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It’s 2021, but we’re still waiting for the first significant signing of the offseason free agents. Only 10 of our top 60 free agents signed up, including only five of the top 25. There were a few notable exchanges last week thanks to the San Diego Padres. Hopefully this inspires other teams to take action. Here are the last rumblings of the hot stove.
Go to Sugano
Tomoyuki Sugano, the 31-year-old Japanese right-hander, is expected to make his decision as a free agent in the coming days. If he chooses to make the jump to the majors, it doesn’t look like he will be coming as a member of the Mets.
According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the main objective of the Mets is elsewhere. New York Post’s Joel Sherman has since confirmed Heyman’s report, suggesting that the Mets are on Sugano. The Giants and Blue Jays are among the teams that remain in pursuit.
Sugano has so far spent his entire professional career with the Yomiuri Giants. In nearly 200 appearances, he had a 2.34 ERA and a strike-to-take ratio of 4.59. Sugano recovered from a shaky 2019 that had been plagued by hip and back problems to post a 1.97 ERA and 5.24 strike-to-strike ratio in 137 innings in 2020. He has twice won the Sawamura Prize, the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award.
The Mets are still expected to be a sensation this winter and would have been a finalist for free agent outfielder George Springer, who entered the offseason ranked by CBS Sports as the best player in the free market. Already this winter, the Mets added wide receiver James McCann and kept the right-hander Marcus Stroman by accepting the qualifying offer.
Blue Jays, Dodgers after Hendriks
Liam Hendriks, a closer free agent, was seen visiting the Blue Jays spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla., According to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi.
Hendriks, 32 in February, entered the winter rated by CBS Sports as the closest best available. Here’s what we wrote, placing him # 20 on our top 60 free agent list.
The beauty of quick zipper relievers is that you never know which one is going to pop or when. Hendriks is a good example. Over the past two seasons, he pitched 110 innings of the 1.79 ERA, and did so by hitting 161 and walking 24. Was there any real indication this was going to happen? Not really. In the previous three years (all spent with track and field, mind you) he had an ERA of 4.01 and a pull-to-walk ratio of 3.64. Either way, I hope Hendriks gets the pay he deserves, especially after following in Nathan Eovaldi and Brandon Morrow’s footsteps in the playoffs, going above and beyond and risking injury despite his date. imminent with a free agency. Selflessness must be rewarded, after all.
Hendriks is said to live about a three hour drive away in Fort Myers. He lives much further from Los Angeles, but the Dodgers also have an interest in him, according to Robert Murray of Fansided.
Interest in drawing Puig, Duvall
Outfielder Yasiel Puig may not have played in the majors last season, but he’s attracting interest this winter from a number of contenders, including the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, Marlins and Orioles, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
Puig entered the offseason ranked by CBS Sports as the 40th best free agent available. Here is what we wrote at the time:
Puig isn’t the only individual on this list who hasn’t played during the 2020 season, but he’s the only one who hasn’t played because he’s not signed. He reportedly struck a deal with the Braves over the summer; that deal then fell apart when he tested positive for COVID-19. It had been said within the industry that Puig took seriously team criticism of his maturity and made a real effort to change. Assuming there is some validity to this, and assuming he’s healthy and won’t show too much rust from the missed year, then he might turn out to be a savvy pickup and under- ranking.
Puig isn’t the only right-handed outfielder the Marlins are interested in, by the way. Miami is also keeping an eye out for former Brave Adam Duvall, who struck for 113 OPS + last season before being unsent, by Craig Mish. It stands to reason that some of the other teams mentioned as Puig contenders could be on the line for Duvall, depending on how the market goes haywire.
Kluber kit for showcase
After making just seven starts in 2019 and one in 2020 due to injury, free agent starting pitcher Corey Kluber will pitch for potentially interested teams on January 13 in Florida, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports. Morosi names the Red Sox as a team interested in the right-hander.
In 2019, Kluber completed a line workout all the way to the forearm, which caused a fracture and ended his season. Last year he only managed one run for the Rangers before being stopped. It turns out the cause was a grade 2 tear to the teres major muscle in his right shoulder, which ended his season prematurely for the second season in a row.
In the previous five years, Kluber finished first, ninth, third, first and third respectively in the AL Cy Young vote, so the advantage is obvious. Of course, Kluber is also heading into his 35-year-old season while suffering a shoulder injury and building up a heavy workload in his five peak seasons.
Expect something like an incentive-laden one-year contract somewhere with a rotating spot available.
Giants add depth of capture
The Giants signed a $ 1.5 million contract with free agent wide receiver Curt Casali, John Shea reports from Chronicle of San Francisco. Outgoing wide receiver Buster Posey has opted out of the 2020 season, but will return as a starter in 2021. Leading prospect seeker Joey Bart had 111 appearances on the board as a 23-year-old rookie last season, although he has never played in Triple-A and has only had 22 matches of Double-A experience, which means he seems to have a ticket for more minor seasoning.
This leaves the role of emergency receiver for Casali. In three years with the Reds, he’s appeared in 167 games, hitting .260 / .345 / .440 (103 OPS +) with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. He hit six homers in 76 batting last season.
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