2020-2021 Hot Stove Thread

[AT Funchal-Madeira]

It's a good way to gamble on yourself.... so long as everybody isn't doing it.... David Cone did a bit of that...

[Coeurd’Alene J]

Japan sending yet another pitcher to the mlb

Earlier this week, Sanspo reported that the Yomiuri Giants were going to post Tomoyuki Sugano. Considered one of, if not the best, pitchers in Japan, the 31 year old could potentially be a sound investment for a Major League club in need of pitching.

The right-hander complements his fastball with a bevy of secondary pitches, with his slider and splitter being the most effective. He throws two different slider variants, one with more velocity and less break that acts similar to a cutter and one with less velocity and tight, two-plane break. He throws his slider roughly 21.9% of the time, with the faster variant averaging 86 MPH and the slower version averaging 82 MPH. His splitter falls off the table with a ton of vertical break, averaging 85 MPH. Sugano does not throw the pitch very much, using it roughly 10% of the time. Both pitches tunnel extremely well with his fastball, which is partially why they are so effective. He rounds out his regular repertoire with a big, loopy curveball that sits in the upper-70s, that he throws roughly 9% of the time. In addition to these pitches, he also throws a sinker and changeup, but rarely throws these pitches with any regularity.

Sugano possesses exceptional command of all his pitches and has a reputation for being a pinpoint-control artist. Over the course of his 1357.0 professional innings, the right-hander has a 1.8 BB/9 rate.

Sugano’s batted ball profile has trended in the wrong direction in the last few years. His groundball rate has decreased while his flyball rate has increased, to the point that the right-hander allowed more flyballs in 2020 than he did groundballs, the first time in his career that this was the case. This trend is worrying, as his hit hard rate has incrementally increased since 2014, when the data first began being tracked; in 2014, Sugano had a 25.9% hit hard rate, as opposed to 2020, when he had a 33.2% hit hard rate in 2020.

This is now the second pitcher to be posted this yr What are the odds we are in the bidding.....about 99%

[D-train]

He has a bad year (for him) in 2019 and a good year in 2020. Note that he pitched one more inning in 2020 than 2019 despite the Global pandemic.

Its like Covid never happened in Japan.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... gano001tom

[Donn Beach]

Japanese don't mind wearing masks

[D-train]

Japanese don't mind wearing masks

A video circulating on social media shows Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), saying “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” Fauci’s remarks were made on March 8, 2020

MLB shut down ST on March 11th.

[Donn Beach]

and the states had more covid infections in a single day than japan has had for the entire epidemic

[D-train]

and the states had more covid infections in a single day than japan has had for the entire epidemic

I have literally never seen a single person not wearing a mask indoors in public since it was mandated so I find it hard to believe that is the issue.

[Donn Beach]

what i am saying is it didn't need to be mandated in japan, it was already part of the culture, they don't touch very often, no hand shaking, take more baths...think culturally japan was probably better prepared

[Coeurd’Alene J]

I’d be ok with Sugano in the rotation. At 31 he is a risk but at least we should be one of his preferred destinations

[Petert]

Japan sending yet another pitcher to the mlb

Earlier this week, Sanspo reported that the Yomiuri Giants were going to post Tomoyuki Sugano. Considered one of, if not the best, pitchers in Japan, the 31 year old could potentially be a sound investment for a Major League club in need of pitching.

The right-hander complements his fastball with a bevy of secondary pitches, with his slider and splitter being the most effective. He throws two different slider variants, one with more velocity and less break that acts similar to a cutter and one with less velocity and tight, two-plane break. He throws his slider roughly 21.9% of the time, with the faster variant averaging 86 MPH and the slower version averaging 82 MPH. His splitter falls off the table with a ton of vertical break, averaging 85 MPH. Sugano does not throw the pitch very much, using it roughly 10% of the time. Both pitches tunnel extremely well with his fastball, which is partially why they are so effective. He rounds out his regular repertoire with a big, loopy curveball that sits in the upper-70s, that he throws roughly 9% of the time. In addition to these pitches, he also throws a sinker and changeup, but rarely throws these pitches with any regularity.

Sugano possesses exceptional command of all his pitches and has a reputation for being a pinpoint-control artist. Over the course of his 1357.0 professional innings, the right-hander has a 1.8 BB/9 rate.

Sugano’s batted ball profile has trended in the wrong direction in the last few years. His groundball rate has decreased while his flyball rate has increased, to the point that the right-hander allowed more flyballs in 2020 than he did groundballs, the first time in his career that this was the case. This trend is worrying, as his hit hard rate has incrementally increased since 2014, when the data first began being tracked; in 2014, Sugano had a 25.9% hit hard rate, as opposed to 2020, when he had a 33.2% hit hard rate in 2020.

This is now the second pitcher to be posted this yr What are the odds we are in the bidding.....about 99%

He profiles well for BP use.