On February 14th, the New York Mets officially announced the signing of Shintaro Fujinami. The team deliberately delayed the announcement in order to transfer infielder Ronny Mauricio, who is currently recovering from an ACL tear, to the 60-day injured list. It is important to note that players cannot be placed on the 60-day injured list until the start of spring training.
According to a report by Jon Heyman of the New York Post on February 2nd, the Mets have reached an agreement with free-agent right-handed pitcher Shintaro Fujinami. The terms of the deal include a one-year contract with a base salary of $3.35 million in the major leagues. Additionally, Fujinami has the opportunity to earn up to $850,000 in incentives. It is worth mentioning that the contract does not include any provisions that would prevent Fujinami from being sent down to the minor leagues. The Boras Corporation represents Fujinami in this negotiation.
Fujinami, 29, was a rival of Shohei Ohtani in high school and joined Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s premier professional league, at the same time as the versatile phenom. In the early stages of his NPB career, Fujinami showed promise as a potential star in his own right. He immediately joined the Hanshin Tigers’ rotation after being drafted, recording a 2.75 ERA in 137 1/3 innings as a rookie at the age of 19. Over his first four seasons in NPB, Fujinami maintained a sub-3.00 ERA and was selected as an All-Star each year.
However, Fujinami’s star began to dim in his age-23 season. He had already displayed some struggles with command the previous year and controversially remained in a game to throw a staggering 161 pitches in a single start, which began with him allowing five runs in the first three innings. While it is unclear to what extent this incident contributed to his decline, Fujinami battled injuries and poor command for the remainder of his time in NPB. The Tigers demoted him to their minor league team on multiple occasions and shifted him between the rotation and bullpen at various points.
In 2022, Fujinami experienced a resurgence. The hard-throwing right-hander made 10 starts and six relief appearances for the Tigers’ top team, posting a 3.38 ERA in 66 2/3 innings. He struck out 23.6% of his opponents and, most importantly, achieved a career-low 7.6% walk rate. This was not only the best walk rate of Fujinami’s career but also the first time since 2016 that he recorded a walk rate below 10%.
As a result, Fujinami secured a one-year, $3.25MM contract with the Athletics last year. Unfortunately, his MLB career got off to a disastrous start. He was severely beaten in four starts with Oakland, recording a 14.40 ERA, before transitioning to the bullpen where he continued to struggle, surrendering 15 runs in his next 12 1/3 relief innings.
However, Fujinami quickly turned things around. Starting in early June, he regained control of his command and delivered a 3.18 ERA with a 24-to-9 K/BB ratio in 22 2/3 innings leading up to the trade deadline. During this period, he consistently threw his fastball at an average speed of over 99 mph. This impressive turnaround prompted the Orioles to acquire Fujinami from the A’s in exchange for minor league right-hander Easton Lucas. As an Oriole, Fujinami pitched 30 innings with a 4.85 ERA, striking out 25% of his opponents but also walking 11.9%.
Excluding his disastrous start to the season, Fujinami concluded his MLB rookie campaign with a 3.94 ERA over 48 innings. He struck out 25.6% of batters faced, walked 10.6%, limited opponents to a .206 batting average, induced ground balls at a rate of 43.5%, and consistently threw his fastball at an average speed of 99.1 mph. If he can maintain this level of performance or even improve upon it, the Mets are making a worthwhile investment by guaranteeing Fujinami a spot on their 40-man roster and a significant $3.35MM contract.
The Mets have already re-signed Adam Ottavino and added newcomers Jorge Lopez, Michael Tonkin, and Austin Adams to their bullpen. However, none of these players can be sent to the minor leagues without first clearing waivers. The team is also reportedly close to finalizing a deal with veteran left-hander Jake Diekman. With the growing number of bullpen acquisitions, it is possible that the Mets will attempt to pass Tonkin or Adams through waivers. Both players have less than five years of MLB service and the salary agreed upon in their big league contracts could make it easier for them to clear waivers and provide depth options in Triple-A.
For the third consecutive season in 2024, the Mets will be subject to the luxury tax and are already in the highest penalty tier. Any additional spending at this point will be taxed at 110%, meaning that the Fujinami deal will cost the Mets $7.035MM after taxes. If Fujinami achieves the full $850K incentive package, the additional cost after taxes would be $1.785MM. However, reaching this milestone would likely indicate that he has performed well enough to justify the expense and more. The Mets will need to make room on their 40-man roster for Fujinami and potentially for Diekman as well, assuming their deal is finalized. Therefore, additional transactions are likely to occur in the coming days.
According to the Source mlbtraderumors.com