Seiya Suzuki’s posting window has been paused with the MLB lockout ongoing, but whenever the current transaction freeze is lifted, the star Hiroshima Carp outfielder will have just shy of three weeks to field interest from Major League teams. Reports have already indicated that a trio of AL East clubs — Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays — are among the most interested parties, but Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News recently wrote that the Rangers like Suzuki as well.
As Brad Lefton of the New York Times wrote a couple weeks back, agent Joel Wolfe told reporters in Japan in late November that at least eight teams had expressed serious interest and that there had already been some virtual meetings conducted. In-person meetings with interested parties figure follow, post-lockout.
The extent of Texas’ interest in the 27-year-old slugger isn’t clear, though he’s an obvious on-paper fit. Adolis Garcia and offseason signee Kole Calhoun figure to be locked into a pair of outfield spots, but there’s a corner-outfield spot still largely up for grabs. At present, any of Willie Calhoun, Nick Solak, Leody Taveras or Eli White could vie for time there, but Suzuki would be a higher-profile offensive upgrade following what has already been a frenzied offseason of additions from president of baseball operations Jon Daniels and GM Chris Young.
For those unfamiliar, Suzuki has been one of Japan’s most-productive hitters for several years now and is considered among the top talents in the country. Suzuki posted a mammoth .317/.433/.636 batting line with 38 home runs, 26 doubles and nine steals in 533 plate appearances this past season in NPB, all while walking 87 times against 88 strikeouts (16.3% vs. 16.5%). This was far from a one-year fluke; dating back to 2018, Suzuki’s right-handed bat has produced a dominant .319/.435/.592 slash line with 121 home runs, 115 doubles and four triples in 2179 plate appearances.
Suzuki is younger than recent NPB signees such as Shogo Akiyama and Yoshi Tsutsugo were when they made the transition to North American ball, and he’s considerably more highly regarded than both. While multiple team evaluators told MLBTR prior to his posting that Suzuki won’t be a regular option in center, he’s still seen as an above-average option in right field — an opinion that was only reinforced last week when Suzuki won his fifth NPB Gold Glove Award for his defense in right. Even if he doesn’t stack up as an elite outfielder, he ought to more than hold his own as better-than-average option in either left or right for interested teams.
The question for the Rangers at this point is just how much more the team has left in the tank. The half-billion dollars invested in Corey Seager and Marcus Semien grabbed the majority of headlines, but the Rangers also spent another $61.2MM combined on Jon Gray and the aforementioned Kole Calhoun. That said, even with all those splashes, the Rangers’ projected 2022 payroll is currently about $127MM — well shy of 2017’s record $165MM Opening Day payroll. Another outfielder would certainly be prudent, but Texas also still has multiple holes in the rotation and the bullpen.
Grant suggests that the to-date flurry of activity makes it unlikely the Rangers will spend to the levels necessary to add someone such as Kyle Schwarber or Nick Castellanos, either of whom would figure to command considerably heavier annual salaries than Suzuki (even if Suzuki may receive a larger number of years, based on his age). Still, if the plan is to focus more resources on pitching at this point, there’s no shortage of lower-cost corner options (e.g. Joc Pederson, Tommy Pham, Eddie Rosario) — and the team, of course, could just stay in-house for outfield needs.
Stick with in-house options? Bleh. Go get me Suzuki and a starter.
After seeing the Rangers break the piggy bank this halted offseason this doesn’t surprise me. Why not just hang onto Gallo though?
Because of what teams were willing to give for Gallo in a trade and that Boras wanted too much money for him. That trade looks like a steal with how Gallo played in NY. We can get him back much cheaper next year when he becomes a FA and Calhoun’s contract is up.
Wont Boras still be his agent?
What he said lol. Though if the Yankees are looking to trade for IKF this off-season then I see no reason why Gallo can’t be the return….
@Rangers29, don’t Suzukis come with a starter?
@Rangers29- I repeat, the Yankees have no interest in IKF. If they trade Gallo it would likely be elsewhere. I know the Phillies have an interest in Gallo to pair with Bryce Harper. Thinking Gallo will stay a Yankee thru 2022. Assuming there is a baseball season. Hope all is well.
I would be extremely surprised if Brian Cashman traded Joey Gallo this offseason, @Rangers29. He has coveted Gallo for years. It would be completely out of character for him to turn around & sell him for less after finally acquiring him for a mere couple months.
So out of character that we would need to figure out who – indeed – is impersonating him. Cash is horribly “value conscious” these days. He is not going to lose even more assets. & the elephant in the room is; Gallo is *exactly* the player he thought he was getting.
From what I can tell, all the “Yankees are going to trade Gallo” stuff originates from disgruntled Yankee fans. & Joel Sherman of course. Whom all Yankee fans should realize is kind of a click hungry idiot & prone to fostering ridiculous notions.
Well duh ⚾️
Rangers need to go all out and buy up the rest of the market. I’d like to see the first team to go 162-0 and win the championship.
@OldYork
… followed by their bankruptcy filing.
Oh no.we have a brand new stadium and a brand new TV deal in u s 4th largest media market we be far from bankrupt don’t forget most valuable franchise in sports in the world sits right across the street.something new Yorkers don’t have
Lol @dale123… the Cowboys have no bearing on the Rangers at all. Dallas/Ft. worth is the 5th biggest media market in the US; behind NYC, LA, Chicago and Philly. Yes, the Cowboys are the most valuable franchise in sports… but the Yankees are 2nd, Knicks 3rd and Giants 9th. The Cowboys being 1st has no bearing on the Rangers, who aren’t even in the top 50 of most valuable pro sports franchises. NYC is THE top media market and it sustains 3 of the top 10 sports franchises… what was your point again?
My point is rangers have brand new TV contract a 2 billion dollar brand new stadium they aren’t going bankrupt anytime soon.the giants freaking suck.
I see no new TV deal. The last one was for 20 years and signed in 2015 so it still has a ways to go. It is reported by Fangraphs to be for $1.6 billion or $80 million per year. The new stadium cost $1.1 billion and the Rangers owe $600 million of that. Forbes reports the Rangers to have the leagues highest debt to value ration at 43% which means they are about $750 million in the hole.
The Yankees and Cowboys are tied as most Valuable Franchise. $500B
All three of those things are true (TV contract, not going bankrupt, and NY Giants suck)….but Dallas still doesn’t compare to NYC. There is only 1 NYC…whether it is the media market, outside of sports opportunities, and/or being a hub of fashion (most athletes love fashion).
I’ll admit the Rangers have surprised me in a big way w. their willingness to spend. I’d love for them to field a very competitive team bc I want anyone but the Astros to win the division. Having that extra tv money should be fun going forward. They still need more arms, but they will definitely be more competitive in ’22.
@Finkle – Check your figures my man. No sports team is, or will ever be, valued at $500B. The Cowboys are valued at $5.7B and the Yankees at $5.25B. That’s a far cry from $500B my friend.
That would be their second bankruptcy filing in 12 years? I believe they filed for bankruptcy back in 2010 prior to the sale of the team.
Suzuki and a another Starter(CK maybe?!) Rangers need to focus on a .500 record this season and push for the playoffs in 2023.
Anyone counting on Adolis Garcia to put up the same #’s he did last year is crazy. He hit over .242 only during one month last year, May, and hit 11 of his home runs that month. After the all star break he hit .211 with 9 HR and continued his atrocious k/bb rate. 4th outfielder or AAAA player who got hot for a stretch.
I think bringing in more talent would only help him. though if it were up to me I would trade him. he is much to old
If the Rangers were to sign Suzuki and trade for Sonny Gray, I’d be more than content to go into the season with our internal options in the bullpen. If Leclerc and Hernandez are healthy, that’s like adding two front line relief arms, and Sborz, Patton, Santana, King, Martin and Allard all looked solid or better out of the pen last season.
I don’t think this is likely a playoff team out of the box in 2022, but it’s a competitive one. And if things break right, you could use some of the young talent you’ve been acquiring the past three seasons to add the missing piece(s) needed at the deadline.
Really nice analysis. The question becomes does Texas continue to experiment with Willie Calhoun and Nick Solak who are limited positionally on defense and havent busted through to their offensive ceiling yet, due to performance and/or injury? Sending Solak to Oakland as part of a prospect package for Manaea or Bassitt makes a ton of sense. With the DH likely coming to the NL, Willie C would be a worthwhile addition for a rebuilding team or one with budget constraints. He doesn’t need to platoon, he’s a capable everyday bat, it remains to be seen if he can be productive enough to be an impact bat … Personally, I find Solak expendable (Andy Ibanez passed him by last year as backup 2B/3B, Jung is coming up) and would be okay with Willie in LF, Adolis in CF/RF with Leody and Kole platooning in the other spot. A Suzuki signing would be great; however, and likely lead to some further dealing within the roster.
Everyone on this roster not named Seager, Semien, Gray, Jung, Leiter, and probably Winn is expendable!! That means players like Solak, Willie, and even Adolis probably won’t be around or at least won’t have major roles when the Rangers are playing for Championship again because all those players have holes in their games!!
Agreed. With the eye on not just being competitive next year, but entering into a pennant contender in the next three or four, it becomes a balancing act … Who is obtainable on the trade market by using a fairly deep farm system … while not throwing away controllable players with potential for cents on the dollar? Rangers wanted Walker Buehler for Yu Darvish and had to settle for Calhoun and Alexy. I’m sure they had their sights set higher when dealing away Lance Lynn for Dane Dunning and Steele Walker … So, if you can use quality depth while protecting your elite prospect core (Jung, Winn, Leiter, Owen White, I also value Sam Huff higher than most and Foscue will be a stud) to grab a Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, John Means, German Marquez or Sean Manaea), that you can keep for a few years/extend, absolutely go for it.
A prospect that no one ever talks about in Rangers farm system and honestly is one of the Best we got is Evan Carter, he’s a true 5 Tool ball player that honest to god remind me of a young Mike Trout! If the Rangers will just give him the time he needs I’d put money on him being a Superstar CF for us in a couple years!!
@Trog. Looks like the Rangers horribly lost that Yu Darvish trade. That was a bad one.
I agree. I do believe that was the best deal out there, as Yu was a pending FA and that deal was made within a few minutes of the trade deadline expiring.
Yes, he was considered a huge reach in the draft at the time, but was breaking out prior to the injury thus past year at A ball. A few years away but excited to follow him next year.
@rangersfan1
Yes, because w.s. winning teams do not have any players with holes in their games. Every player is always perfect.
I would never say a WS winning team has a 40 man roster of perfect players but you can’t make a Logical argument for Adolis actually being in the Rangers long term plans, at least not based off of the numbers he put up!
I wouldn’t mind giving Solak and Calhoun one more season to see if they might look better with more lineup protection.
I think it’s possible that the biggest problem those two have experienced (other than Calhoun’s unfortunate string of injuries) is that both have been thrust into roles they’re really not equipped to handle. But if they’re the sixth and seventh best hitters in a lineup rather than the third and fourth, maybe their abilities will play up the way they did in 2019, when they were support pieces for a more veteran lineup rather than featured guys.
Suzuki and a Starter(CK maybe?!) Rangers need to focus on a .500 record this season and push for the playoffs in 2023.
A lot of Rangers fans, as you know, are holding out hope for Kershaw. I don’t have much confidence that he can stay healthy and produce more than middling results at this point. I’d rather a high risk high reward gamble on Carlos Rodon or Carlos Martinez.
I also want to trade Spencer Howard off before his value completely plummets. I was so pissed when Kyle Gibson and Hans Crouse were shipped out for him, and hope he can be packaged to Oakland/Cincinnati that is in seller mode with top end SP.
Texas was one of the last teams I expected to sign anyone of note this offseason.
Why? They have a new park and teams always do that when they get a new home. As for how they were last season, it did seem like them spending was a couple years away still. They don’t have a young core in place like teams usually do when they decide to spend.
Jon Daniels seat feels hot. He’s spending now before it gets hotter.
No way the Rangers are in on another highly sought after free agent? Seiya ain’t so???
Ok I’ll show myself out now.
Rangers are about to be the Padres of 2022. Big name acquisitions in the offseason and out of contention near the start of the postseason.
Nobody really expects the Rangers to make the playoffs in 2022 regardless of what they do the rest of the offseason and that’s coming from a Rangers’ fan. So I don’t see the comparison at all
^ This
Even with all of our acquisitions (and potential acquisitions) we’re still maaaybe an 83-85 win team. We would need strong internal development to push us anywhere near a postseason spot in 2022.
Those 2010,2011 teams were scary. I’m shocked they didn’t at least win 1 world series tbh
None of the Ranger OFers mentioned, with the possible exception of García since he plays CF, should factor into signing Suzuki.
I like Suzuki a lot, but I feel like he’s going to be overpaid just because of the amount of teams looking for quality OF help. At the beginning of the season I was hoping he’d be a bit of a bargain.
@von. I imagine all MLB clubs with a hole in the outfield are in on Suzuki. He has nice Japanese league numbers. Similiar build to Ichiro but more power and less speed. If you compare Ichiro and Seiya’s foreign league batting numbers they are quite comparable. Seiya Suzuki could become a very nice MLB player.
With all that said I hope he signs with the Red Sox, Blue Jays or the Rangers, since a right handed outfielder with pop isn’t a need for the Yankees, But a lefty contact hitter with speed is. Oh where have you gone, Ichiro?
He’s going to be an incredible gamble for whichever franchise signs him. You’re going to have to largely project if he can hit ML pitching or not, and there’s nothing to say he’ll post anywhere close to the stats here as he did in Japan if he does. It’s so different than signing a pitcher from another league where you can say if the fastball is 99mph, it’ll still be 99 here.
It’ll be interesting to see what he ultimately gets though if he signs.
Rumors of the guy possibly signing here in Pittsburgh thanks to his friend coming aboard for another season seem to have faded away, as usual
Ranger fans, how did Solak look in CF?
Not good. It’s werid. I’ve never seen someone as athletic as him be so bad defensively at every position he plays.
Solak is a non option at both 3B and CF. Serviceable at 2B. But to stay on the club with Semien signing, his only hope is to make it as a LF aka pulling an Ian Kinsler.
Pulling an Ian Kinsler?? You mean refusing to play outfield to the point where the team trades him?? Kinsler has more innings on the mound than in the outfield
@VonPurpleHaze – I agree with you that if the rumors are true that the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and now Rangers are all in on Suzuki, his price point is going to go through the roof. I believe MLBTR predicted a 5 year, $55M deal for him. At this rate, it might actually require a 5/$75M or 6/$80M+ to sign him. That is a huge risk IMO since we’ve all seen first hand how hard it is to adjust from the NPB or KBO to MLB. Suzuki seems to be the real deal, but I was also convinced that Kim would be an above average SS out of Korea last year and he struggled badly trying to adjust to MLB pitching. If Suzuki’s skills translate to MLB, he will be a bargain at $11M-$15M/yr, but if he struggles, then his contract quickly becomes an albatross. As far as needs go, the Red Sox and Rangers appear to be the best fit. The question is, which team is the most willing to take such a risk? Also, don’t count the Marlins, Mariners or Giants out of the race either. One thing’s for sure: Suzuki is going to have multiple offers to choose from once the lockout is over.
Yep, and there’s also the transitional period that the team will have to put up with, that’s a steep price to pay for an experiment. Even Ohtani who won ROY was a major outlier, MLB is just on another level beyond NPB, as if NPB is an alternative to AAA.
For those of you wondering, Suzuki was tied for the 10th highest salary in NPB @ $2.85M USD (tied with Justin Smoak) for the 2021 season. The highest paid player in NPB is Masahiro Tanaka at $8.28M. So the salary differences in the US are much larger than I thought they were vs. Japan for the top players. I was worried that Suzuki would get fed up with the lockout and just return to NPB, but after seeing the earnings difference, I just can’t see that happening.