Kona Takahashi returns to the NPB for the 2026 season

2:20 PM: fine sand reports that Takahashi had offers from three Major League clubs. 7 News Ari Alexander from Boston heard during the Winter Meetings that the Astros were interested in Takahashi, but it is unknown if Houston was one of the teams that made the judge a formal offer.

1:30 p.m: Kona TakahashiThe 45-day mailing period for finding a contract with MLB teams closes tomorrow, but Will Sammon of athletics reports that the right-hander will instead return to Japan and the Seibu Lions.

There wasn’t much buzz surrounding Takahashi’s attempt to join a big league team, and a few days ago reports began to emerge that a return to Nippon Professional Baseball was a distinct possibility for the 28-year-old. Mark Feinsand and Brian Murphy of MLB.com reported that Takahashi received just one offer from a Major League team, and it apparently wasn’t enticing enough for the right-hander to take the plunge.

Takahashi is not yet eligible for full international free agency. Feinsand and Murphy suggested he could sign a multi-year contract with the Lions next winter that would include an opt-out clause so Takahashi could freely pursue another contract with a Major League team. Sammon writes that Takahashi and the Lions are indeed discussing such a contract. While the Lions still control Takahashi’s rights, the club was already willing to post him this offseason, so a longer-term deal with opt-outs formalizes the situation somewhat. It does mean that the Lions would not be able to receive post fees, which would have been 20% of any contract worth $25 million or less in guaranteed money.

The general expectation was that Takahashi’s foray into the secondment system would result in a low-level guarantee at best, or perhaps even a contract with no guaranteed money. Takahashi has a solid 3.39 ERA over 1,199 career innings with the Lions, finding success by inducing grounders at a rate of about 50 percent and limiting walks. The big red flag for MLB scouts was undoubtedly Takahashi’s mediocre career strikeout rate of 17.17%.

It may take a particularly strong 2026 NPB season for Takahashi to take his stock to the next level in the eyes of major league scouts, but he will still be relatively young (he turns 30 in February 2027) ahead of what would be his first MLB campaign. With another year of good results and eating innings, Takahashi could potentially draw more attention next winter as a back-end rotation arm or perhaps as a multi-inning reliever, should he ultimately opt out of his next contract.