In this March 17, 2013, picture, Japan’s Kenta Maeda pitches against Puerto Rico in a World Baseball Classic match at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. (San Jose Mercury News/MCT)


AFP/New York


Major League Baseball clubs are looking at making deals for Japanese star pitcher Kenta Maeda with the Japan League’s Hiroshima Carp planning to make the 27-year-old right-hander available.
The major league website said the Central League Carp will post right-hander Maeda, who has pitched for Hiroshima since 2008, going 97-67 with a 2.39 earned-run average.
He went 15-8 last season with a 2.09 earned-run average over 29 starts to claim his second Sawamura Award as top pitcher, his first having come in 2010.
The Carp are expected to “post” Maeda as early as this week and set Maeda’s release fee at $20 million, the maximum amount possible under revamped rules established in 2013 for having Japanese talent jump to North American clubs.
Upon posting, a 30-day window opens when teams can pay the Carp $20 million and then negotiate a deal with Maeda. Teams that talk to Maeda but are unable to make a deal do not lose their $20 million to the club, only the team that signs him.
Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart is among those very interested in Maeda, with Seattle, the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs also reportedly in the mix.
“I love Maeda,” Stewart said. “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.”
Maeda’s statistics are similar to those of Japanese pitchers Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka, who made major impacts after coming across the Pacific Ocean.
In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Maeda went 2-1 with a 0.60 ERA, striking out 18 batters and allowing just six hits and one run over 15 innings but Japan could not capture a third consecutive crown.