Although we won’t know for sure how well Japanese ace Kaima Taira will take to MLB until the rubber meets the road, and although there’s some obvious relief risk given his size and his roles in Japan, I’m still pretty eager to see the Cubs pursue him this offseason now that he’s officially available. There’s obviously substantial upside there given his dominant season in Japan, and there’s obviously substantial value in having Japanese stars on your team.
So, yes, I will admit to getting a little more excited than is probably explicitly justified when I see “Cubs” and “Kaima Taira” in close proximity in Kiley McDaniel’s early free agency write-up at ESPN: “The Red Sox, Nationals and Cubs all covet starters with velocity and big extension, and rivals think they at least have to investigate [Taira].”
It’s thin. It’s very thin. And the Cubs aren’t even alone there. It’s basically three organizations who have a lot of the same pitcher-side DNA at the upper levels of their front offices. However, McDaniel historically doesn’t do a lot of specific team-player mentioning unless there’s a little meat behind it, and there are almost no other team-listed dot-connecting mentions in the piece for other players. Feels like there may have been a slight bit of informed speculating going on, even beyond what “rivals think.”
As for his take on Kaima Taira overall, whom he ranks as the 7th best free agent in the class, McDaniel lays out the pros and cons:
“The sales pitch for Taira is a little tough at first glance: a 5-foot-8 right-handed starter who has eclipsed 60 innings in a season only twice in his career and has never surpassed 150 innings.
From another perspective, Taira has what the sharper pitching organizations seek, with enormous extension, a lower arm slot, short in stature (but with strength), and four-seam ride combining to make a really good fastball shape, which averages 94-97 mph and hits 99-100 mph at times. That’s a potentially dominating pitch, as his command is starter quality.
Taira got more rest between starts in Japan than the normal big league starting schedule allows, so a team could expand to a six-man rotation to accommodate him, or expect him to lose a little velocity on shorter rest, and probably not expect a full 32-start season in his first year.
Managing innings with rest or a variety of roles (maybe the bullpen for the postseason and late regular season?) because Taira was only a reliever in 2025 gives a creative team options, and that uncertainty of role will lower the price a bit.”
A team that is adept at managing innings, rest, and creative roles? Sounds like a Craig Counsell-led staff to me! We also know that the Cubs love outlier traits in their pitchers, and that’s what Taira has in spades.
Projecting a contract for Taira, 27, is tricky. He comes with more questions than some of the biggest names who previously came over, but probably fewer questions than Tatsuya Imai last year (he got three years and $54 million from the Astros with opt outs after each of the first two years). McDaniel speculates something in the five-year, $72.5 million range for Taira (plus another $12+ million for the posting fee), which is on the high end of what I’ve seen from other prognosticators.
For his part, Taira has not expressed any kind of preference on an MLB, although he did mention a desire to win a Cy Young, so you can expect he’d prefer to go somewhere that plans to let him start:
Kaima Taira says he does not have a preferred destination in MLB and is willing to go to any team that needs him. t.co/eiFZx9hgtJ
— Jason Coskrey (@JCoskrey) October 31, 2026More on Taira from our previous discussions, if you have missed it:
Kaima Taira, who turns 27 next month, is currently pitching in the postseason and just wrapped up one of the best NPB regular seasons in recent memory:
Kaima Taira finished the regular season with a 1.36 ERA over 146 innings. It’s the 4th-best ERA in an NPB season since 2000, behind only Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2023) and Masahiro Tanaka (2011, 2013). t.co/0cBuTbRqzS
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) October 7, 2026#平良海馬 投手がパーソル パ・リーグの #最優秀防御率投手賞 を初受賞！ 防御率1.36、リーグ唯一の1点台という圧巻の成績でタイトルを手にしました！ 平良投手、受賞おめでとうございます！ #seibulions t.co/lSyUWx4RU0
— 埼玉西武ライオンズ (@lions_official) October 6, 2026Because he’s a shorter, stouter type (roughly 5’8″, 220 lbs), I suspect Taira was pigeonholed into relief for much of his young career. He was a dominant reliever for the first four years of his time in the NPB, then was an outstanding starter in 2023, then was back to relief in 2024 and 2025 (dominating again), and then moved back into the rotation this season. As you see, it worked quite well. Taira posted a league-best 1.36 ERA over 146.0 innings (60% better than league average), a 2.28 FIP (34% better than league average), a 24.8% K, 7.9% BB, a 48.5% GB
When Taira is posted for MLB teams, he’ll have 45 days to negotiate a contract under the posting system. The MLB CBA expires December 1, so there’s a very clear timing element here – if Taira and his NPB team wanted to be able to use the full 45 days and sign before the CBA expires, he’d have to be posted … like … now. But that won’t happen until after the season ends, so it seems there will be an abbreviated negotiating window if a deal is to be completed before the lockout.
The alternative, as it was with the Cubs and Seiya Suzuki five years ago, would be a more typically-timed posting (i.e., late-November), and then the negotiating window freezes during the lockout. Whenever a CBA is in place, the 45-day clock starts ticking again, and a deal would have to come together quickly. I’m sure clubs and Taira would prefer to have a deal in place before the uncertainty of the lockout, though.
This is Kaima Taira. He is 5-foot-8, 220 pounds and throws up to 100 mph. He also might be the best starting pitcher available this winter outside of Tarik Skubal. More on him, Teruaki Sato (the class’ best hitter) and Hiromi Itoh: t.co/cOHKPO8tDn t.co/yHTSuY7Zc7
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 10, 2026Hence then, the article about cubs loosely mentioned in connection with japanese ace kaima taira i ll take it was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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