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Kenta Maeda Plans To Pitch In Japan In 2026

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In an appearance on TV Tokyo’s “Sports Real Live” show (Japanese language link from Yahoo Japan), Kenta Maeda said that he is leaving North American baseball behind at the conclusion of the 2025 season.  Maeda revealed that he initially made his decision after signing his two-year, $24MM deal with the Tigers that that would be his final contract with a Major League team, and he is hoping to continue his career in Japan with a Nippon Professional Baseball club in 2026.

Maeda (who turns 38 in April) began his pro career with eight seasons with the Hiroshima Carp before being posted for MLB clubs, and signing an incentive-heavy eight-year, $25MM deal with the Dodgers back in January 2016.  Maeda’s stint in North America has seen him suit up in nine Major League seasons, with the 2022 campaign missed entirely since he was recovering from a Tommy John surgery.

After struggling badly in the first year of his Tigers contract, a move to the bullpen didn’t change Maeda’s fortunes this year, and Detroit released the right-hander in early May.  He then joined the Cubs on a minor league contract before being released in early August, quickly landing with the Yankees on another minors deal.  Over 76 1/3 Triple-A innings this season, Maeda hasn’t shown any of his old form, posting a 6.25 ERA for New York and Chicago’s top affiliates.

During the TV Tokyo interview, Maeda said his family has been living in Japan during his year in the minors, in order to have some stability while Maeda has now bounced around to multiple teams.  His recent on-field results (or lack thereof) had no bearing on his decision, as Maeda stated that he would’ve returned to Japan after 2025 if he’d been a 20-game winner at the big league level.

Since it doesn’t look like the Yankees will be calling Maeda up in September, his MLB resume could be closed after 226 games (172 of them starts) with the Tigers, Twins, and Dodgers over parts of nine seasons.  Maeda has a 4.20 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate over 986 2/3 career innings in the regular season, as well as a 3.24 ERA across 41 2/3 career postseason frames with Minnesota and Los Angeles.

Though his final act in Detroit didn’t go well, Maeda was generally a very effective pitcher in the majors.  He had a 3.87 ERA during 589 innings in L.A., with the Dodgers using Maeda both as a starter and as a reliever, though Maeda made it known that he preferred rotation work.  A trade to the Twins prior to the 2020 season gave Maeda a full-fledged starting job, and he responded with a runner-up finish in AL Cy Young Award voting, posting a 2.70 ERA in 66 2/3 innings during the pandemic-shortened season.  He wasn’t as effective during a 2021 campaign that was cut short by his Tommy John procedure, though Maeda returned in solid form (4.23 ERA in 104 1/3 IP) for Minnesota’s AL Central-winning team in 2023.

NPB’s Seibu Lions Likely To Post Kona Takahashi For MLB Teams This Offseason

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The Seibu Lions have agreed to post right-hander Kona Takahashi for Major League teams this winter, according to a report from Nikkai Sports.  Takahashi turns 29 in February, and he has a 2.95 ERA, 13.8% strikeout rate, and 6.9% walk rate over 116 innings and 19 starts for the Lions this season, which is his 11th campaign in Nippon Professional Baseball.

The numbers reflect something of a bounce-back for Takahashi, who had a 3.87 ERA over 81 1/3 frames in 2024 and a rather glaring 0-11 record.  Even with the caveat that win-loss records aren’t the best indicator of performance, it was a far cry from the form that saw Takahashi deliver a 2.20 ERA during the 2022-23 seasons, as his tough year included a drop in velocity and even some time in the Japanese minor leagues.

Takahashi first expressed an interest in coming to MLB after his big 2022 campaign, and though he has appeared in each of the last 11 NPB seasons, he still hasn’t amassed the full nine years of service time necessary for full free agency.  The Lions have nevertheless agreed to let Takahashi search for a Major League team a bit early, and landing a contract would allow the Lions to gain some money via a posting fee.

Once an NPB player is posted, he has 45 days to work out a deal with a Major League club.  If no deal is reached, the player returns to his Nippon Professional Baseball club for the next season and can’t be posted again until the following winter.  If a deal is reached, the player’s original NPB club earns a posting fee depending on the size of his MLB contract.  Should the player sign a big league deal worth $25MM or less in guaranteed money, the NPB team will receive 20 percent of the total guarantee.  If the player signs a minor league deal, the NPB team will get 25 percent of the signing bonus, plus a later supplemental free if the player is added to the MLB team’s active roster.

It seems likely that any contract Takahashi lands will be within the lower ranges of the posting system, as the Yakyu Cosmopolitan writes that Takahashi’s “market will be similar to” that of Shinnosuke Ogasawara or Naoyuki Uwasawa.  Ogasawara signed a two-year, $3.5MM contract with the Nationals last January after being posted by the Chunichi Dragons, and Uwasawa signed a non-guaranteed split contract with the Rays in January 2024 after the Nippon Ham Fighters posted the right-hander.

Takahashi has solid control but isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher, as his 20% strikeout rate from the 2020 season (over 120 1/3 innings) is his career high in Japan.  MLB teams may be looking at him more as reliever or a swingman than as a rotation candidate, but the ever-present need for pitching means that Takahashi has a solid chance of landing some kind of a deal to get to the majors in 2026.  The Nikkai report indicates that evaluators from the Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mariners, and Rangers recently scouted one of Takahashi’s starts, so the right-hander is getting at least some due-diligence interest from a range of teams.

Shintaro Fujinami Signs With NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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Former big leaguer Shintaro Fujinami has returned to Japan. He signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced. The hard-throwing righty was released from a minor league deal with the Mariners last month.

This probably marks the end of Fujinami’s two and a half seasons in affiliated ball. The 6’6″ righty has an upper-90s fastball but hasn’t been able to harness his stuff. The rebuilding A’s took a one-year, $3.25MM flier on Fujinami in advance of the 2023 season. They initially gave him a rotation opportunity, but he struggled mightily in seven starts and quickly moved to the bullpen.

While Fujinami had an 8.57 ERA in 34 appearances with the A’s, they managed to flip him to the Orioles at the trade deadline. He tallied 29 2/3 frames of 4.85 ERA ball for Baltimore. Fujinami secured a big league split deal from the Mets in his return to free agency. He never made an MLB appearance with New York, spending time on the injured list before being designated for assignment.

Fujinami pitched in Puerto Rico over the winter to land another affiliated opportunity. He secured a minor league contract with Seattle in January but struggled to a 5.79 ERA with 26 walks in 18 2/3 Triple-A innings. He’ll now head back to NPB, where he owns a 3.41 earned run average in parts of 10 seasons.

Grant Hartwig Signs With NPB’s Hanshin Tigers

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Reliever Grant Hartwig has signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The 6’5″ righty had been on a minor league contract with the Mets but was released last month. It seems that was to pursue this opportunity.

Hartwig, 27, pitched in the big leagues for the Mets in each of the previous two seasons. He logged 35 1/3 innings of 4.84 ERA ball as a rookie in 2023. He spent most of last year in Triple-A and lost a couple months to a meniscus tear that required surgery. Hartwig appeared in four MLB games, allowing six runs in 6 2/3 innings. The Mets dropped him from the 40-man roster early in the offseason and brought him back on a minor league deal.

A product of Miami Ohio, Hartwig signed with the Mets in 2021 as an undrafted free agent. He has turned in a 3.42 earned run average in parts of five minor league campaigns. Hartwig had a matching 3.42 ERA across 23 2/3 Triple-A frames this year, though he bizarrely surrendered 13 unearned runs (against nine earned) in 21 appearances. He fanned 29% of batters faced with a solid 8.8% walk rate while averaging nearly 95 MPH on his sinker. Hartwig will presumably lock in a stronger guarantee in NPB than he would’ve made had he played out the season in Triple-A.

Michael Chavis Signs With NPB’s Chunichi Dragons

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Infielder Michael Chavis is heading overseas. The CAA client has signed with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per an announcement from Chunichi. He had been with the Dodgers on a minor league deal but was released to pursue this new opportunity.

Chavis, now 29, was once a notable prospect in the Red Sox’ system. Boston grabbed him with the 26th overall pick in the 2014 draft and he hit well as he climbed the minor league ladder. Baseball America ranked him the #85 prospect in the league in 2018.

The following year, he had an enticing debut, as he hit 18 home runs in just 95 games for the Sox. However, that power production came with a worrisome 33.2% strikeout rate, and that concern ultimately proved to be lingering. As the strikeout woes continued, he bounced around the league, also appearing for the Pirates and Nationals. Overall, he stepped to the plate 1,186 times in 357 games from 2020 to 2023. He hit 42 homers but was punched out at a 31.9% clip.

In 2024 and 2025, he’s been stuck in Triple-A, having signed minor league deals with the Mariners, White Sox and Dodgers. He has slashed .270/.339/.483 over that time with a lower 22.3% strikeout rate but without any of those clubs giving him a shot in the majors.

By heading overseas, Chavis will presumably be getting a bit of a pay bump relative to whatever he was making in the minors. If he can perform well for the Dragons, he could perhaps parlay that into a return to North America or another deal in Japan or other foreign league.

Photo courtesy of Nathan J. Fish, Imagn Images

J.D. Davis Signs With NPB’s Seibu Lions

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Veteran infielder J.D. Davis has signed with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per an announcement from the club. Davis, a client of ALIGND Sports, will play out the remainder of the 2025 season in Japan.

Davis, 32, has spent the year in the Angels organization. They released him on June 30, presumably to allow him to finalize this opportunity. Davis appeared in five big league games and went 1-for-9. He’s spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A Salt Lake, slashing .294/.371/.524 with 10 homers, 11 doubles, a triple, a 10% walk rate and a 26.3% strikeout rate.

A former third-round pick of the Astros in 2014, Davis has amassed more than six years of major league service time. From 2019-23, he was a productive part-time player with the Mets and Giants, batting a combined .268/.352/.443 with 63 home runs in 1804 plate appearances. His production since that time has evaporated, albeit in minimal playing time. Davis hit just .218/.293/.336 last year in 157 plate appearances between the A’s and Yankees. He also struggled badly in 136 Triple-A plate appearances between the Orioles and A’s.

All told, Davis heads to Japan with a career .257/.339/.423 batting line in 2151 major league plate appearances. A strong showing overseas could garner him some renewed interest in the big leagues or perhaps open him up for an extension or another free-agent deal that would come with a more substantial guarantee than he could expect in North America, where he’s been relegated to minor league deals over the past calendar year.

Jose Barrero Elects Free Agency

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Infielder/outfielder Jose Barrero, who was recently designated for assignment by the Cardinals, went unclaimed on waivers and has rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency, MLBTR has learned. Barrero will explore opportunities around the league but also has interest from at least one team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and is weighing whether to pursue an overseas opportunity.

Barrero, 27, appeared in 22 games with the Cardinals but was only given 31 plate appearances. He hit just .138/.194/.276 in that scattershot playing time. This was his fifth season of big league work, but he’s yet to deliver on his former top prospect billing in the majors, with a .182/.238/.257 slash in 478 plate appearances between the Reds (who initially signed him out of Cuba) and Cardinals.

Although Barrero hasn’t yet found his stride in the majors, he has a more solid track record in Triple-A. He’s a career .247/.324/.475 hitter in parts of five seasons there, including a huge .299/.396/.517 showing in 101 plate appearances with the Cardinals’ Memphis affiliate in 2025. In 252 Triple-A games, Barrero has swatted 51 homers and gone 48-for-56 (86%) in stolen base attempts.

Barrero has primarily been a shortstop, logging more than 5100 innings at the position since turning pro, but he’s gradually begun to see time at other positions as well in recent years. He’s played just shy of 300 innings at second base and 94 innings at third base, but his most frequent non-shortstop position has been center field, where he’s now piled up 719 innings. There are some justifiable concerns about his hit tool — Barrero has fanned in 30% of his Triple-A plate appearances — but Barrero offers an enticing blend of power and speed as well as the ability to play multiple up-the-middle positions on the defensive end of things.

Tyler Nevin Signs Two-Year Extension With NPB’s Seibu Lions

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The Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced that they have signed infielder Tyler Nevin to a two-year extension beginning in 2026. Salary figures were not included. “I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to my teammates, staff, and fans who have trusted me and supported me since the day I arrived in Japan,” Nevin said in a Japanese statement relayed by the team, per Google Translate. “I will strive to make the rest of the season even better and focus on the game in front of me. I can’t wait for the next two years. Awesome!”

Nevin, 28, signed with the Lions in January. His Japanese career has gotten out to a solid start through his first 68 games. His .269/.330/.379 batting line may not be overwhelming in a vacuum but actually translates to a 120 wRC+ in NPB this year. It seems that the club has been pleased enough with that performance to lock him up.

Considering the way Nevin’s career went before this year, it’s understandable that he would agree to be locked up. Broadly speaking, he had always hit in the minors but failed to do so in the majors. From 2022 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 639 times at the Triple-A level. He hit 26 home runs and drew walks at a 10.2% clip while only striking out 17.5% of the time. He had a combined batting line of .313/.391/.536 and a 137 wRC+.

That minor league performance got him a few major league looks from the Orioles, Tigers and Athletics, but he wasn’t able to do much with those chances. He got 591 big league plate appearances over the past few years with a .204/.299/.315 line and 81 wRC+. He exhausted his final option year in 2023, which put him into a fringe roster status. He spent 2024 bouncing on and off the Athletics’ roster, clearing waivers multiple times throughout the year. Finding regular playing time in the big leagues would have been difficult going forward.

Rather than spend another year grinding through the roster bubble lifestyle, he accepted a chance to head overseas and perhaps find some stability. Given that he’s having a decent year, he could have tried to parlay that into a return to North America in 2026. But there would have been no guarantee of that working out, so it’s easy to see the logic in him sticking with the Lions for another few years.

Though the salary figures haven’t been reported for this deal, North American players getting regular work in Japan often get paid in the vicinity of $1MM annually. That’s more than players in the minors in North America get and even more than pre-arbitration major leaguers. Whatever his salary is, Nevin will get a bit of cash and some job security for his age-29 and age-30 seasons. If he can make the most of that regular role, he could perhaps try to return to affiliated ball a few years from now or secure himself another deal to continue playing in Asia.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

NPB’s Rakuten Eagles Sign Luke Voit

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The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball have signed Luke Voit to a contract for the remainder of the 2025 season.  News of the signing first emerged a couple of weeks ago, and Voit just this weekend arrived in Japan once terms were finalized.

Voit is best known for his torrid stretch of hitting with the Yankees from 2018-2020.  Acquired at the 2018 trade deadline in a deal with the Cardinals, Voit immediately caught fire once donning the pinstripes, and quickly became a lineup fixture as a first baseman and DH.  Voit’s huge run was highlighted by a 22-homer season in 2020, which led the major leagues during the pandemic-shortened campaign.

Injuries limited Voit to just 68 games in 2021, however, and the Yankees parted ways with Voit by dealing him to the Padres during the spring of 2022.  Since that deal, Voit hit only .225/.305/.386 with 22 homers over 642 plate appearances with San Diego, Washington, and Milwaukee over the 2022-23 season, and he hasn’t appeared in the majors since his brief stint with the Brewers in 2023.

Voit signed a pair of minor league contracts with the Mets that didn’t result in any time in the big leagues, and his pro experience in 2024-25 has consisted of 122 games with two different Mexican League clubs.  Since the 34-year-old Voit has been crushing Mexican League pitching, he might have something to offer the Golden Eagles as a veteran bat.  The Eagles are last in NPB in home runs, with only 25 long balls over 66 games this season.

Oscar Gonzalez Signs Two-Year Deal With NPB’s Golden Eagles

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May 22: Gonzalez has officially signed a two-year deal with the Golden Eagles, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The MAS+ client will be paid $2MM through the 2026 season.

May 19, 7:50pm: Gonzalez has an agreement with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, reports Francys Romero.

3:44pm: The Padres have placed outfielder Oscar Gonzalez on unconditional release waivers in order to allow him to pursue an opportunity in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. With Gonzalez being granted his release, San Diego is down to 37 players on its 40-man roster.

Gonzalez, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Friars back in November. He’s appeared in 21 big league games and tallied 61 plate appearances while hitting .220/.246/.237. The Dominican-born slugger showed promise during his 2022 rookie campaign with the Guardians, bursting onto the scene with a .296/.327/.461 batting line and 11 homers in 382 plate appearances, but he’s hit just .216/.241/.293 in 241 MLB plate appearances since that time.

Gonzalez posted league-average offense with the Guards’ Triple-A club in 2023 and was a slight bit better than average in the Yankees’ system last year, but he’s been on a blistering tear in El Paso this season. It’s only 57 plate appearances, but the righty-swinging corner outfielder touts a .333/.368/.704 line with the Chihuahuas. The Pacific Coast League is notoriously hitter-friendly, but he’s still been 54% better than average in that time and now touts a career .285/.321/.502 output in 1212 Triple-A plate appearances spread across parts of five seasons.

The Padres have had some of the worst production in baseball out of left field in 2025, hitting just .190/.236/.268 as a whole from that position. The resulting 44 wRC+ (indicating they’ve been 56% worse than average at the plate) ranks 28th in MLB. The bulk of Gonzalez’s plate appearances — 42 of the 61 — came as a left fielder. He’s combined with Jason Heyward, Brandon Lockridge, Tirso Ornelas, Gavin Sheets, Jose Iglesias and Connor Joe to compile that floundering left field line at the plate.

As it stands, left field seems likely to be an area of focus for the Padres when the deadline rolls around. The 27-18 Padres, sitting just one game behind the Dodgers in the NL West, look like surefire buyers. The farm system doesn’t have much in the way of immediate help to offer. Most of the outfielders in Triple-A are journeymen types who aren’t on the 40-man roster. Names like Tim Locastro, Forrest Wall, Mike Brosseau and Bryce Johnson have all logged time there with El Paso.

Twenty-six-year-old Yonathan Perlaza, a former Cubs farmhand who signed a minor league deal with the Padres after a nice performance in the KBO last year, is hitting .293/.335/.463 — but that’s about 8% worse than average in the PCL’s supercharged offensive atmosphere and he’s fanned in 28% of his plate appearances. It’s a dire situation, so any of those Triple-A names could get a look at some point — particularly with three vacancies on the 40-man roster. In general, the Padres’ system is lacking in impact outfielders after years of aggressive dealing on the trade market.

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