MLB rumors: Giants among teams evaluating NPB ace Tomoyuki Sugano

The Giants have their eyes on one of Japan's best pitchers.

San Francisco is one of the MLB teams evaluating longtime Nippon Professional Baseball league ace Tomoyuki Sugano, who is expected to sign with a major league team this winter, MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported Friday.

Tomoyuki Sugano’s image on a wall of Yomiuri Giants legends at the Tokyo Dome. The @MLB team by the same name — the San Francisco Giants — are among the teams evaluating Sugano, 35, now that he has global free agency rights this offseason. ⁦@MLBNetwork⁩ pic.twitter.com/kPOxxDtmX5
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 23, 2024

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The 35-year-old Sugano pitched 12 seasons for the Yomiuri Giants in the NPB, where he posted a career 136-74 record with a 2.43 ERA in 1,857 innings pitched while striking out 1,585 batters.

Throughout his career with the NPB Giants, Sugano was named an All-Star eight times, won two Central League MVPs and two Eiji Sawamura Awards -- the NPB equivalent of the Cy Young Award.

Sugano, with more than nine years of NPB service time, is not subject to the posting system rule and is free to sign with any MLB team this offseason.

Will he trade the threads of one Giants team for another?