The Asian free-agent market has proven to be a useful alternative for MLB teams looking for talent.
It has players from all price ranges: your $25-$30 million gambles like Yuki Matsui, your $75 million investments such as Kodai Senga last season, and your $325 million mega-deals, like the one Yoshinobu Yamamoto got from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For the San Francisco Giants, it gave them a chance to sign a marquee player from the KBO (South Korea’s league) like Jung-Hoo Lee.
Now, they are being considered the favorites to land another Asian star: former Yokohama BayStars ace Shota Imanaga.
“The #SFGiants have emerged as the favorite for international free-agent LHP Shota Imanaga, per @Feinsand,” MLB Deadline News tweeted with information from MLB insider Mark Feinsand.
The #SFGiants have emerged as the favorite for international free-agent LHP Shota Imanaga, per @Feinsand pic.twitter.com/2xWHa5NASE
— MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) January 8, 2024
The 30-year-old Imanaga, a left-hander, is a perfect fit for the Giants.
He is a fly-ball pitcher, which can make him prone to home runs every now and then.
That’s probably why a team like the Yankees, with a short porch in right field, didn’t pursue him.
However, the Giants’ big home park makes for a cozy potential home for Imanaga.
He has excellent numbers in his career in Japan.
In eight seasons there, he has a career 3.18 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning.
He posted a 2.80 ERA in 2023, with 174 punchouts in 148 frames.
He can certainly miss bats and would be a fine addition to a Giants rotation that needs a sure thing, a slam dunk.
Even if he is probably not going to be a sub-3.00 ERA guy in the majors, he can certainly settle in the middle threes if all goes well.
Will San Francisco sign him?
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