Blue Jays front runner to sign Yoshitomo Tsutsugo

[Angrioter]

[jays4life19]

Meh

[Deadpool]

He was my first choice (of the reasonable choices) to grab for 1B, so I'd be down.

[Barkerfan23]

For those of us not familiar with Japanese baseball. What kind of numbers would this guy project.

[Laika]

Cool if true.

[Laika]

For those of us not familiar with Japanese baseball. What kind of numbers would this guy project.

 

.220 with 23 home runs and 69 runs batted home and 3 steals

[Barkerfan23]

.220 with 23 home runs and 69 runs batted home and 3 steals

 

What about risp?

[jays4life19]

What about risp?

 

.244

[BTS]

This pleases me

[Carlos Danger]

So Montoyo goes out for a mound visit, bottom of the ninth, tie game, two runners on, no out, Giles on the mound. He calls the infield in for to talk about what they want to do. Montoyo has to tell the Gringos in English, then switch to Spanish, at least he doesn't need a translator, then the Japanese translator tells our 1b.. Talk about slowing down the game

[Laika]

Not many qualified NPB hitters have come to MLB in recent years. There's Ohtani, but he's incomparable. Dae-Ho Lee came for one year but he was 34. Gurriel spent a season in Yoshitomo Tsutsugo's league in 2014, two years before he came to MLB, so if you want to use one guy as a projection basis he would be the one.

[glory]

Atkins regime has been good at two things, drafting and international signings. If this happens, I won’t have a lot of expectations, but will give it the benefit of doubt.

[saskjayfan]

He's the second coming of Hideki matsui. Sign him up!

[Barkerfan23]

Atkins must like his handedness

[RobinThicc]

cool. Rowdy is trash no offense, hopefully this guy is better.

[Abomination]

The translation for anyone not bored enough to pop it into GT:

 

"The Japanese Yoshitomo Tsutsugo deadline for signing with an MLB team through the Transfer System expires on December 19 at 5 pm (ET). Apparently 4 clubs are interested and Toronto is the favorite to sign it."

[TheHurl]

[Spanky99]

 

lol... Witty!

[SaskJaysFan_2]

.220 with 23 home runs and 69 runs batted home and 3 steals

 

So Tellez, with worse defense with fewer dingers and three more steals. Cool.

[Laika]

So Tellez, with worse defense with fewer dingers and three more steals. Cool.

 

It was a joke projection. Next time I will make it more obvious and say he will hit .420 with 69 homerz or something nice like that.

[Laika]

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo is really a great target for Toronto for so many reasons.

[SaskJaysFan_2]

It was a joke projection. Next time I will make it more obvious and say he will hit .420 with 69 homerz or something nice like that.

 

Sure. Whatever floats your boat. Both are super funny.

[Terminator]

I'd like to see the Jays take a chance on this guy. Ive read that he has huge exit velocity. Seems like he has a decent penchant for walks too. Could be a nice middle of the order bat. The defensive limitations are a concern but that'll help drive his price down anyway.

 

Some sort of 2 year deal w a player option would be pretty cool.

[Daniel Labude]

I would like to see us get him

[z3r0s]

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo is really a great target for Toronto for so many reasons.

 

You aren't wrong. Likely a pretty low cost and he at least has the chance to be something while still having some 'good' years age wise. Love the high OBP.

[Deadpool]

I'd like to see the Jays take a chance on this guy. Ive read that he has huge exit velocity. Seems like he has a decent penchant for walks too. Could be a nice middle of the order bat. The defensive limitations are a concern but that'll help drive his price down anyway.

 

Some sort of 2 year deal w a player option would be pretty cool.

 

I'm not totally up on the posting fee system as it currently stands, but I understand it's not as nuts as it was in the Disuke and Darvish times... But I'm still not sure you pay a posting fee and only wind up with a 2 year contract outta the deal...

[Laika]

I'd like to see the Jays take a chance on this guy. Ive read that he has huge exit velocity. Seems like he has a decent penchant for walks too. Could be a nice middle of the order bat. The defensive limitations are a concern but that'll help drive his price down anyway.

 

Some sort of 2 year deal w a player option would be pretty cool.

 

Even if some of the concerns are with merit he could be a useful long-term player especially with the 26th man. The shiny comparison would be the man himself, Eric Thames, who has 4.9 fWAR over the last three years in about ~1200 PA, so not a full time role for most of it but the strong side of a platoon. Yoshi could be worse than that and still worth keeping.

 

If it's a simple 2 or 3 year deal the team would retain six years of control over him through arbitration. I think it's a pretty standard clause though for foreign veterans to negotiate that the team can't offer them arbitration at the end of the contract term (has to non-tender and let them be a free agent). So what you can see with younger players is multiple years of team options (see Kikuchi.) It's like a right of first refusal on an extension, if he's any good. We might see something similar. I think Kikuchi's deal is 3 years guaranteed, then basically a four year extension past that at 16.5 AAV that the team has to exercise all at once at the end of the third year. Or you might just see a longer term deal like with Maeda. I think if a team is investing in Yoshi they want a chance to profit if the upside comes to fruition so a basic 2 year deal isn't the goal.

[glory]

Yeah my guess is it would be a 4-5 year deal, not a 2 year deal, especially if they do not retain his arb rights after the contract ends which would make a short term deal pointless.

[Amok]

I'm not totally up on the posting fee system as it currently stands, but I understand it's not as nuts as it was in the Disuke and Darvish times... But I'm still not sure you pay a posting fee and only wind up with a 2 year contract outta the deal...

 

Japanese teams get a percent of the deal. So it is 20% of the first 25 million, 17.5% of the next 25 million and anything over 50 is 15%.

 

I am interested in Tsutsugo but I think of him more of a placeholder until the Jays get someone better. But every option on the free agent market is a placeholder. His DT-based Simple Projection based on his 2019 season (his worst yet) is .339OBP .442SLG .782OPS. But that is not based on age, park factors (Skydome will help those numbers) and if the Jays platoon him.

 

Basically for 1B it is him Vs Eric Thames and EE. Eric Thames had some nice platoon numbers over the last three years with the Brewers 2017.369/wOBA 2018.330/wOBA and 2019 .354/wOBA. But he is 33 so there is some risk there. And EE will lose a ton of value with his glove but he does have a better bat than the other two (but he will be 37 soon)

 

I say go for Tsutsugo, he could crush it and post a .800OPS. Plus it is will be a cool news story for 2020 with the Jays have their first major Japanese player.

 

PS there is also a report that his exit velocity numbers are comparable to the balls in play off Nick Castellanos’ bat.

[Laika]

In free agency there are no other options that combine what Yoshi would offer: a position player under 30 years old with upside, no demonstrated MLB failure, team control, at a potentially reasonable rate.

 

This is as close as you can get in free agency:

 

Addison Russell - 26, 4.118 service time, big off-the-field warts

Jose Peraza - 26, 3.141 service time

Domingo Santana - 27, 4.024 service time, replacement level two seasons in a row

Maikel Franco - 27, 4.157 service time, replacement level over the last three seasons

Ryon Healy - 28, 3.080 service time, sucks

Greg Bird - 27, 4.053 service time, replacement level career and has had 12 surgeries

Yolmer Sanchez - 28, 4.143 service time, one dimensional player already too expensive through arbitration

Guillermo Heredia - 29, 3.054 service time, replacement level

 

He also fits the roster (team need) and the timeline. It will be egregious if Yoshi is not a Blue Jay this month.