I’m not trying to paint this thing as an Obsessive Watch, because I don’t want the implication to be that I think YOU should think the Cubs have a great shot at landing Seiya Suzuki when the lockout ends (or that he would be as impactful as, say, Carlos Correa). My most GENEROUS position right now is that we don’t really know what’s going to happen with Suzuki, and maybe the Cubs will legit be involved.
But I’m getting into it again today because we had the first report that the Cubs might be a serious contender for the Japanese slugger’s services (together with the Giants, Mariners, and Padres), and then we immediately had a contradictory report that, no, he is actually already more or less a done deal with the Red Sox … and now there’s another thing, so I feel it’s reasonable to keep you abreast of all that’s out there.
So today’s switcharoo comes from Peter Gammons, who counters speculation that the Mariners are actually the top favorite by saying a consensus of GMs think Suzuki is headed to the Giants:
New report suggests Mariners are among the favorites to sign OF Seiya Suzuki. And the GM consensus right now is the Giants get him ahead of the Mariners. https://t.co/fng3YWiJPE
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) January 27, 2022
So, you know. Basically the Giants are definitely the team that will sign Seiya Suzuki. But also the Mariners are a presumed favorite. And also the Red Sox have a deal already done with him. And also the Cubs and Padres are favorites, too.
Again, my generous conclusion here is that maybe that’s the pool of teams that are involved, and maybe Suzuki did develop a rough preference in the nine days of his posting before the lockout kicked in. But I also expect he’ll meet with teams as soon as the lockout ends to actually pick the team he’ll sign with. It might be the Cubs! Given the field, it probably won’t be the Cubs. But this is all still worth tracking, even if the “favorite” reporting is now all over the place.