The Milwaukee Brewers announced the signing of right-handed pitcher Elvin Rodriguez, who spent all of last season pitching in Japan with the Yakult Swallows, to a big-league contract Friday. Rodriguez signed a one-year deal with a club option for 2026 with Milwaukee.

In other Phils signing news, they got a Japanese pitcher of their own, though a little older than Sasaki. That’s 31-year-old Koyo Aoyagi, a veteran of nine seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League.

The Phillies have added right-handed pitcher Koyo Aoyagi as an additional spring training nonroster invitee, the team announced Friday. Aoyagi, 31, spent nine seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league,

Hoping to become a two-way player in MLB just like Shohei Ohtani, 18-year-old Shotaro Morii made the rare decision to bypass Japanese professional baseball entirely and agreed Wednesday to a minor league contract with the Athletics.

Japanese baseball stars have almost exclusively come to MLB after playing in NPB. Morii is breaking precedent by signing with the A's.

In keeping with their newfound profligacy, this week it was announced that the Athletics signed 18-year-old Japanese star (in waiting?) Shotaro Morii to a record-setting deal, with a $1,510,500 bonus.