Although there has been no confirmation, it was being reported that Japanese star right-hander Kenta Maeda and his agent met with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi at Dodger Stadium on Christmas Eve. The initial report came from Orange County Register’s Dodgers beat writer Bill Plunkett via Twitter.

The Dodgers were known to be courting Maeda, who turns 28 years old on April 11, and even said to be the front runners to land the Nippon Professional Baseball veteran.

In his eight professional seasons – all with the Hiroshima Carp – Maeda posted a very impressive 97-67 record with an outstanding career 2.39 ERA. As such and if signed by the Dodgers, he would immediately move into the number two slot in the Dodgers rotation created by the departure of 2015 NL Cy Young runner-up Zack Greinke.

Maeda last pitched in the U.S. for Team Japan during the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
(Photo credit – Ezra Shaw)

Maeda was made available to teams through MLB’s posting system earlier this month. The signing deadline (and a commitment to pay the Carp a $20 million posting fee) is 2 pm (PT) on January 8.

Although the Dodgers appear to be leading the pack for the hard-throwing right-hander, such signings usually occur right before the signing deadline.

We will provide updates regarding Maeda as they become available.