For reasons I’ll discuss in a moment, the big name postings from Asia are starting very early this year. Righty Kaima Taira, third baseman Teruaki Sato, righty Hiromi Itoh, and third baseman Si-Hwan Roh have all now officially been posted and can negotiate with MLB teams. We already knew that Taira and Sato were going to be posted, but now that is official. Taira is a target I really, really like for the Cubs.
It was expected that Itoh would join them from Japan, and, again, that’s now also officially. The 29-year-old righty has been dominant in the NPB for years, though there are questions about how he’d translate against MLB competition, given his command/control style. I’ve seen him compared to Yu Darvish, less for the overpowering stuff, mind you, and more for the EXTREME pitch diversity:
Updating Hiromi Itoh’s pitches watched most of 2026 he’s added a One-Seam. Scrapped the split-change and slow curve. @yakyucosmo 4-Seam Sinker 1-Seam Cut 4-seam Cutter Short Slider Death Ball Sweeper Curve Slow Curve (60s mph) Splitter – “Splinker-type pitch” Changeup Eephus
— Brandon Tew (@BrandonTeweets) October 16, 2026Roh, 25, is coming from Korea, where he’s been 25 to 30% better than league average at the plate the last five years. An interested MLB team would have to value him more than the reported $21-ish million he has left on his deal with his KBO team in order to justify paying enough to sign him away. Although it’s never a one-to-one projection for players from one league to another, it’s worth pointing out that Roh’s numbers are not quite on par with Ha-Seong Kim’s when he came over around the same age, and they’re not remotely close to those of Jung-Hoo Lee when he came over. Each of those two were slightly above-average overall bats in their initial years transitioning to MLB.
The timing on these postings is interesting, as, in years past, we would typically find that the players had their postings approved by their teams around this time, but the actual official posting would come a little bit further into November. The looming MLB lockout is no doubt a factor here, but Ken Rosenthal reports it might be even stricter this time around: before the last lockout, MLB and NPB agreed to pause the clock on the 45-day posting window during the lockout, but no such agreement has been made this time. It’s possible it could come mid-stream, but the fact that these guys are being posted on November 1 makes me think the NPB does not expect a modification this time around.
Note that the posting window for KBO players from Korea is 30 days, so there is no impact there (though the timing of the posting on November 1, again, suggests there was an expectation no pause would come this time around).
That is all to say, the current expectation is that these four players MUST SIGN before the CBA expires at midnight on December 1, or else they will return to Japan/Korea.
I’m certain MLB teams are OK with it, but it’s gotta be a bummer for Taira, Sato, Itoh, and Roh, right? If I’m one of these guys, I would kinda hate HAVING to be locked in before the lockout. Then I don’t even have the option of reading the labor tea leaves and returning to Japan/Korea if things look really dark in February.
Instead, the players will have to make full and final decisions before the clock strikes midnight on December 1, and then sit around and wait to actually make their transition to MLB – all while not being able to communicate with the new team that just signed them.
Probably a good reason, if you’re serious about any of these players, to get a deal done with a little time before the bell, eh?
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