Copyright CBS Sports
With Major League Baseball's free agency period opening last week, teams are now in the clear to pursue upgrades to their roster as they see fit. Yet teams will have to wait a little longer before they can chase after some of the most interesting free agents in this winter's class. Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league and South Korea's Korea Baseball Organization have arrangements in place with MLB wherein their teams post players for MLB consideration. Typically, that process tends to start a little later in the winter. Ranking top 50 MLB free agents for 2026: Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman at top, plus landing spots for every player R.J. Anderson Look no farther than the World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to see how important international talent can be to a club. The Dodgers employed four different former NPB and KBO players this year, including two-way star Shohei Ohtani, ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and closer Roki Sasaki. Ohtani was signed as an MLB free agent, but the others came through the posting system. There are no Ohtanis or Yamamotos available in this winter's international free agent crop. There are, however, some interesting talents who should improve an MLB roster as soon as next spring. Below, CBS Sports has highlighted four players in particular worth knowing. 1. 3B/1B Munetaka Murakami Top 50 ranking: No. 7 Potential suitors: Yankees, Mets, Dodgers Murakami, 26 in February, is the most famous player of the bunch. He's only a few years removed from breaking Sadaharu Oh's NPB single-season home-run record for a Japanese-born player. Sure enough, Murakami has elite strength that will play on either side of the Pacific. Other facets of his game aren't as certain to port. He swings and misses a lot, resulting in one of the highest strikeout rates (around 28%) among NPB regulars. (NPB hasn't experienced the same strikeout creep as MLB.) Additionally, Murakami isn't much of a defensive presence and he may find himself stationed at either first base or designated hitter in the near future. Some team is going to fall for Murakami, and hard, because of his middle-of-the-order upside and youth. Just be aware that there is a legitimate downside here. Murakami, who was officially posted last week, will have until Dec. 22 to sign with an MLB team. 2. RHP Tatsuya Imai Top 50 ranking: No. 12 Potential suitors: Yankees, Mets, Cubs Imai is the most interesting incoming pitcher. He's a shorter right-hander with a low release point from which he fires mid-90s fastballs and a forkball-like slider. Imai has battled his command throughout his career (he didn't walk fewer than four batters per nine innings until his seventh professional season), yet the 27 year old profiles as at least a mid-rotation starter for as long as he throws strikes. He's coming off a season that saw him deliver a 1.92 ERA and a 3.96 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 163 innings. Unlike with NPB hitters, NPB pitchers are viewed as safer bets -- that's even with the differences in MLB's ball and throwing schedule. The Saitama Seibu Lionss posted him earlier this week. 3. 3B/1B/OF Kazuma Okamoto Top 50 ranking: No. 22 Potential suitors: Mariners, Red Sox, Mets Believe it or not, there are statistical models that favor Okamoto's chances of succeeding against MLB pitching to Murakami's. At minimum, Okamoto has, to his credit, done a better job than Murakami at keeping his swing-and-miss and strikeout rates in check. To his debt, he's a few years older (30 next June) and he's a right-handed hitter. Okamoto's market may be dictated by how teams feel about his defense at the hot corner. Should they deem him unfit there, there will be more pressure on his bat. 4. RHP Cody Ponce Top 50 ranking: No. 44 Potential suitors: Padres, Mets, Cardinals
