Mets are early MLB Trade Rumors poll-favorites to sign Tomoyuki Sugano

We’ll have an answer to the Tomoyuki Sugano sweepstakes this week. MLB Trade Rumors readers seem to believe he’ll end up with the New York Mets.

How accurate are the results of online polls? If they carry any merit, New York Mets fans may want to prepare themselves for Tomoyuki Sugano in 2021.

MLB Trade Rumors ran a poll on Sunday, January 3, 2020, for fans to cast their vote on where they believe Sugano will sign. The Mets came away as the earlier front-runner.

We already know the Mets are one of several teams in on Sugano. According to Jon Morosi, they appear to be battling heavily with the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants. Also included in this poll are three other teams we shouldn’t count out as contenders. The Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, and Texas Rangers are also potential landing spots for the star Japanese pitcher.

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At 31-years-old, Sugano isn’t exactly a spring chicken. Transitioning from the Japan Central League where he has spent his entire career to Major League Baseball in North America can have its obstacles.

As we have seen plenty of times, stars from overseas don’t always translate well. The Mets have had their share of busts from the Far East. Kaz Matsui is actually one of the better imports the organization has brought in—which says a lot.

Sugano is coming off of a fantastic season where he went 14-2 with a 1.97 ERA. In 2017, he was even better, posting a 1.59 ERA while going 17-5.

Foreign stats rarely translate directly to Major League Baseball. I don’t expect Sugano to accomplish anything near this with the Mets or any other MLB team. This doesn’t mean he’s incapable of becoming a really good starter over here for any of the 30 clubs.

The belief that the Mets are favorites to sign Sugano shouldn’t surprise anyone. Steve Cohen’s deep pockets represent a different attitude toward building a successful baseball club. With no big-ticket item signed by his regime yet, it would only make sense to anticipate all of the best names possible.

Sugano happens to be one of them. Add in that he fits in with exactly what the organization needs, it makes sense to vote for him in this poll.

Obviously, what the fans believe has very little merit as to what any organization will actually do. Just because fans believe Sugano ends up in Flushing next year doesn’t make it any more likely to happen.

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Fortunately, we’ll know within a few days what Sugano’s future is. There’s a January 7th deadline to sign him. By next weekend, Sugano will be a Met or he won’t.