#Nippon Professional Baseball

The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement on a one-year deal with right-hander Shintaro Fujinami, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. Fujinami was submitted to Major League Baseball's "posting system" back in December by the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league. Fujinami, 28, was once considered a rival to Los Angeles…

Marwin Gonzalez is heading to Japan. On Wednesday, the utility player signed with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. The New York Post's Jon Heyman reported Friday that Gonzalez is getting $1.5 million in the deal. BUY YANKEES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETSMARTER, TICKETMASTER The 33-year-old made his major league…

The San Diego Padres turn to - checks notes - Nick Martinez to start Monday in San Francisco after not appearing in a MLB game since 2017. He was solid in Japan last season but we're not expecting it to carry over against the Giants in our betting picks. Two NL West teams that got off to a winning start to the season face off Monday night as the…

New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler has been diligent about adding starting pitching this offseason. He's been busy, signing Justin Verlander (two years, $86.67 million), Jose Quintana (two years, $26 million) and Kodai Senga (five years, $75 million) to upgrade the starting rotation. BUY METS TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID…

The hardest part of breaking up is usually moving on. For the Cubs, the hardest part was how long the relationship dragged on. Chicago's clubhouse had to be a really uncomfortable place last season. The writing was on the wall like a big graffiti art piece that the team was going to undergo a lot of changes. The core of the 2016 World Series team…

SAN DIEGO - By now, it's pretty clear how much Mets owner Steve Cohen cares about the "Steve Cohen tax." Because he's operating as if he doesn't. He's blowing by it. After the re-signing of Brandon Nimmo and the addition of veteran reliever David Robertson on Thursday, FanGraphs projects the Mets' payroll for $322 million. So, yeah, that final…

Major League Baseball's 2022 winter meetings blew through San Diego like a three-day whirlwind, sending Justin Verlander to the Mets, Trea Turner to the Phillies, Willson Contreras to the Cardinals, Kenley Jansen to the Red Sox and "Arson Judge" into the pantheon of baseball's greatest Twitter moments. One of our biggest takeaways from the spending…

With the 2022-23 MLB offseason in full swing, questions surrounding the futures of many of the game's best will finally be answered as clubs reload their rosters in preparation for another run at the World Series in 2023. A few notable free agents have already landed contracts in the early stages, but with many big names still available, it'll be…

The New York Yankees are looking at some talent out of Japan. MLB Network's Jon Morosi OF Masataka Yoshida has yet to be posted to @MLB teams by the Orix Buffaloes. December 15 is the deadline to do so. The #Yankees are among the teams with interest in Yoshida, a left-handed hitter. BUY YANKEES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID…

With Opening Day right around the corner, it's important to get ahead of as many predictions as possible. At least, it's more fun that way. Think about it like this: Just a few weeks ago, we weren't sure when we might watch Major League Baseball again. Here we are after every major free-agent signing and plenty of marquee trades, with a decent look…

MLB free agency gets underway in earnest on Tuesday with a plethora of top-end MLB talent potentially switching teams. Our amNew York staff weighs in on where they think the top 15 free agents will sign. Judge turned down the Yankees' seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer at the start of the season and made bet on himself that was a little…

Max Scherzer was a free agent last winter, but his name is being mentioned a lot in conjunction with the top two pitchers on the free agent market this offseason. The three-time Cy Young Award winner reached the open market at age 37. While teams weren't committed to signing Scherzer to a contract with a longer term, the New York Mets gave him a…

It's a loaded 2023 MLB free agency class this year. Especially with starting pitching. We all saw how the Houston Astros rode starting pitching to the 2022 World Series title. Now several teams will be looking to copy that format by loading up on the top starting pitchers in free agency. Just how deep is starting the pitching pool? Nathan…

Every few years, there seems to be a star player from Japan ready to make the trip to America to try their hand in MLB. And every year, the Texas Rangers seem to be involved in that market. Last year's sensation was Seiya Suzuki, now a Chicago Cub and before him were superstars Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish (former Ranger, of course), Masahiro Tanaka,…