Kenta Maeda, the 27-year-old ace of Japan’s Hiroshima Carp, is going to be posted on Tuesday for all 30 MLB teams. The Yankees look like a perfect suitor, but the word on the street is that Maeda prefers the West Coast, and that the Giants are interested.
Kenta Maeda officially hits the market today. Giants expected to make a major push. Maeda's friends say he'd prefer the west coast.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) December 8, 2015
Maeda was dominant in 2015, posting a 15-8 record with a 2.09 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 206 1/3 innings. Maeda’s ERA has not been more than 2.60 since 2009, and he’s made at least 26 starts in each of those seasons.
Kenta Maeda Makes Perfect Sense To Join Masahiro Tanaka In The Bronx
The Giants’ interest is somewhat surprising, since they acted quickly to sign Jeff Samardzija after whiffing on a big contract for Zack Greinke, who headed to the Diamondbacks. The rotation appears full, but if Maeda is brought on the Giants will have to decide whether 34-year old veteran Jake Peavy, or 27-year-old Charles Heston gets the boot.
The Giants may also have to compete with the Dodgers once again for a coveted arm. There haven’t been links to Los Angeles just yet for Maeda, but their rotation was severely weakened by Greinke’s departure, and they didn’t lose him for lack of trying. They added Hisashi Iwakuma after losing Greinke, but both he and Hyun-jin Ryu are health risks.
Aroldis Chapman Fiasco Continues Brutal Offseason For The Dodgers
Losing Greinke freed up a lot of money to chase Maeda, and now it appears a deal for Reds closer Aroldis Chapman is off thanks to a domestic violence incident that also involves a gun.
Chapman’s attorney, Jay Reisinger, repeated what he told Yahoo - “vehemently denies” domestic-violence allegations against pitcher.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2015
Unless a team fully agrees with Reisinger, difficult to see any club trading for Chapman now, particularly with MLB investigating.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2015
Do not be surprised if the deep-pocketed Dodgers enter the fray for Maeda, especially since Hiroshima is only letting him go if they receive the maximum $20 million big to negotiate.
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