Starting pitching looks like the obvious target for the Chicago Cubs at the 2025 trade deadline.
Thanks to their fantastic offense, the Cubs have managed a 37-22 start to the season. They’re tied with the New York Mets for the National League’s best record entering play on Monday. But the rotation still looks like a long-term question mark.
Shota Imanaga’s return, which should come within the next couple of weeks, will go a long way for Chicago if the lefty is his usual self. But ever since Justin Steele went down for the year, the Cubs have been at least one arm short of a formidable playoff rotation.
To remedy that issue, one Cubs writer believes the team should pursue one of Imanaga’s old rivals in Japan’s NPB.
On Monday, Kyle Morton of Cubs on SI named Baltimore Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano, a 35-year-old Major League Baseball rookie with 12 years of NPB experience, as an ideal Cubs trade target this summer.
Sugano would fit like a glove with the Cubs, slotting in behind Imanaga upon his return and adding another veteran Japanese star to a group that already includes not just Imanaga, but also outfielder Seiya Suzuki,” Morton wrote.
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“The righty owns a 3.23 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP, and he has proven to be a master of limiting hard contact, earning just 35 strikeouts in 64 innings of work but finding success anyway.”
Sugano is on a one-year, $13 million contract, making him an intriguing rental. That strikeout rate is preposterously low, but if it works, it works.
Expect Sugano to be on a long list of starters the Cubs inquire about at this year’s deadline. If the price is right, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to bring him into the picture.
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