MLB: These three teams should aggressively pursue Tomoyuki Sugano
By Nick Stevens
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.