Hot Stove Lunch: Red Sox not expected to go hard after Japanese ace

Sometime next week, it's highly probable that lefty Yusei Kikuchi will be posted by the Seibu Lions in Japan and be available for bid to all 30 MLB teams.

But don't expect the Red Sox to be among the teams clamoring for him.

While Kikuchi has great talent -- with a 73-46 lifetime mark and a career ERA of 2.77, he also has a history of shoulder problems, and according to a source, that's enough to limit the Red Sox' interest.

Kikuchi throws between 92-94 mph and occasionally touches 96 mph and projects somewhere between a No. 2 and No. 4 starter in Major League Baseball. But until 2016, he hadn't thrown more than 140 innings for Nippon Professional Baseball and was sidelined again this past May with shoulder woes.

Posting rules will be different this winter, with the size of the contract signed determining how much a player's team will gain. For a contract worth up to $25 million, the Lions would get a 20 percent cut. The percentage drops to $17.5 million on the next $25 million and $15 percent on anything over $50 million.

Kikuchi is represented by Scott Boras.

The Red Sox, of course, have been players before on the Japanese market, signing Daisuke Matsuzaka to a landmark deal after 2006 and also bidding -- unsuccessfully -- on Shohei Ohtani last winter.

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