Intriguing Yankees International Signing One Step Closer to Reality

The New York Yankees should be one of the more active teams this offseason, as they have a few roster needs to address in free agency. At the same time, it’s not an overly impressive free-agent class, as many teams will be gunning for Teruaki Sato, who was posted by his NPB club earlier this month. 

Sato, who is coming off a Triple Crown season with the Hanshin Tigers, would be an ideal fit at third base for the Yankees, given their struggles with Ryan McMahon this season. However, he isn’t the only international free agent on their radar.

Kaima Taira, who plays for the Seibu Lions, is another NPB star who could be a nice addition in pinstripes. On Thursday night in the United States, Lions general manager Koji Horoke said on Friday that they’ll make him available through the posting system, per Nikkan Sports.

When an NPB player is made available by their respective club, they have 45 days to sign with a major league team after the posting window opens in early November. This usually is not an issue in other years. But this offseason is different with a pending lockout on the horizon on Dec. 1, so it wouldn’t be surprising if there’s a mad dash to sign Taima, Sato, or Hiromi Itoh.

That said, we shouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees face fierce competition for Sato or even Taima.

Where would Kaima Taira fit in the Yankees' pitching staff?

For those wondering how the Yankees are even involved with Taima, we wrote a story last month about the Yankees being one of several teams that scouted the 5-foot-8, 220-pound hurler at his Aug. 25th start against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, where he threw seven shutout innings.

Taima is an intriguing pitcher with starting and relief experience and has had success in both roles. He has an eight-pitch mix (four-seam fastball, cutter, changeup, sweeper, slider, splitter, curveball, and two-seamer) at his disposal.

Also, when the Yankees scouts saw him back in late August, his fastball topped out at 97.3 mph.

This season with Seibu, Taima had a 12-5 record and a 1.36 ERA in 23 games (22 starts). He allowed 95 hits, 45 walks, and 22 earned runs (four home runs), while posting 141 strikeouts in 146 innings.

The 26-year-old pitcher also held opponents to a .184 average at the plate, as he got a lot of ground balls (48.5%) and didn’t allow much hard-hit contact (15.2%), per FanGraphs.

That said, the Yankees don’t need starting pitching. They have a ton, including at the fifth starter spot. So it doesn’t make sense to plug Taira there. But the Yankees could use more bullpen depth, as six relievers are hitting free agency, including closer David Bednar.

If the Yankees bring back Bednar on a reasonable deal and bring in Taira, that would be a nice start to free agency for GM Brian Cashman.

However, if Taira believes he’s a starter in the majors, that may not work in New York’s favor, as many teams, such as the San Francisco Giants, have reportedly scouted him and need starting pitching this offseason.

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