Will lightning strike twice for the Chicago Cubs?
In 2024, one of the major success stories for the Cubs was the debut of Japanese rookie Shota Imanaga. The 31-year-old left-hander posted a 15-3 record, 2.91 ERA, and 174 strikeouts, while being named the Cubs' lone representative at the All-Star Game.
Imanaga proved to be a steal after signing a four-year, $53 million deal to come to Chicago. Is it possible that emboldened by their success in signing Imanaga, the Cubs will push to add another Japanese starter in 2025?
This time, the candidate is Tomoyuki Sugano, who is about to join a Major League Baseball team for the first time at the age of 35. After posting fantastic numbers during the 2024 Japanese NPB season, Sugano could make a team very happy for a few years if his stuff translates to the MLB level.
Sugano was also predicted to sign with the Cubs recently by Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller.
"(Sugano has) a 2.45 ERA in 1,873.1 innings pitched, in which he just had a 1.67 ERA in 156.2 innings pitched with a 6.94 K/BB ratio," Miller said. "And he intends to sign with an MLB team fresh off both Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga having incredible debut seasons in their transitions from NPB to MLB, so there might be more of a bidding war for his services than there would have been a year ago."
"Sugano gets a two-year, $30M deal, possibly joining Imanaga with the Cubs."
Two years, $30 million is a pretty light commitment for starting pitching nowadays. Though Sugano might not be the ace Cubs fans might want them to sign (think Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, etc.), signing him also shouldn't prevent them from pursuing that ace.
It's a long offseason and the Cubs have a lot of work to do, but there's no doubt Sugano is an interesting candidate. Seeing him join Imanaga in the rotation for the Cubs' 2025 opener in Tokyo could be positively electric.
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