Phillies Have New NPB Posting Options

The Philadelphia Phillies are willing to leverage their own superstars to lure NPB superstar pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto in free agency. If that doesn’t work, there could be other options.

On Monday, two more Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers were posted for MLB free agency — Shota Imanaga, who plays for the Yokohama BayStars, and Naoyuki Uwasawa of the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Now that they’ve been posted, all 30 MLB teams can pursue them. Both must find a deal by Jan. 11 or their rights will revert back to their respective NPB teams.

The Kyodo News reported Imanaga’s posting, while MLB.com reported Uwasawa’s posting.

The Phillies are believed to be among the 11 to 14 teams that have expressed an interest in Yamamoto, who is expected to get a contract in excess of $200 million. The Orix Buffaloes star was posted last Monday, and Phillies stars like Bryce Harper are expected to support the Phillies’ pursuit.

Yamamoto has until Jan. 4 to get a deal done. The 25-year-old has a career record of 70-29 and had a 1.21 ERA in 2023, with a 16-6 record and 169 strikeouts in 164 innings. He threw his second career no-hitter earlier this season.

Imanaga, a 30-year-old left-hander, has a 2.79 ERA, with a 26.2 percent strikeout rate and a 5.9 percent walk rate since the start of the 2019 season.

In 2023, he struck out nearly 30 percent of the hitters he faced in 148 innings, as he posted a 2.80 ERA. He walked just 3.8 percent of the hitters he faced.

MLB Trade Rumors projects that Imanaga could get a five-year deal valued at $85 million.

Uwasawa, a right-hander who will turn 30 in January, doesn’t have Imanaga’s strikeout stuff, as he has a 19.7 percent strikeout rate for his career. He has a solid walk rate (7.5 percent) and is coming off a 2023 in which he had a 2.96 ERA in 170 innings and walked just 5.9 percent of the hitters he faced.

He’s thrown more than 1,000 innings and has a career ERA of 3.19.

Imanaga and Uwasawa are the latest Asian players to be posted.

Outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, who plays for the Kiwoom Heroes in Korean Professional Baseball, should be posted in December. Teams will have 30 days to sign him once he’s posted.

Lee has played in the KBO since he was 18 years old. He spent two years with Nexen before joining Kiwoom. He’s been an incredibly consistent hitter in the KBO, as he’s batted over .300 in each of his seven seasons and has a lifetime batting average of .340. He also has a .992 fielding percentage.