The Giants went 65-97 in 2026 and have two starting pitchers they can actually count on. So Susan Slusser’s report in the San Francisco Chronicle that they are among the clubs scouting Japanese right-handers Kaima Taira and Hiromi Itoh is less a rumor than a confession.
Buster Posey’s front office has to add arms this winter. The complication is that the window to do it may slam shut before the shopping really starts.
Who These Pitchers Are
Taira is the prize. The Seibu Lions right-hander turns 27 in November and posted a league-best 1.36 ERA in 2026 with a 2.28 FIP underneath it, so the run prevention was not a mirage. He is listed at 5 feet 8 inches and 220 pounds, averages 95.6 mph with his fastball, has touched 100, and works with an eight-pitch mix.
He is represented by Scott Boras, which tells you the price will not be a bargain. Japanese outlets have reported that more than 15 big league clubs sent evaluators to his starts this season, so San Francisco is standing in a long line.
Itoh, a right-hander with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, is the other name on the list and is also expected to be posted. Slusser noted that Taira could end up in a San Francisco bullpen role if the starting experiment does not take, which is a reasonable fallback for a pitcher who has closed games in Japan as recently as 2025.
The Lockout Is the Whole Problem
A posted player gets 45 days to sign with a major league club or he goes back to his NPB team. The current collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, and an owner-imposed lockout after that date would freeze major league transactions until there is a new deal.
Jeff Passan of ESPN has reported Taira is expected to be posted in early November, earlier than the usual mid-November timing. That looks like a deliberate attempt to get a contract done before the freeze. If the posting slides even a couple of weeks, a good chunk of those 45 days could be swallowed by a work stoppage, and the 2022 lockout ran 99 days.
Why This Matters for San Francisco
Logan Webb and Landen Roupp are the only established starters on the roster. Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Trevor McDonald and Blade Tidwell all needed Tommy John surgery in 2026. Birdsong might be back next season. The other three are more likely 2028 arrivals.
That is a rotation with two names and a crater. Signing a 27-year-old with a 1.36 ERA would fill more of it in one stroke than any realistic domestic free agent the Giants are going to win a bidding war for.
And that is the uncomfortable history here. Slusser wrote plainly that the Giants have not fared well in their pursuit of Japanese players in recent years. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki both ended up with the Dodgers. Scouting Taira and Itoh is the easy part. San Francisco has been in these rooms before and walked out empty.
Posey took the job promising the Giants would stop being a team that finishes second on the best players. A 65-win season and a November deadline is as clear a test of that as he is going to get.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.