Tigers Sign Kenta Maeda to Two-Year Contract

Tigers and right-handed Kenta Maeda have agreed to a two-year contract, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Link). ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that Maeda will earn $24 million in guaranteed money, and Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press writes that the deal will become official Monday once Maeda passes a physical. Maeda is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Reports emerged earlier this week linking Maeda and the Tigers, although the Twins (Maeda’s former team) have maintained interest. Minnesota will now have to face Maeda as a division rival’s opponent, as Maeda will join the third team of his Major League career as he enters his age-36 season.

With Eduardo Rodríguez Possibly leaving Detroit in free agency, Maeda steps in as a veteran in a Tigers rotation that is still fairly young and inexperienced overall. Most of the Tigers’ young arms have also been affected by injuries during the club’s nightmare 2022 season. Pull Skubal et Matt Manning well launched when in good health, and Reese Olson has become a legitimate rotation candidate. For the moment, Maeda appears to be No. 2 on the staff behind Skubal, along with Manning, Olson and Casey Mize (who is expected to return after missing 2023 due to Tommy John surgery).

This offseason marked the end of the eight-year, $25 million incentive deal Maeda signed with the Dodgers in January 2016, when Maeda first arrived in the majors in Nippon Professional Baseball. Maeda’s earning power at the time was somewhat limited due to some elbow issues, although he did not have major arm injury problems for four years in Los Angeles before the Dodgers did not deal him to the Twins during the 2019-20 offseason. . Maeda responded with a stellar performance in the pandemic-shortened campaign, posting a 2.70 ERA in 66 2/3 innings and finishing second in AL Cy Young Award voting.

With a more modest 4.66 ERA in 106 1/3 frames in 2021, the injury bug finally bit, as Maeda had to undergo the internal brace version of Tommy John surgery. Using the brace theoretically could have reduced Maeda’s time on the injured list, but he ended up missing the entire 2022 season. His return year in 2023 was also cut short by nearly two months due to a Tricep strain, but the numbers were pretty solid overall when Maeda took the mound.

Maeda posted a 4.23 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate over 104 1/3 innings for Minnesota. Walk and strikeout rates were well above average, and Maeda was not a high-speed pitcher even before surgery, so his 90.9 mph average was just slightly below his career norm . Maeda allowed a lot of hard contact last year, which was something of a wake-up call given that he was very good and sometimes elite at inducing soft contact in the seasons before his double procedure.

Between the hard contact numbers, Maeda’s age and his injury history, Maeda’s market was expected to be limited to a two-year contract (or two years with an option) this winter. MLBTR ranked Maeda 25th on our list of the top 50 free agents of the offseason and predicted a two-year, $36 million pact for the right-hander. The actual amount will be lower than we expected, perhaps suggesting that teams were concerned about Maeda’s ability to stay healthy. Speculatively, it could also be that Maeda preferred to get a deal done sooner rather than later, perhaps as a nod to the keen interest shown by the Tigers earlier this winter.

There’s no doubt the right-hander has a high performance ceiling when healthy, making this signing a pretty solid move for Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris. After spending most of his first year at the position in evaluation mode, Harris began making modest but notable spending on veteran talent, both signing Maeda and trading for Marc Canha earlier this month. The addition of Maeda’s deal puts Detroit’s projected payroll (per Roster Resource) at just $85.26 million, although Harris has spoken about financial prudence in the past, and it’s not yet clear how much the Tigers are ready to spend this winter.

At the very least, the Tigers have the opportunity to explore a bigger move if an opportunity presents itself, and perhaps signing Maeda opens such a door in a unique way. Petzold wrote this week that the Tigers were looking at Maeda both for pitcher value and also to “establish themselves in the Japanese pitcher market.” This is particularly intriguing in the context of Detroit’s interest in Yoshinobu Yamamotoand if Harris and Tigers owners were willing to break the bank on a player, it might be in the case of a 25-year-old Japanese ace who could still have as many as a decade of top-notch baseball ahead of him.

Shota Imanaga is another big name coming to the NPB majors this winter, although Imanaga is 30 years old and his ceiling is not considered as high as Yamamoto’s. It’s also possible the Tigers aren’t done with veteran pitchers on the Major League free agent market, with names like Seth Lugo et Luis Severino would also be on Detroit’s radar because the weapons are available under shorter-term and relatively cheaper contracts.

An argument could have been made for the Twins to issue a qualifying offer to Maeda as he entered free agency, but with Minnesota planning to cut payroll next year, it’s easy to see why the Twins wouldn’t They might not have wanted to risk Maeda accepting the offer. and lock in a $20.325 million salary for 2024. As a result, Minnesota will receive nothing in compensation for Maeda’s departure. Darren Wolfson of SKOR Nord writes that the Twins only had interest in Maeda on a one-year contract.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

2023-11-27 04:43:46
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