Randy Messenger and the Hanshin Tigers are nearing a deal that will keep the right-hander with the club through 2018, his agent, Matt Sosnick, told The Japan Times on Thursday.
The two sides had been having both formal and informal discussions for some time, and negotiations have, according to Sosnick, been progressing well to this point.
"As far as we know, it would be the largest two-year deal ever signed by an American in Japan," Sosnick said without divulging the actual figure the sides are working toward. "The deal is in the final stages. We have the framework of the deal set up. There's no reason to believe that it's not going to happen in its current form."