There was expected to be movement for free agent starting pitchers once Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed, and while that’s yet to be the case, Shōta Imanaga’s posting deadline approaching this week figured to change that.
Like Yamamoto, Imanaga was made available for MLB free agency by his Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team, and he too drew interest from several teams. That fueled speculation that Imanaga would end up signing a contract in excess of $100 million.
Initial projections estimated Imanaga’s contract with an MLB team would hover around $75 million. On top of his salary, any signing team would owe a posting fee to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars as well.
As Imanaga is in the final days of his posting window, the expectation is the left-hander will sign with the San Francisco Giants, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com:
“It’s all pointing to the Giants,” the source said. “They missed out on [Shohei] Ohtani and [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto, and although Imanaga isn’t on the same level as those guys, they don’t want to miss out again.”
If the Giants do sign Imanaga, it will help ease the sting of not succeeding in their pursuits of Shohei Ohtani or Yamamoto. The Giants reportedly presented the same $700 million contract offer to Ohtani that he received from the Dodgers, and made a strong impression on Yamamoto.
San Francisco nevertheless has been active this offseason as they signed Korean free agent Jung Hoo Lee to a six-year, $113 million contract, and more recently completed a trade to acquire Robbie Ray from the Seattle Mariners.
The Giants still faced a need for starting pitching as Alex Cobb isn’t expected to return from left hip surgery until June, and Ray is projected for a July return from Tommy John.
Shōta Imanaga posting deadline
Imanaga’s deadline to sign with a team is 2 p.m. PT on Thursday, January 11. His physical must be completed and contract made official by that time, not just agreed to terms.
In addition to the Dodgers and Giants, the Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets have all linked tied to Imanaga at various points during the offseason.
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