4 free agents Dodgers fans better hope don’t land in the NL West

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 29: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees hits his 29th home run of the season against the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium on June 29, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 29: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees hits his 29th home run of the season against the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium on June 29, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images)
(Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images) /

Kodai Senga – Arizona Diamondbacks

Kodai Senga is the premier international free agent that MLB teams are vying for this offseason. Senga will be 30 before the 2022 season, and has been one of the best pitchers in the Japan Pacific League. In 2022, he posted a 1.94 ERA in 144 IP with 156 strikeouts.

Senga has nasty stuff, with a power fastball that is going to absolutely play in MLB. Whoever ends up adding Senga is going to get an instant boost in someone who can not only pitch at a high level, but can take on a big workload right away as well.

The New York Mets are currently the likely frontrunners to bring in Senga, and definitely have an advantage over a team like the Diamondbacks. While Arizona is never typically in these conversations, they have met with Senga, so there is at least some kind of push there (as have the Padres).

This is the least likely of the four free agents to come to the NL West, so Dodgers fans don’t have to lose sleep about facing Senga’s elite fastball all that often, but you never know. Arizona is on the cusp of being a playoff contender, and a signing like Senga would certainly put them over the top.