Yankees: 3 free agents to sign and 1 to avoid this offseason

Sign Tomoyuki Sugano

For the record, the Yankees should absolutely re-sign Masahiro Tanaka if the price is right. They should also take a look at the possibility of bringing his countryman into the fold. Signing Tomoyuki Sugano could turn out to be a stroke of brilliance by the team’s front office.

Sugano will arrive in MLB as a relative veteran at the age of 31. He doesn’t profile as a potential ace, but he would give the Yankees a reliable middle of the rotation starter in 2021. That would help bridge the gap between Gerrit Cole and youngsters like Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt for Aaron Boone and his coaching staff.

The Yankees could also land Sugano on a discount deal due to the uncertainty of how his game might translate from Japan to the United States. New York is a team that is well-positioned to help Sugano make that move. They’ve arguably done it more often than anyone else in baseball with the likes of Tanaka, Kei Igawa, Hiroki Koruda, and the late-Hideki Irabu.

Landing Sugano would give the Yankees a quality starter who can help eat up innings while Luis Severino makes his way back to full health. He isn’t going to instantly turn the team into World Series favorites, but he would dramatically upgrade a rotation that needs an immediate infusion of established talent.