MLB: These three teams should aggressively pursue Tomoyuki Sugano
These three teams should be aggressive in their pursuits for Tomoyuki Sugano.
Beginning December 8th at 8 am ET, Major League Baseball teams will have 30 days to negotiate a contract with Japan’s top veteran pitcher and the newest high-profile name to join the market, Tomoyuki Sugano.
The 31-year-old right-handed pitcher has a long track record of success both in Japan and on the international scene, is a two-time Sawamura Award winner (Cy Young equivalent), and is coming off another fantastic season in the NPB, his eighth season of professional baseball.
In 20 starts for the Yomiuri Giants, Sugano went 14-2 with a 1.97 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and struck out just under 9/9 IP while issuing 25 walks across 137.1 innings.
With his elite command and long history of success, Sugano is expected to have plenty of suitors over the next 30 days, but with a posting fee attached to the decent contract he is sure to command, a bigger market, playoff-ready team seems like the most likely landing spot for the veteran pitcher who many believe is the second-best pitcher available on the market behind Trevor Bauer.
Now that the negotiating window is open, these three teams should be the most aggressive when it comes to signing Tomoyuki Sugano.
New York Yankees
As it currently stands, the Yankees have Gerrit Cole and a bunch of question marks in their starting rotation, with Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J.A. Happ all now gone and very few high-quality options available on the free agent market.
Sugano’s repertoire isn’t anything that major league hitters haven’t seen before, but his command and history of keeping runners off the basepaths is impressive and has helped carry him through eight seasons of success in Japan.
Evaluators believe Sugano is a quality mid-rotation arm on an MLB roster, meaning New York would still need to bring in another arm who can slot in behind Cole, whether that’s re-signing Tanaka or landing a Lance Lynn or other top available arm on the trade market, but the Yankees have not only the financial resources to bring in Sugano, but also have a history of Japanese stars coming to play in the Bronx and finding success.
He wouldn’t completely solve New York’s rotation issues, but Sugan would be a huge boost to a team looking up at the Tampa Bay Rays.
The San Diego Padres have already expressed interest in Tomoyuki Sugano.
San Diego Padres general manager AJ Preller has held nothing back over the last year, signing Manny Machado to lock down the hot corner and trading away a large chunk of assets to bring in players to help the Padres win now, including Mike Clevinger, Trevor Rosenthal, and Austin Nola.
Unfortunately, Clevinger is going to miss the 2021 season after Tommy John surgery and the Friars are in need of starting pitching help behind Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies, and a shaky Chris Paddack.
San Diego has already expressed interest in Tomoyuki Sugano and has built an extensive international scouting department with plenty of focus on Japanese and Korean talent. Having Hideo Nomo on staff as an advisor also doesn’t hurt.
The Padres are one of the most exciting up-and-coming teams and proved in 2020 that they are on the verge of a World Series run, making this a potential win-win situation for both the Padres and Sugano.
Sugano gets to pitch on the west coast for a team that will give him an opportunity to compete for a World Series title and San Diego gets one of the top veteran arms on the market to solidify their starting rotation.
If Tomoyuki Sugano is someone AJ Preller wants on his roster, good luck to other teams who are interested.
The Boston Red Sox will be aggressive, but will Tomoyuki Sugano sign with them?
It’s very hard to believe that the Boston Red Sox will finish the 2021 season as a last-place team in the AL East for a second-straight season, meaning Chaim Bloom and staff have some serious work to do if they want to quickly turn things around.
Aggressively going after Tomoyuki Sugano would be a good step in the right direction.
The Red Sox are reportedly expected to be major players for Sugano now that he’s available as they look to improve a rotation that currently consists of Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, and Tanner Houck. Eduardo Rodriguez is expected to be ready to go in 2021 but suffered dangerous side-effects after contracting COVID-19 and hasn’t pitched in a year.
With Chris Sale still recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Red Sox need multiple pieces to fill out their rotation and add some much-needed depth to the league’s worst pitching staff.
Boston’s experience in helping Japanese talent transition to Major League Baseball is an asset they can use in the scramble for Sugano, but will he want to pitch for a team that finished near the bottom of the American League with teams like New York, San Diego, and even San Francisco interested?
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It shouldn’t take long before we hear news about the bidding for Sugano, adding a bit more excitement to an offseason that’s been lacking in notable moves up to this point.