I always watch closely the pool of international players coming over to Major League Baseball anyway, but now that it’s clear the Cubs are trying to build out a more explicit pipeline from Japan to Chicago, I monitor the NPB even more closely. So you can expect multiple mentions around here about the top names who may be coming over this offseason, and that won’t just be young ace Roki Sasaki.
To that end, an ace on the other end of the age and experience spectrum is planning to finally make the jump to MLB:
Tomoyuki Sugano, 35 next week, is a legend in the NPB, posting a 2.43 career ERA over 12 seasons and 1857.0 IP. He’s never been a huge strikeout guy (though you do have to keep in mind the offensive environment that has played to extreme contact over the years, and pitchers sometimes work accordingly to induce poor contact), but he doesn’t walk anyone, and is nearing the conclusion of one of the best seasons of his career. He has a diverse pitch mix, exceptional command, and very well could translate well to MLB.
Although Sugano is older than many other Japanese starts who come over, it’s not as if 35 years old is ancient for a pitcher. You simply have to adjust expectations and risk-sensitivity accordingly. He is also a true free agent, so there will not be a posting fee attached to any deal he signs.
All that said, if Sugano is planning to start in MLB, and if the Cubs are realistically looking to make just one (big) starting pitcher addition, does Sugano fit those plans? I don’t want to downplay the possibility that Sugano could be a very good big league pitcher, as we just saw how well ShÅta Imanaga translated, despite many other clubs feeling he was more like a 5th starter than what he proved to actually be. I just wonder if the Cubs will want more certainty, and if so, whether they would not necessarily be in the market to sign/trade for a front-of-the-rotation type Stateside, AND ALSO sign Sugano to presumably occupy a rotation spot.
We’ll see how this evolves. I won’t pretend to be able to tell you exactly how well Sugano projects, or what kind of deal he’d realistically be seeking. Gotta just monitor, read the scouting reports/projections as they come out, and see what’s what.