It appears there is about to be another stud starting pitcher diving into the Major League Baseball free-agent pool. 

A little more than a week after ace right-hander Kenta Maeda asked his Hiroshima Carp team of the Japan Central League to post him for MLB teams to bid for his negotiating rights, his wish is going to be granted, according to Yahoo Japan and Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times.

Assuming early reports are an accurate indication, Maeda is the next potential front-line pitcher from Japan to venture to the major leagues. Coming off a season in which he won his second Sawamura Award—the Asian island’s equivalent to MLB’s Cy Young Award—and because he will pitch next season at the prime age of 28, expectations are his posting bids will top out at the $20 million ceiling, as did former Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka’s before he signed with the New York Yankees.

Under MLB’s agreement with the Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, which caps the bids at $20 million rather than having them skyrocket in excess of $50 million as they did with Yu Darvish and Daisuke Matsuzaka, multiple teams can make the maximum bid. That would leave Maeda and his agents to negotiate with more than one club in the 30-day window after the potential winning bids are announced.

Maeda’s posting adds yet another arm to the rich group of starters already engulfed in free agency. While he does not project to be the kind of major league ace that Darvish, Matsuzaka or Tanaka were upon their bidding, he is expected to be an effective major league starter with a floor set at him becoming a quality No. 4 starter, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler. 

That assessment makes it fair to believe Maeda will not get the nine-figure contract handed to Tanaka (seven years, $155 million), but he could be more in line with the $56 million given to Darvish or the $51 million given to Matsuzaka, both of which are now a relatively low figures.

That does not mean certain teams do not see him as better than a No. 4 starter, but it does mean he could end up as a bargain in this market where a pitcher like Jeff Samardzija, coming off a poor season, is being rumored to have a $100 million offer already at his feet, per Jayson Stark of ESPN.

Knowing that, and knowing there is already heavy major league interest in Maeda, he could end up as one of the most coveted second-tier arms on the market.

“I love Maeda,” Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart told reporters a little more than a year ago. “I love him. We have a lot of video and film and we have people who have seen him. We think that he’s got a chance to be very successful in Major League Baseball. We’re going to try to be in on the market when he does post, if he does post.”

Stewart and Diamondbacks scouts have continued to keep a watch on Maeda, who recently pitched in the Premier 12 international tournament in Japan last month. Per Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com:

Maeda had a 2.09 ERA with 7.6 strikeouts per nine innings and 1.8 walks per nine in 206.1 innings last season. It was his sixth consecutive year with an ERA of 2.60 or lower.

Those numbers go a long way in making Maeda a wanted man in free agency, as does not being tagged with draft-pick compensation. That combination should make him the kind of arm that receives multiple $20 million bids, giving him leverage. Teams who match the maximum bid but do not sign him get their posting fee returned, so there is no risk if a club does not sign him to a contract.

While Maeda’s raw stuff does not compare to Tanaka’s or Darvish’s, he did showcase a revamped changeup in the Premier 12 tournament, while his fastball sat between 89-93. As we’ve seen with pitchers like Felix Hernandez, Zack Greinke and even Marco Estrada, a quality changeup can be a devastating pitch even without other overpowering weapons.

“I didn’t think his slider was very good that day [against Mexico], but his changeup was nasty,” a scout told Badler (h/t to MLB Trade Rumors if you do not have a Baseball America subscription). “He was throwing it to righthanders and lefthanders. To me, that was his best pitch.”

With Stewart’s comments hiding nothing, we know the Diamondbacks are a contender for Maeda. Beyond them, up to half of major league general managers should have interest since a posting fee and a contract in the $60 million neighborhood could still be a bargain considering how the current market for starting pitchers is playing out.

That means count in obvious teams like the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Diamondbacks, and add teams like the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros as possible suitors.

Seriously, everyone could be in on Maeda just because the cost could be manageable. That means his negotiations could be as intriguing as anyone’s this offseason.

 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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