The Boston Red Sox had one of the best starting rotations in baseball in 2026. The team is returning key pieces like Payton Tolle, Ranger Suarez and Jake Bennett and 2025 Cy Young Award runner-up Garrett Crochet entered the offseason in full health. However, veteran starter Sonny Gray, who declined his mutual option and hit the free-agent market, is unlikely to return in 2027, leaving behind 169 innings. 

Last week, Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow discussed the team's needs beyond lineup upgrades, including adding pitching depth. With the GM Meetings set to get underway in Las Vegas on Tuesday, could Japanese starter Kaima Taira emerge as a free-agent target for Breslow? 

An eight-year veteran of the Seibu Lions of the NPB, Taira has spent most of his career as a dominant reliever. After three seasons in the bullpen, Taira transitioned to a starter role in 2023, but forearm issues kept him out for most of the 2024 season. When he returned at the end of 2024, he returned to a bullpen role. However, the 26-year-old right-hander returned to starting in 2026. 

In 23 starts, Taira posted a 1.36 ERA in 146 innings, the best mark among all NPB starters. Taira struck out the 10th most batters per nine innings (8.69) while walking only 2.77 per nine innings. Taira features a deep arsenal, with a fastball that sits 95-99 and a splitter that, according to Fangraphs, grades out as a plus big-league pitch. 

Standing at a stocky 5-foot-8, 220 pounds, Taira isn't the traditional build that Breslow typically targets. However, he has other traits the Red Sox pitching staff covets, including massive extension and elite velocity that he can maintain deep into games. 

He is, of course, not without risk, though: Taira has just two seasons in which he's handled a starter's workload, the first of which led to the forearm injury that kept him out for nearly the entire 2024 season. He also doesn't have the prototypical size of a starter, which will inevitably raise durability concerns, especially with a more grueling Major League Baseball schedule. According to Just Baseball, Taira's fastball also has poor shape and ride, but it plays up thanks to his release point. 

While the concerns are certainly there, under Breslow, the Red Sox have had great success taking pitchers with intriguing traits, like Taira's massive extension and velocity and elevating their games. He also offers a relatively safe floor as a strong late-inning reliever, which is incredibly valuable. 

One area of need Breslow highlighted was pitching depth with minor league options. The Red Sox already have a solidified top three in their rotation that might be the best trio in baseball. Taira would give the Red Sox an intriguing, high-ceiling, back-of-the-rotation option to replace Gray, while still maintaining roster flexibility with three minor-league options. 

Projections for Taira's first major league deal are all over the place. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranks the 26-year-old as the seventh-best free agent available. "The Red Sox, Nationals and Cubs all covet starters with velocity and big extension, and rivals think they at least have to investigate; I expect lots of interest around $50 million guaranteed and think there will be enough teams motivated to go higher to push to a fifth year," McDaniel wrote while projecting Taira to land a five-year, $72.5 million deal. 

The Athletic's Jim Bowden took a more conservative approach in his projection, ranking Taira the 19th-best available free agent and projecting him to a three-year, $30-million deal. 

Any team that signs Taira would also be on the hook for the posting fee, paid to Seibu and proportional to the deal he signs: 20 percent of the first $25 million, 17.5 percent of the next $25 million, and 15 percent on anything beyond $50 million. In McDaniel's projection, the posting fee would be $12.5 million. 

Taira was officially posted by Seibu on Nov. 1 and will have 45 days to negotiate and sign with a team. However, if Taira is not signed by the Dec. 2 lockout, his clock will pause, giving him two weeks to sign with a team after the lockout.