The Rockies have added some veteran innings to their rotation, signing right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year contract that’s worth a reported $5.1MM. He’s represented by the VC Sports Group. Kris Bryant was placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.
Sugano, 36, was a star in Japan prior to last season’s major league debut — one of the most durable and successful starting pitchers of the current generation in Nippon Professional Baseball. He contemplated a move to MLB earlier in his career but opted to remain with the Yomiuri Giants on a four-year, $40MM deal in the 2020-21 offseason rather than make the jump to North America.
He finally opted to commit to an MLB opportunity last offseason, signing a one-year, $13MM deal with the Orioles. He was one of several one-year additions to the Baltimore rotation, and Sugano panned out better than either Charlie Morton or Kyle Gibson did after signing a short-term deal with Baltimore.
It wasn’t a dominant debut effort by any means, but Sugano made 30 starts and piled up 157 innings with a 4.64 earned run average. His 5.3% walk rate was excellent, but the right-hander’s 15.1% strikeout rate was among the lowest in Major League Baseball. That lack of missed bats and pedestrian velocity on his fastballs (92.7 mph average four-seamer, 92.9 mph average sinker) led to too many barrels and far too many home runs. Sugano was tagged for 33 round-trippers — most in the American League and third-most in all of MLB — or an average of 1.89 homers per nine frames.
Certainly, that home run susceptibility is cause for some concern as Sugano signs on to play his home games at Coors Field. Then again, the Rockies entered the offseason in dire need of rotation help and are always going to have a hard time selling free agent starters on pitching at elevation. They managed to sway Michael Lorenzen earlier in the offseason and will now add Sugano, at the very least giving the rotation a pair of veteran options to eat innings and take some pressure off some still-developing young arms.
Sugano joins a rotation slated to include Lorenzen, Kyle Freeland and Ryan Feltner. Top prospect Chase Dollander, the No. 9 pick from the 2023 draft, was hit hard as a rookie in 2025 but probably has the inside track on the No. 5 spot. Nearly all of his 2025 struggles came at Coors Field; he posted a 3.46 ERA, 22.4% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate on the road (compared to a 9.98 ERA at home). Other candidates for the fifth spot include Tanner Gordon, McCade Brown and Carson Palmquist, among others.
The $5.1MM salary bumps Colorado to about $114.5MM in actual cash payroll and $132MM worth of luxury tax obligations, per RosterResource. Neither is close to the club’s respective franchise-record marks, though that’s to be expected as the Rockies embark on what’ll likely be a yearslong rebuilding effort under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and new general manager Josh Byrnes. If Sugano and/or Lorenzen can put together decent first halves of the season, either could find himself as a deadline option for contending clubs looking to add rotation depth, but if nothing else, they’re affordable innings eaters to help navigate a long season.
As for the Bryant side of the move, the news is unfortunate but hardly surprising. The 34-year-old played only 11 games last season and has suited up for only 170 games over the first four seasons of his seven-year deal with Colorado. He’s been diagnosed with a degenerative lumbar condition in his lower back that has made it unclear precisely when — or whether — the Rockies can count on him returning to the field.
The team will surely have more updates on Bryant as camp progresses. The 60-day minimum for his IL placement doesn’t kick in until Opening Day. All IL placements can be backdated by a maximum of three days, so at minimum, Bryant will be out for the first 57 days of the 2026 season.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported this morning that the Rockies were working to bring in some additional rotation help. Thomas Harding of MLB.com first reported the one-year agreement. ESPN’s Jeff Passan added financial terms.
The Rockies should sign Thomas Harding from Boynton Beach, Florida.
I hear he’s a good writer!
Dang, career over.
I hope not, but he is probably one of the least Coors Field suited pitchers who played a full MLB season last year and were available this winter.
He probably should have just gone back to Japan if no other MLB team was interested in giving him a big league deal.
Money is probably better here.
I don’t think he’s hard up for cash. He made $40 million on his last contract in Japan and another $13 million in Baltimore last year.
I think it was his desire to stay in MLB more than the money, which may actually end up being less than a Japanese team would have offered him to return there.
Gotta be the money, sure ain’t the Rocky Mountain sushi.
Update:
He definitely could have beaten 1/$5 million if he had gone back to Japan, so it wasn’t about the money.
Maybe it was the Rocky Mountain Oysters that sealed the deal
Yeah because people that have a lot of money never want more.
hiflew- He most likely could have made more if he went back to Japan.
He obviously wanted to stay in MLB, and while I respect his competitive drive, his legacy may have been better served by heading back to Japan instead of to Colorado.
Not at all. The Rockies for years leaned into the “ground ball/K pitchers at all costs” strategy and it bombed utterly. Turns out HR’s are inevitable at Coors and the trick is to keep them to solo shots, which actually Sugano did very nicely last year. Their new front office’s strategy is multi-pitch guys who never walk anyone, and solo HR”s are just whatever.
I wouldn’t say the ground ball pitchers bombed completely. It worked very well when the Rox had Gold Glovers at basically every infield position. The Arenado, Story, LeMahieu, Reynolds infield was awesome. McMahon and eventually Tovar continued that to an extent, but they never really replaced the right side of the infield.
Homers at Coors Field are not any worse than that of 5-10 other parks. It’s the singles and doubles at Coors that are more prevalent. Homers might travel further at Coors, but there aren’t really that many more than Philly or Cincy or several other places.
My understanding is that Coors suppresses the effect of spin on pitch movement. Pitchers who make their living on high spin rates get bombed there. Don’t know if Sugano fits that profile.
I am Japanese. There is a serious misinformation in this article. Sugano never signed a 4 year USD40Mil contract in Japan. His actual contracts were all 1 year contracts during 2021- 2024, and the highest was 800,000,000 yen in 2021, which was only about USD5-7Mil.(depending on FX rate). His latest 2024 contract in Japan was only about USD3Mil..
You can check this out through Japanese version of Wikipedia or other JP sources.
And by the way, highest salary for a pitcher in NPB was Tanaka, but only 900,000,000 Yen,
@mike2017. Im white and bauer has been signing one year 4 million dollar deals. So this makes sense. I believe everyone is saying it will kill his career because he’s prone to the long ball and coors field isn’t ideal for someone like sugano, but my guess is that was the only offer.
Yes. Actually, the 4 year, USD40Mil contract was offered by the Yomiuri Giants in 2021, that is a fact. However it was declined by Sugano who chose a 1 year contract. But the Athletic and MLB Trade Rumors both thought the deal was done, and posted it as fact, to this day. Which is entirely incorrect. CHATGPT and other AIs also considers this inaccurate information as a fact, because it refers to MLB Rumours original wrong info, if you ask in English. Need to ask in Japanese, or directly check the Japanese source. Wiki page is probably most handy.
Third in majors in home runs allowed. Lead AL.
He has a chance to beat the all time record at Coors. Blyleven holds the record with 50.
Good move by the Rockies. I’m glad they have been able to sign a couple major league starters.
Are you sure he is a major league starter?
The starting pitching market is going quick the last two days seems like guys are remembering they are free agents.
Probably also helps that pitchers and catchers report. Need to sign the pitchers first if you want them to report.
It’s also non-coincidental that several previously reported signings have become official the same day trans are allowed to place players on the 60 day IL – which removes them from the 40-man roster. Saves them from cutting the fringy guys.
Trans? That typo may have opened up Pandora’s box.
LOL.
That’s lovely google swipe for you. When it first came out a decade ago it was great, but the more data it gets from its users the more it’s sure you want a more popularly used word, even if you never use that word.
To the Rockies fans in the stands when he pitches – incoming!
Great, now rockies fans have to deal with that creep Zack Hample running around the outfield seats with a glove like a man-child on days he pitches.
Yeah, this unfortunately.
I’m sure the pitcher who had a 40.4% flyball rate and 11.8% barrel rate last year will do just fine pitching half of his games in Coors.
Two wrongs make a right! Bonsai!!!
For a guy who gave up the most homeruns last year, Colorado has got to be a tough place to sign up for. I can only assume he couldn’t get a decent offer from anyone else.
Its February 10th. He DIDNT get a decent offer from anyone else.
Ahem, … he will only pitch on the road.
Sugano-san, what are you doing? Do you not know how Coors Field works?
Yeah, and so do the Monforts. But Colorado needs arms, Sugano has two, and he needs to eat. A match made in Hell!
Oh! His ERA is cooked.
A sinker ball pitcher who doesnt sink most of the time in Colorado. No issues there.
As others have implied, I’m skeptical about this one
He seems like exactly the wrong kind of pitcher for Coors. Too much contact
The only thing that might make since is that since he doesn’t rely on missing bats, he might be able to adapt better?
I trust Depodesta more than any other Rockies’ F/O ever
Or, maybe they just need someone willing to take a beating every 5th day
Glad Sugano can continue his dream of pitching in MLB. He wasn’t terrible with the O’s last year, but Coors obviously ain’t easy. Still I give the guy credit for trying. Maybe a year in MLB helped him a bit and lets not forget he pitched in the AL East.
He was nothing but a class act in Baltimore so I am definitely rooting for him, but his legacy may have been better served by simply returning to Japan if no other MLB offers were out there.
He’s going to get absolutely bludgeoned in Colorado.
I think he’s a better pitcher than some of the other guys they’ve dragged out there so maybe he surprises folks.
I really hope so, but I am definitely not holding my breath.
He gave up 33 HR last year and now he’s signing in Colorado?
DFA’d by early May.
Atleast the Rockies are trying. This and Lorenzen wouldn’t have happened last few years. If Sugano can put up a 4.64 era like he did with Orioles that’s a win with Coors and Rox.
The most homer prone pitcher in the most homer prone stadium is’t going to lead to a 4.64 ERA. This ain’t gonna go well!
Might genuinely be the worst kind of pitcher the Rockies could sign. He is going to get obliterated.
ACE Sugano!
Pittsburgh got much better
Colorado not so much
5.36 FIP last year, say hello to one ugly ERA here soon
German Marquez is still available, he will rebound from his TJ and provide some team some useful innings.
Ooooooo this should be epic…. Sugano gives up a lot of homeruns!!!
But he is an innings eater and a tough guy, he knows how to adjust, but despite that…..playing at COORS Field should be breathtaking!!!
Normally I’d be like “oops all homers”, but I have that early spring optimism that the new regime thinks they can fix that
Just a little counterpoint to everyone (correctly) calling out Sugano’s poor fit for Coors Field…the Rockies slightly front load their away games due to the colder climate and the ball really doesn’t start carrying at Coors until it warms up a bit in later May through the summer.
This strikes me as a trade-bait type signing. If Sugano can benefit from more away games and avoiding the worst of the Coors Field effect that occurs during the summer, he’ll probably be pitching for a different team by the end of the trade deadline if he’s performing decently.
Nobody is a *good* fit for pitching in Coors, but this might be the worst fit? Or maybe it doesn’t work that way. Maybe, since he can’t miss bats anywhere else, there’s little room for that to get worse, and he’s just the same guy in Coors as everywhere else? Which also isn’t very good, but still…
Mike Hampton????
Dodgers and Padres gonna have a field day when they face this man. Especially in Coors. Ovr/Und on 1.5 homers allowed per start on the year?
New nickname: “Going, going, suGano!”…
Kris Bryant is still under contract 💀 i honestly would rather have Rendon at that rate
Might as well Bryant on the 60-Week IL
Let’s face it – Bryant is out for the season, probably longer
Bryant is cooked. He’s done
Too bad Bryant is a great guy. Even Jed was smart enough to see the writing on the wall. I’m not surprised but I am sad for him. The Rockies obviously didn’t do any homework.
Rockies are making moves!
5.1M seems like a lot.
It ain’t enough when’s he likely to get shelled at Coors but as a Rox fan I’m hoping for the best.
Okay when you put it that definitely not enough lol. Sugano may be heading back to Japan next season if things get ugly
I think it’s time to work out a Rendon style buyout on Bryant unfortunately.
Sugano just needs to identify as a pitching machine now that he’s in Colorado. He’s about to be Eric Milton on steroids when it comes to HRs allowed. Yikes
lol Kris Bryant. What a disaster.
Almost as bad as Rendon.
Worst than Rendon
Bryant has been half the PR disaster that Rendon has been. Not having Bryant available has cost the Rockies nothing other than having a “star” to come see at the park. Rest of the team has been hot 🗑️
Next up for Colorado: Castellanos.
I feel bad for Kris Bryant. I got 6 years on him with very little athletic abilities. Lumbar back pain is no joke. I really hope he can have at least 1 full season in Denver. Hopefully he get to play at least one time again the Las Vegas A’s
Rockies Place Kris Bryant on 600-Day IL…fixed it.
Rockies appear to looking for pitchers with deep arsenals to combat their home elevation. It’s a good idea it’s just equally likely these guys get just as hit up as always.
His bags were packed and now he has someplace to go!
Bryant and Rendon are exhibits A and B on why owners want to get rid of guaranteed contracts.
“Veteran innings”?
Sugano looks like Cy Young compared to most of the starters the Rockies had last season.
So Bryant was “OK” from the end of the World Series until TODAY.
But with the opening of Spring Training he is now DISABLED ??
STUPID MLB RULES for the way the medical side of the game has evolved.
I am Japanese. There is a serious misinformation in this article. Sugano never signed a 4 year USD40Mil contract in Japan. His actual contracts were all 1 year contracts during 2020- 2024, and the highest was 800,000,000 yen in 2020, which was only about USD5-7Mil.(depending on FX rate). His latest 2023 contract in Japan was only about USD3Mil..
You can check this out through Japanese version of Wikipedia..
And by the way, highest salary for a pitcher in NPB was Tanaka, but only 900,000,000 Yen,
mike2017: Are there any power hitters in NPB who you think the Rockies might be able to sign?
I like Rox rotations additions of Sugano & Quintana. Hopefully they work out.