Seibu Lions right-hander Kaima Taira is drawing a lot of interest from Major League teams, with ESPN’s Jeff Passan writing that Taira is “expected to be posted in early November.” Such Japanese news outlets as Sanspo and the Yakyu Cosmopolitan recently listed the Mets, Blue Jays, Yankees, Padres, White Sox, Cubs, Angels, Mariners, and Rangers as just some of the teams scouting Taira’s recent starts, with Sanspo reporting over 15 MLB clubs had evaluators in attendance.
The posting date is noteworthy, as Nippon Professional Baseball clubs generally post their players around the middle of November. Once a player is posted, he has 45 days to work out a contract with a MLB team, and the player would return to his NPB club for the upcoming season if no deal is reached. Since a lockout is universally assumed to be coming once the current collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1, NPB teams may be looking to get a jump on things by giving this offseason’s posting class an extra week or two to finalize a contract before the market freezes.
Passan predicts that Taira and other thought to be incoming NPB stars Teruaki Sato and Hiromi Itoh will all sign before December 1, though it’s worth noting that during the 2021-22 lockout, Seiya Suzuki’s posting window was interrupted and he had to wait until March to sign his five-year, $85MM contract with the Cubs. An early-November posting may also create some timing issues if any of the involved teams (Taira’s Lions, Sato’s Hanshin Tigers, or Itoh’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters) play deep into the postseason —- the fifth and deciding game of the 2025 Japan Series concluded on October 30, for instance.
Taira will have nine full pro seasons under his belt by the conclusion of the 2027 season, so he’d be a full free agent and ineligible to be posted. It therefore makes sense for the Lions to post Taira this winter and gain a payday in the process, especially if the MLB/NPB posting system is changed in the next collective bargaining agreement. When a posted player signs with a MLB team, that team must also pay his former NPB club a fee related to the size of the contract — the NPB team’s posting fee would equal 20% of the first $25MM of the player’s guaranteed Major League contract, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of anything beyond the $50MM mark.
How large a contract Taira might land is a fascinating question, as Passan suggests that Taira might be the second-best free agent pitcher available this offseason, after Tarik Skubal. This certainly doesn’t mean Taira will land the biggest non-Skubal contract on the pitching market, but does speak to the upside that some teams view in Taira, who turns 27 in November.
Taira has a superb 1.36 ERA over 132 innings for the Lions this season, as well as a 23.8% strikeout rate and 8.46% walk rate. Passan writes that Taira’s fastball averages 95.6mph but has touched the 100mph threshold, so it seems very possible that a big league pitching lab could add a mile or two onto that average velo. The fastball is just one piece of a whopping eight-pitch arsenal Taira deploys, leaving batters confused.
Some teams may shy away from Taira due to durability concerns, and his lack of a lengthy track record as a starting pitcher. Taira is 5’8″ and 220 pounds, and his build has been described as “catcherly” (as per Fangraphs’ scouting report) and “forged in the shape of a fire hydrant” (from Passan). Fangraphs also notes that Taira battled forearm tightness in 2024, which led to his return to bullpen work in 2025 before being reinstalled in the rotation in 2026.
The majority of Taira’s career has been spent as a reliever, as 2023 and 2026 are his only full-time seasons as a starting pitcher. Since Taira posted some excellent numbers out of the pen and he worked as the Lions’ closer in 2021 and 2025, this at least raises the floor of his asking price, as teams may feel he can effectively and easily transition to bullpen work if he doesn’t pan out in a big league rotation. Taira’s market may come down to which club is the most bullish on his ability to stick as a starter, and is willing to give him a contract reflecting that trust.
