The Chicago Cubs are heading into the winter looking to improve their team, as despite being over .500, they missed the playoffs once again.
This offseason, the Cubs will be looking to try and take a step forward and compete in the very challenging National League. With a few key areas of need, improving and competing for a playoff spot is certainly possible with a strong winter.
There will be plenty of free agents that Chicago will likely be pursuing, as they have some work to do in the coming months.
One area that they will be likely trying to improve slightly is in the starting rotation. While they had four very good starters, the performance of Kyle Hendricks last year held them back. Hendricks will be a free agent this offseason, and likely won’t be returning.
Adding a starting pitcher is certainly a need, but the Cubs likely won’t be looking to pursue a player like Blake Snell or Corbin Burnes. Going into the next tier, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently predicted that Chicago would sign a Japanese pitcher, Tomoyuki Sugano.
“After 12 years of Nippon Professional Baseball, he turns 35 in a few days and is likely to only receive a two-year, maybe three-year deal as he nears the end of his career. He intends to sign with an MLB team fresh off both Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga having incredible debut seasons in their transitions from NPB to MLB, so there might be more of a bidding war for his services than there would have been a year ago. Sasaki stays with Chiba Lotte, but Sugano gets a two-year, $30M deal, possibly joining Imanaga with the Cubs.”
Pursing Sugano makes a lot of sense for Chicago, as the predicted $15 million a year would be a lot cheaper than one of the star aces in free agency. Considering the success that Shota Imagana had in his rookie season coming from Japan last season, adding the 34-year-old would be very appealing to try and replicate that.
For Sugano, choosing a team with another Japanese player and also someone that had success making the transition to the MLB will likely be a great recruiting angle for the Cubs, as Imagana certainly has thrived in Chicago.
While the Cubs won’t likely be the only team that pursues Sugano, they could have an advantage over a lot of other teams with the success of Imagana in 2024. His age will be a factor in free agency, regardless, the talented pitcher would be a good fit for Chicago.
