team?!
mercurynews.com/2023/03/23/what-could-have-been-re…
Not sure what to think of that, but all that is going on with MLB, the A’s, Oakland, the SF Bay Are and Las Vegas SEEMS TO TAINT THIS ENTIRE PROCESS AND ATTEMPTS TO MOVE THE A’S TO LAS VEGAS.
IF I HAD A VOTE, I WOULD VOTE TO KEEP THE A’s in OAKLAND AND THE SF BAY AREA.
AND, I WOULD VOTE TO GRANT LAS VEGAS AN EXPANSION TEAM.
THAT WOULD BE A “WIN/WIN” FOR ALL SIDES.
AND, IT WOULD CLEAR UP ANY POTENTIAL PROBLEMS , MISUNDERSTANDINGS, HARD FEELINGS ETC AMONG THE PARTIES.
CLEARLY, THERE IS ENOUGH MONEY AND MANY WELL FUNDED OWNERSHIP CANDIDATES IN THE SF BAY AREA TO GET A NEW STADIUM BUILT THERE
AND TO SPEND MONEY ON MARKETING AND SIGNING THEIR PLAYERS TO LONGER TEAM DEALS WHILE DRAWING VERY GOOD,LOYAL FANS AND TO MAKE PROFITS DOING IT.
Stop writing like a 3 y.o. throwing a tantrum. Nobody is reading your tears.
You must be new to this online forum.
Welcome!
If you don’t understand the issues being discussed, then feel free to ask any of the knowledgeable posters on this forum questions etc.
Many are very helpful explaining things that you might not understand.
Stay on point.
“Keyboard bullying” and name calling of others is frowned upon
and detracts from anything else you may want to say.
It may work for some in the 3rd or 4th grade, but most of the posters
on here are far past that stage.
If reflects badly on you and only on you and not the poster(s) you are attacking for no reason.
Again, welcome and try to be respectful of others.
Posting here provides many a much needed break for many from some of the toxic aspects of our society.
Stay on point.
==================
ROTFLMAO! Irony much?
You signed onto an article about Shota, with nothing having to do with Oakland, and you posted your 1000-word manifesto, and of course, mostly in CAPS,
Then you accuse someone else of not staying on point?
You might need to step away from the keyboard for a while.
You drank the wrong Kool-aid, Sportsfan. That story is a red herring and you bit the hook.
Oakland is empty now. Feel free to start a team.
Paul Allen died 5 years ago.
Maybe certain names in the ownership group is a problem and they happen to be white?
Maybe they want to get out of Oakland entirely?
Maybe there are better markets prepared to support a Major League Baseball team?
Maybe Reggie needs to stop playing the victim card like he has all these years?
Maybe certain information over a new stadium deal is not being reported?
If these are too many questions it might be a sign it’s time to get out of Oakland and end the charade.
I know it’s a couple years away before he’s eligible for MLB but check out the Lotte Marines pitcher Roki Sasaki.
I would say most know him . He was in the WBC.
Where’s everyone got him going in the contest? I went Red Sox but not sure how confident I am there
It should be Mariners but will end up being Giants imo. There have to be zero serious West Coast suitors first.
Yeah you make a good point! I had the Giants getting Yamamoto tho.
I think Seattle should sign Yamamoto to solidify their pitching for next 5-6 years. THEN, trade away , maybe Castillo, Gonzalez to solidify their everyday lineup. LOTS and LOTS of teams would like Castillo and several would like Gonzalez. Seattle could find this better way to approach contention in AL West for longer haul.
The mariners already have a full staff, don’t forget Ray is coming back. Only pitcher they should think about trading is Gonzales imo. He’s not bringing back someone you want to plug in your lineup everyday though
Correcting how ALL international players come into the league is overdue. All Asian, Latin American, and other leagues should be subject to a draft lottery.
Allow the posting system to function still, and the player if over the proper age to be able to negotiate a better deal as it stands, but give each team the right to negotiate and sign the player in order of a draft.
Teams can forfeit their right to sign or trade that to acquire cash or players.
This way we don’t see every major international free agent sign with a big team without making it a little more fair for the smaller teams.
but give each team the right to negotiate and sign the player in order of a draft.
===========================
That won’t work. The player will take the most money and the best situation. Allowing Oakland a week to negotiate is a waste of time. You cannot combine a draft and free agency.
Harris is going to go all D.D. this offseason and make his signature statement by signing Yamamoto, then trading for Soto. Or more realistically…just trade for Canha and sign Lorenzen again. Grabbing Yamamoto would set them up for the future if they did go big: Yamamoto, Skubal, Mize, Olsen, with Jobe and Madden in a year or two would potentially be one of their best rotations ever. Trade off Manning, Flores and some ither pieces for a bat.
Rah rah!
Go team!
….still waiting for my aeroplane ticket…..
This feels like a Mariners move. The price is right, the pre-existing relationship/connection with international players from Japan, etc. are all there.
If he waits until January the money for free agents might well be gone. Teams are going to need to settle their lineup. If he doesn’t post many will turn to other options believing they may be outbid by a big market team with more cash to spend. Better to move on and let someone else have him than leave a hole in your roster.
So many “posting” dollars going to Japan baseball. Probably enough to finance an entire team. I wonder where the Chevy Ham & Carp Sandwiches would play ?
I’m sure Octagon has a good idea of who is going to bid and how much. That will obviously fluctuate a bit as the market plays out, but let’s not pretend negotiations start the day he’s posted.