The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to throw money and bodies at the yawning chasm left in their rotation by Zack Greinke's departure, this time with the addition of 27-year-old Japanese righty Kenta Maeda. Maeda posted a 2.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 175/41 K/BB ratio in 206 1/3 innings last year for the Hiroshima Carp in the Japanese leagues. The financial details of the pact have not yet emerged, though the Dodgers will be paying a $20 million posting fee to the Carp, the maximum allowed under the posting agreement between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), upon the deal's completion.
Maeda has been of interest to MLB teams since 2010 when he led the NPB in wins, strikeouts and ERA as a 22 year-old. During his professional career he's amassed just over 1,500 career innings with a 2.39 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, both lower career marks than Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka posted during his time in Japan. But while on paper Maeda wields some basic statistical superiority over his peers, the scouting reports aren't quite as inspiring.