Jeff Passan, senior MLB specialist
Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano i Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a contract, the team announced Monday night, bringing together one of the most successful Japanese pitchers of his generation with a team in need of rotation help. ESPN sources say the deal is for one year and worth $13 million.
The 35-year-old Sugano – a two-time winner of the Sawamura Award, Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award – almost joined Major League Baseball after Yomiuri Giants he posted it in December 2020. He never signed, returned to the Giants and performed almost as well this year as he did in his 2017 and 2018 winning seasons in Sawamura.
In 24 starts this year, Sugano went 15-3 with an ERA of 1.67. Over 156.2 innings, he struck out 111, walked just 16 and allowed six home runs. While Sugano’s fastball tops out at around 90 mph, nearly two-thirds of his pitches this year have been off-speed – a combination of a slider, slicer, curveball and split-toe fastball.
Baltimore has been scouring the free agent market for pitching this winter, looking to solidify its rotation Corbin Burnes reaching free agency and right-handers Kyle Bradish AND Tyler Wells recovery after elbow reconstructive surgery. The Orioles enter 2025 after two postseason appearances, with a rotation that includes Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and now Sugano.
Sources say Baltimore’s efforts to re-sign Burnes continue unabated, but the price tag is expected to far exceed the largest free agent deal in franchise history with first baseman Chris Davis at $161 million. The Orioles were purchased by private equity titan David Rubenstein in August after six straight seasons in which the team’s opening-day earnings ranked 26th or lower among 30 MLB teams.
Between Sugano’s deal and the three-year, $49.5 million contract for outfielder Tyler O’Neill, the Orioles’ 2025 earnings are estimated at around $110 million. The pitching market proved hot at the start of free agency, from the top of the market (Max FrydUSD 218 million) to the annual level (Alex Cobb15 million dollars).
Sugano is entering his 13th season and will play at Camden Yards, a less pitcher-friendly stadium than last season. The Orioles would move the left field wall, where home runs often ended, by as much as 20 feet in some places. Sugano has been a heavy ground ball player for most of his career and has completed 51.1% of his ground balls this year.
