{"id":298171,"date":"2025-11-21T00:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298171\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T00:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:17:11","slug":"two-japanese-stars-join-mlb-free-agency-as-possible-red-sox-fits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298171\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Japanese Stars Join MLB Free Agency As Possible Red Sox Fits"},"content":{"rendered":"

MLB\u2019s free-agent market has two more players for the Boston Red Sox to consider.<\/p>\n

Yomiuri Giants infielder Kazuma Okamoto and Saitama Seibu Lions pitcher Kona Takahashi were posted by their respective Japanese teams on Thursday, per MLB.com\u2019s Mark Feinsand<\/a> and multiple reports. A 45-day negotiating window for MLB teams begins on Friday at 8 a.m. ET until Jan. 4 at 5 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Okamoto and Takahashi join slugger<\/a> Munetaka Murakami and right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai as the latest Japanese stars to get posted. Each of them could fill an area of concern for Boston.<\/p>\n

The Athletic named the Red Sox<\/a> among the best fits for Okamoto alongside the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs. Tim Britton projected a four-year, $78.5 million contract for the 29-year-old, whom he considers a safer short-term bet than Murakami with less upside.<\/p>\n

Okamoto has 248 career Nippon Professional Baseball home runs with an .856 career OPS. The six-time All-Star batted .322\/.411\/.581 with 15 long balls in a 69-game 2025 campaign shortened by an elbow injury.<\/p>\n

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Like Murakami, Okamoto may be more likely to play first base than third in the majors. But he could offer better defense than Murakami wherever he lines up. The Red Sox could use a power bat<\/a> at either spot as Alex Bregman tests the open market.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Unlike the other Japanese arrivals, Takahashi is absent from most top free agent lists. The 28-year-old paired a 3.04 ERA with a modest 88 strikeouts and 41 walks in 148 innings this year.<\/p>\n

Takahashi wouldn\u2019t represent a front-line rotation target for the Red Sox, but the right-hander\u2019s command could make him an intriguing back-end option.<\/p>\n

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bet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLB\u2019s free-agent market has two more players for the Boston Red Sox to consider. Yomiuri Giants infielder Kazuma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-298171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}