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Giants interested in Kenta Maeda?

"Yes, good," you mutter. "Now to find out who Kenta Maeda is."

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Earlier in the month, we took a look at Masahiro Tanaka and the Giants. Earlier today, the idea of Jose Abreu came up. It's not that the regular free agents this offseason are boring; it's that they're known quantities. A free agent who hasn't even played in the majors yet, why, they could be anything. ANYTHING.

Add a new name to the pile.

That would be Kenta Maeda, who was one of the top pitchers for Japan in the WBC. There's no word on if Maeda will even be posted. But the Giants will have a scout there until Pat Burrell is deported, apparently, and it isn't just for Tanaka.

It's a soft rumor, sure. The alternative is to talk about Clayton Kershaw.

Yeah, you're not so lippy now.

Some video:


The video doesn't quite jibe with this:

He topped out a little higher on the video, though that might have been a quick gun. And the curve and slider looked plus to me, but I'm just a guy who thought Kevin Frandsen was the shortstop of the future.

The obligatory stats:

Year Age ERA GS IP HR BB SO
2008 20 3.20 18 109.2 10 35 55
2009 21 3.36 29 193.0 22 29 147
2010 22 2.21 28 215.2 15 46 174
2011 23 2.46 31 216.0 14 43 192
2012 24 1.53 29 206.1 6 44 171
2013 25 1.92 21 145.2 11 32 135
6 Seasons 2.39 156 1086.1 78 229 874

Mighty impressive. Considering the run-scoring context, they kind of remind me of Hiroki Kuroda's stats in Japan, at least after considering the league run-scoring context for both pitchers.

You still have a Phil Hughes post to wade through. And a Josh Johnson post to wade through. The offseason isn't even here yet, and we're off. This is a name I hadn't heard in connection to the Giants yet. Now I have.

Ah, hell, sure. Why not? He could be anything. Like Greg Maddux without the halitosis. Anything.