Giants agree to deal with righty Shun Yamaguchi

The Giants and right-hander Shun Yamaguchi are in agreement on a contract, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The deal is likely to be a split major league/minor league contract, notes Slusser.

Yamaguchi figures to come with minimal financial risk for the Giants, as the Blue Jays are on the hook to pay him $3.175M for the 2021 season. The Blue Jays recently released the Japanese right-hander to clear room on their 40-man roster for waiver pickup Joel Payamps.

The 33-year-old pitched for 14 seasons in Japan where he owns a 3.35 ERA over 427 games, which included 50 starts and 191 games finished. He signed a two-year, $6.35M deal to join Toronto ahead of the 2020 season. The transition did not go as planned, however, as Yamaguchi pitched to a 8.06 ERA/6.43 FIP over 25 2/3 innings out of the bullpen with substandard strikeout (21.7 percent) and walk rates (14.2 percent).