A.J. Cole Signs With NPB’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows have signed right-hander A.J. Cole to a one-year contract worth roughly $800.4K. Though Cole has worked almost exclusively as a reliever in recent years, the Swallows have interest in using him as a starter, as per Yahoo Japan (Japanese language link).
Cole, who turns 30 in January, signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays last winter that ended up paying him a $1MM guaranteed salary when Toronto selected him to its active roster in May. However, Cole ended up pitching just eight innings, as neck tightness and then an oblique strain resulted in a lengthy stint on the injured list.
By the time Cole’s 30-day rehab assignment period was up, the Jays opted to just outright him to Triple-A, and Cole spent the rest of September in the minors before electing free agency following the season. He’ll now head to an entirely new environment in NPB, with the intriguing prospect of reviving his fortunes as a starting pitcher.
Cole drew plenty of top-100 prospect attention during his days in the Athletics’ and Nationals’ farm systems, to the point that he was swapped back and forth between the two clubs in a pair of prominent trades. His stock dimmed after struggling in both the big leagues and at Triple-A, in large part due to an inability to limit home runs. Cole’s problems with the long ball never truly went away even after becoming a reliever in 2018, but he at least posted some decent bottom-line results and some improved strikeout numbers working out of the bullpen. After a 4.26 ERA over 38 relief innings with the Yankees in 2018, Cole posted a 3.14 ERA over 57 1/3 frames with Cleveland and Toronto in 2019-21.
Since the start of the 2017 campaign, Cole has a 4.28 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate, and a 15% home run rate. As one might expect, the move to relief pitching helped add a bit of velocity to Cole’s fastball, and he has averaged 93.8mph on his heater over the last four seasons.
NPB/KBO Signings: 12/7/21
The latest on players inking contracts with Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization…
- NPB’s Hanshin Tigers announced earlier this week that right-hander Aaron Wilkerson has been signed. Wilkerson is a veteran of three Major League seasons, posting a 6.88 ERA over 35 1/3 innings with the Brewers from 2017-19. He didn’t see any action in 2020, and after signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers last May, posted a 3.86 ERA and some very impressive strikeout (27.9%) and walk (5.4%) rates over 112 innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City. This performance didn’t get Wilkerson another look at the Show, however, and the 32-year-old will now explore this new opportunity in Japan. Wilkerson came close to signing abroad last winter, as he had a deal in place with the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Rakuten Monkeys before ultimately opting out of the contract.
- Right-hander Albert Suarez is making the jump from Japan to South Korea, as he has signed with the KBO League’s Samsung Lions. The one-year deal will pay Suarez $700K in salary, a $100K signing bonus, and another $200K is available in contract incentives. Suarez’s MLB resume consists of 115 2/3 innings of 4.51 ball with the Giants in 2016-17, but he has pitched considerably better since joining NPB’s Yakult Swallows prior to the 2019 season. Over Suarez’s three seasons with the Swallows, he posted a 3.00 ERA over 162 innings, culminating in his role in helping the Tokyo-based team capture the Japan Series this past season.
Jose Marmolejos Signs With Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have announced the signing of outfielder/first baseman Jose Marmolejos. According to Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link), “multiple Japanese teams” were scouting Marmolejos last season.
Marmolejos turns 29 in January, and is coming off a season that saw him win MVP honors in Triple-A West. Over 83 games and 353 plate appearances with the Mariners’ affiliate in Tacoma, Marmolejos hit .338/.439/.672 with 26 home runs. Between this performance and some other big numbers with the Nationals’ Triple-A club in 2019, it seems as though Marmolejos doesn’t have much left to prove at the top minor league level, though he has yet to translate that production to the majors.
Appearing in 76 games with the Mariners in 2020-21, Marmolejos has hit only .183/.262/.362 with 10 homers in 237 PA against big league pitching. Seattle designated him for assignment and outrighted him off its 40-man roster twice last season, which allowed Marmolejos to opt for free agency after the season, and he exercised that right back in October.
It’s easy to see why NPB teams would have interest in Marmolejos’ services, and with the Eagles specifically, he could slide right into the role occupied by former big leaguer Brandon Dixon in 2021. (As per reporter Jim Allen, Dixon won’t be back with the Tohuku club next year after struggling last season.) Marmolejos could be in line for regular work as a corner outfielder, and could also see time as a first baseman depending on how the Eagles align their roster.
Kodai Senga Has 2023 Opt-Out In New SoftBank Hawks Contract
Right-hander Kodai Senga signed a new five-year contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, according to The Kyodo News and other outlets. Full salary details aren’t known, though Senga will receive $5.3MM in 2022.
Most pertinently for North American fans, the contract also contains an opt-out clause following the 2022 NPB season that would allow Senga to leave the Hawks for a potential deal with a Major League team. The opt-out clause is contingent on Senga banking enough service time in 2022 to officially qualify as a full free agent outside of the NPB/MLB posting system, which probably shouldn’t be considered a lock given that Senga missed quite a bit of the 2021 season recovering from an ankle injury.
However, Senga’s strong finish to the year should help answer any doubts about his health. The righty posted a 2.66 ERA over 84 2/3 innings for the Hawks, along with a 26.47% strikeout rate and 7.94% walk rate. If that wasn’t enough, Senga also helped Japan’s Olympic baseball team capture the gold medal at this past summer’s Tokyo Games.
Senga has made no secret of his desire to eventually test himself in MLB, and as he told reporters, “my thinking on that has not wavered” even after signing this multi-year pact with the Fukuoka team. “As a ballplayer, it’s essential to live my life always aiming higher….(Next year) I want to blow past all the numbers I’ve managed up to this point,” Senga said.
His biggest obstacle to a jump to North America has been, simply, the Hawks’ refusal to let him test the market. The Hawks have a team policy against posting any of their players to North American teams, and thus Senga has had to wait to become eligible. While it seems quite likely that he will indeed become a free agent next winter, the five-year contract does allow Senga some flexibility, as a number of factors could end up changing his mind. Injuries or a dip in form might convince him to stay with Fukuoka — or, in terms of bigger-picture issues, the state of the pandemic or what the next MLB collective bargaining agreement may look like will certainly play into Senga’s eventual decision.
Senga has been one of Japan’s better pitchers for the better part of a decade, first working as a star reliever out of the Hawks’ bullpen and then becoming a regular starter in 2016. Senga has a 2.69 ERA and 28.33% strikeout rate over 945 career NPB innings, making three All-Star teams and twice leading the Pacific League in strikeouts. If he stays healthy and keeps pitching this well in 2022, Senga (who turns 30 in January 2023) should have no trouble attracting a noteworthy multi-year contract from Major League teams next offseason.
Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox Reportedly Most Aggressive Suitors For Seiya Suzuki
On November 22, Seiya Suzuki was posted by the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, freeing him up to negotiate with all 30 MLB teams for 30 days. However, it was reported that the recent implementation of a lockout that has led to a transaction freeze has also frozen Suzuki’s 30-day clock. That means that, at the conclusion of the lockout, he will still have around 20 days to work out a deal with an MLB team. At that point, there’s a decent chance of Suzuki winding up in the AL East, according to a report from Sean McAdam of Boston Sports Journal. “One major league source reports the Yankees, Blue Jays and Red Sox have been the most aggressive in pursuit of Suzuki,” McAdam writes.
The fact that Suzuki is garnering interest is not surprising, given his talents. Suzuki came in 20th on MLBTR’s list of Top 50 Free Agents and was predicted to get a contract of $55MM over five years. The 27-year-old seems capable of stepping right into the middle of an MLB lineup, while also providing solid right field defence. Over nine seasons in the NPB, he has hit .315/.414/.570, with that production only growing over time.
The Red Sox make for a fairly logical landing spot, especially when considering the recent trade of Hunter Renfroe. Suzuki could potentially fill the right field vacancy left by Renfroe, with Verdugo manning left field and center field covered by some combination of Jarren Duran, Enrique Hernandez or Jackie Bradley Jr., who was part of the return in the Renfroe deal. That trade seemed to be about adding defence by subtracting offence, but the addition of Suzuki could be a way of replacing that lost offence. Kyle Schwarber, who was acquired by the Red Sox last year and would be a logical Renfroe replacement for 2022, is reportedly looking for a three-year, $60MM deal, meaning Suzuki could potentially be about half as costly on an annual basis, if MLBTR’s prediction is correct.
The fit with the Yankees is a bit less smooth, given that they have a number of outfield options already on hand. On paper, the outfield consists of Joey Gallo in left, Aaron Hicks in center and Aaron Judge in right, with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton available for the occasional appearance on the grass and prospect Estevan Florial on hand as depth. However, they may be reluctant to rely on Hicks as an everyday option, given that he’s now 32 years old and has dealt with injury setbacks in recent years, including only playing 32 games in 2021. Although he did play 54 of the team’s 60 games in the shortened 2020 season, his last significant action over a full season was 137 games in 2018. Judge, Gallo and Suzuki all have seen limited action in center field, making it at least possible for the club to have all three across the outfield at times. However, none of them are really considered an everyday option at the position, making it something of an awkward arrangement over a full season.
Similar to the Yankees, the Blue Jays also seem to have their outfield accounted for on paper, with George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk all pencilled in. However, it was recently reported that the Jays had discussions with the Brewers about a trade centered around Grichuk and Bradley Jr., before the latter was traded to the Red Sox last week. It would appear the club is open to moving on from Grichuk and coming up with a different outfield arrangement. The Blue Jays had a potent offence in 2021 but have since lost Marcus Semien to the Rangers, perhaps motivating them to look to Suzuki as a way to replace Semien’s bat. That would still leave them with a weakened infield, however, as the departure of Semien leaves the club with Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal pencilled into second and third base.
Tomoyuki Sugano Declines Opt-Out, Remains With Yomiuri Giants
Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano has decided to pass on the international opt-out clause in his contract, and will remain with the Yomiuri Giants for at least one more season. Sugano told Yahoo Japan and other media outlets that his goal was to help the Giants win a championship in 2022.
Sugano was one of the more intriguing names of last winter’s free agent market, after the Giants posted the righty. The Blue Jays and Padres each made formal contract offers to Sugano and at least four other teams (the Rangers, Mets, Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants) also had some level of interest. However, a deal couldn’t be reached before the end of the 30-day posting window, with Sugano feeling that he was limited by both that short timeframe and the slow-moving nature of the first pandemic-influenced offseason.
The Yomiuri team ended up re-signing Sugano to a new four-year deal worth $40MM, though Sugano was given the opportunity to opt out after every year of that contract to pursue another shot at signing with a Major League team. Sugano would’ve been a full-fledged free agent, no longer constrained by the MLB/NPB posting system, and he was already old enough and with the prerequisite experience to not be subject to the international signing pools.
Long one of the best pitchers in Japanese baseball, Sugano is coming off a down year by his high standards, an injury-shortened season that limited him to 115 2/3 innings. He was still quite effective when he did pitch, posting a 3.16 ERA, 22.25% strikeout rate, and a 5.61% walk rate to help the Giants reach the Central League Climax Series, where they fell to the eventual Japan Series champion Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Sugano turned 32 in October, and has now been set back by injuries in two of the last three seasons, even though his overall numbers have still been strong. These factors alone might not have stopped Sugano in a normal offseason, but with the lockout now putting everything on hold, it isn’t surprising that Sugano chose to remain in a familiar environment. If he felt things were too rushed within the limits of a 30-day posting window, Sugano certainly wouldn’t have liked the rush that will come following the end of the transactions freeze, when over 200 other free agents will also be battling for contracts before Opening Day.
Masahiro Tanaka Declines Opt-Out, Will Pitch For NPB’s Golden Eagles In 2022
Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka‘s two-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles contained an opt-out clause this winter, but the team announced that Tanaka will return to the club in 2022 (hat tip to Yahoo Japan). Tanaka’s comeback season in NPB went well, as he posted a 3.01 ERA with a 20.19% strikeout rate and a 4.65% walk rate over 155 2/3 innings with the Eagles.
After his seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees expired last winter, Tanaka drew interest in the free agent market but it appeared as though his chief preferences were either to return to New York, or to head back to Japan. A reunion with the Yankees didn’t materialize, in part because the team was aiming to stay under the luxury tax threshold in 2021 and didn’t have the payroll space to fit a new Tanaka deal.
Even in his own personal announcement of his contract with the Eagles, Tanaka stated that he would be playing for the Eagles “for the 2021 season,” despite the two-year nature of his deal. With the opt-out clause in mind, there was quite a bit of speculation that Tanaka could explore a return to the majors in 2022 — with the Yankees now free of a repeated luxury tax penalty and theoretically more open to spending this winter, it again seemed plausible that Tanaka would be back pitching in the Bronx.
Then again, it has been a pretty quiet offseason for the Yankees thus far. While the Bronx Bombers have been linked to several notable free agents and trade candidates, the Yankees have yet to swing any major acquisitions. An argument could also be made that New York has plenty of rotation candidates already lined up (Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Nestor Cortes Jr., Luis Severino, Domingo German, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia, and when healthy, Jameson Taillon), though even aside from the “you can never have too much pitching” mantra, there are enough question marks within that group that bringing in Tanaka or another established veteran makes sense.
Beyond the Yankees’ plans, however, maybe the simplest reason behind Tanaka’s decision is that he didn’t want to opt out just to enter a Major League free agent market that is currently in shutdown mode. Rather than face weeks or months of uncertainty, Tanaka will instead avoid the lockout entirely and remain a comfortable situation with the Eagles for at least one more year. 2023 will be Tanaka’s age-34 season, and if he continues to pitch like he did this past year, he should have plenty of opportunities available to him next winter in both Japan and North America.
NPB’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows Extend Jose Osuna
First baseman Jose Osuna has signed a three-year contract extension to remain with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to Yahoo Japan. Osuna will receive $5.1MM, as per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter), with salaries of $1.4MM in 2022, $1.7MM in 2023, and $2MM in 2024. Another $900K is available in incentives.
Osuna, who turns 29 later this month, hit .258/.293/.401 with 13 home runs over 495 plate appearances for the Swallows in 2021, serving as the team’s primary first baseman and also getting a bit of playing time at third base. Osuna also picked up some key hits for the Swallows during their postseason run, as the Tokyo squad captured the Japan Series championship.
While his numbers were modest, the Swallows clearly felt good enough about Osuna’s performance to make this long-term commitment. The $5.1MM also represents much more security that Osuna would’ve found in a contract with a big league team this winter, as he would likely have had to settle for a minor league deal (and could’ve now been in limbo due to the lockout).
A longtime member of the Pirates organization, Osuna hit .241/.280/.430 with 24 home runs over 705 career plate appearances in the majors, all with Pittsburgh from 2017-20. Osuna received a solid chunk of playing time in part-time and platoon roles with the Bucs, though the club opted to designate him for assignment last offseason rather than pay him a projected $1.1MM arbitration salary.
From that same Yahoo Japan report, the Swallows are also in talks with outfielder Domingo Santana about another contract. In his first Japanese season, Santana was one of the Swallows’ top bats, hitting .290/.366/.511 with 19 home runs over 418 PA.
The author of a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2017, Santana hit .255/.341/.446 with 77 home runs over parts of seven big league seasons from 2014-20 with Houston, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Cleveland. Santana’s subpar defense, however, made him a veritable bat-only player, so the Guardians declined their 2021 club option on his services following a mediocre 2020 campaign.
Padres To Sign Nick Martinez To Four-Year Deal
THURSDAY, 7:45am: Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Martinez remains a free agent, though sources tell MLBTR that there is no concern the deal won’t be completed after the lockout since an agreement is in place between Martinez and the Padres. It’s also worth noting that Martinez is set to earn $7MM in 2022, so he’d be leaving three years and $13MM on the table if he decides to opt out.
WEDNESDAY, 9:21pm: The Padres are signing Nick Martínez to a four-year, $20MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal includes opt-outs after the first two years. The right-hander has spent the past four seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. His contract with the NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks just expired today, but his representatives worked quickly to find him a big league landing spot before the anticipated transactions freeze. Martinez is represented by Brian Mejia, Ulises Cabrera, and Alan Nero of Octagon.
Martínez is making his return to the majors for the first time since 2017, though he did pitch for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics this summer. The Florida native was drafted and developed by the Rangers, where current San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was then a prominent member of the scouting department. Martínez debuted in 2014 and worked as a back-of-the-rotation arm for the next few seasons.
Martinez, 31, posted a stellar 1.62 ERA with a 24.8 K% and 6.6 BB% for the Hawks this year in 149 2/3 innings. According to Sung Min Kim, Martinez’s fastball velocity increased to nearly 94 miles per hour this year, and his changeup has become more effective. Several American pitchers have revived their careers in NPB or KBO in recent years and returned to MLB on big league deals, including Chris Flexen, Josh Lindblom, Merrill Kelly, and Miles Mikolas. Martinez’s contract tops all of them, as Mikolas had inked a two-year, $15.5MM deal with the Cardinals four years ago. Plus, Martinez maintains the ability to re-enter free agency if he’s able to have success in 2022 or ’23.
Martinez’s $5MM AAV is key for the Padres, one of only two teams to exceed the $210MM luxury tax threshold in 2021. The club is currently in a similar place for 2022, though we don’t know how much success the players’ union will have in increasing the base tax threshold.
Martinez joins a Padres rotation that currently includes Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Mike Clevinger. Chris Paddack, Dinelson Lamet, and Ryan Weathers also figure to be in the mix. Though that’s significant depth, but it’s plausible that Preller might look to trade someone as a means of clearing payroll. The Padres already sent Adam Frazier to the Mariners to clear an estimated $7MM or so.
Aside from the Frazier trade, the Padres added to their stock of catchers by acquiring Jorge Alfaro from the Marlins. They also signed a pair of relievers today in Luis Garcia and Robert Suarez, with the latter having played against Martinez in NPB this year. There’s a sense that the Padres have plenty of additional offseason moves to make, but like the other 29 teams everything will go on pause until the lockout ends.
Pirates Release Cody Ponce To Pursue NPB Opportunity
The Pirates have released right-hander Cody Ponce, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The right-hander is pursuing an opportunity in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Reports out of Japan have suggested he’ll be signing with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Ponce has appeared in the majors in each of the past two seasons, combining to work 55 1/3 innings over 20 outings. Most of that work has come as a multi-inning reliever, but Ponce did make a more traditional five-inning start against the Cubs in May. Altogether, he’s managed a 5.86 ERA. Ponce has only punched out 19.6% of opponents and struggled with home runs, but he’s also been quite stingy with walks (6.9%).
Transactions of this ilk aren’t uncommon, as players on the fringes of a 40-man roster can often make more in foreign professional leagues than they’d stand to earn as up-and-down players with a big league club. It’s not out of the question Ponce returns to the majors at some point down the line, particularly if he settles in as a productive member of the Fighters’ rotation over the next season or two.
The move clears a space on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster. That’ll be needed for the signing of Roberto Pérez, who reportedly agreed to terms on a $5MM guarantee this afternoon.