• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

San Francisco Sports Today

San Francisco Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Baseball
    • A’s
    • Giants
  • Football
    • 49’ers
    • Raiders
  • Basketball
    • Kings
    • Warriers
  • Sharks
  • Earthquakes
  • Colleges
    • San Jose State
    • Stanford
    • University of California, Berkeley

Tuesday BP: Another pitcher off the market

December 17, 2024 by McCovey Chronicles

Tomoyuki Sugano throwing a pitch in the WBC.
Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images

Tomoyuki Sugano has signed with the Orioles.

It’s no secret that the San Francisco Giants are pursuing a starting pitcher this offseason after losing Blake Snell in free agency. The Giants are optimistic about their ace (Logan Webb), their veterans (Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks), and their massive stable of exciting, intriguing, talented, and almost entirely unproven youngsters (Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong, Landen Roupp, Mason Black, Keaton Winn, Tristan Beck, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, Carson Ragsdale, etc.). But another high-quality arm feels necessary to ensure that the team doesn’t have to rely too strongly on that third bucket (or the second one, for that matter), and can withstand inevitable injuries.

But the pool of names to choose from is shrinking, almost every day. On Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Baltimore Orioles had agreed to a one-year, $13 million deal with righty Tomoyuki Sugano, a 35-year old control pitcher coming to the Majors after a 12-year career in Japan.

The Giants likely don’t care much. They’ve long had their eyes set on a much bigger prize: former Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes, the pitcher Sugano will try to replace in Maryland. After showing limited interest in Snell and Max Fried, the Giants have been all-in on Burnes, a player with California roots (he grew up in Bakersfield and played collegiately at St. Mary’s), a reported desire to sign with the Giants, and all the traits that Buster Posey has made it clear he values in signing Matt Chapman and Willy Adames to massive contracts.

On a Monday appearance on the Foul Territory podcast, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser offered up some information on where the Giants stand with signing Burnes … a reality that she slapped a 50% chance on. Most notably, Slusser said, “I’ve been told repeatedly it’s in ownership’s hands,” while adding that she believes ownership strongly supports Posey. Burnes’ contract is expected to be, at minimum, eight years and $250 million, and Slusser certainly suggested that if ownership is willing to meet the contract price, that a deal will get done.

Hopefully they are and hopefully it does, because there aren’t as many alternatives as there once were. There are just three starting pitchers on the market who were worth at least 2.0 fWAR last year and didn’t receive a Qualifying Offer (an obstacle that won’t stop the Giants from signing Burnes, but likely will for a lesser player): Jack Flaherty, Andrew Heaney, and Trevor Williams. And with Sugano now off the table, another player who is expected to fit somewhere in that tier of pitchers is no longer available.

The dream remains Burns or Rōki Sasaki (who can’t sign for another month) or, since we’re talking dreams here, both. There are still options if one of those dreams doesn’t become a reality, but those options are dwindling quickly.


How many days until Opening Day?

Exactly 100!

Filed Under: Giants

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Can you guess this 49ers fullback in today’s in-5 trivia game?
  • Warriors land in ‘Group of Death’ for upcoming NBA In-Season Tournament
  • Elephant Rumblings: Bido up, Spence down
  • Friday BP: What do you think is going on with Justin Verlander?
  • Sharks Prospect Dickinson Talks Top Defender Award, Memorial Cup & Confidence Heading Into Camp

Categories

  • 49'ers
  • A's
  • Earthquakes
  • Giants
  • Kings
  • Raiders
  • San Jose State
  • Sharks
  • Stanford
  • Uncategorized
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Warriers

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021

Our Partners

All Sports

  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • San Francisco Examiner
  • The Mercury News
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • Forgotten 5
  • Golden Gate Sports
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • San Francisco Giants
  • Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - San Francisco Giants
  • MLB Trade Rumors - A's
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Giants
  • White Cleat Beat
  • Around The Foghorn
  • Athletics Nation
  • McCovey Chronicles

Basketball

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Sacramento Kings
  • A Royal Pain
  • Amico Hoops - Kings
  • Amico Hoops - Warriors
  • Blue Man Hoop
  • Golden State Of Mind
  • Hoops Hype - Warriors
  • Hoops Hype - Kings
  • Hoops Rumors - Warriors
  • Hoops Rumors - Kings
  • Lets Go Warriors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Golden State
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Sacramento
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Warriors
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Kings
  • Real GM - Warriors
  • Real GM - Kings
  • Sactown Royalty

Football

  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • 49ers Gab
  • Just Blog Baby
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors - San Francisco 49ers
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Las Vegas Raiders
  • Niners Nation
  • Niner Noise
  • Niners Wire
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors - 49ers
  • Pro Football Rumors - Raiders
  • Pro Football Talk - 49ers
  • Pro Football Talk - Raiders
  • Raiders Wire
  • Silver And Black Pride
  • Total 49ers

Hockey

  • Blades Of Teal
  • Fear The Fin
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Center Line Soccer
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • California Golden Blogs
  • College Sports Madness
  • College Football News
  • Rule Of Tree
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Californian
  • The Stanford Daily
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in