As the Mets look for rotation help, they have been connected to Trevor Bauer and to free agents in the tier below Bauer, such as Jake Odorizzi and Masahiro Tanaka.

On the trade market, the possibility exists that the Mets could reel in a top of the rotation stud like Blake Snell or Luis Castillo.

But what about Tomoyuki Sugano?

Sugano, 31, was posted by the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league on Dec. 7, giving interested teams until Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. to sign him.

And the Mets are reportedly interested.

Should the Mets target Sugano to help fix what ails the starting rotation? Let's look at the pros and cons, starting with the cons...

CONS

He's an unknown

Like any player making the transition to Major League Baseball, it's a bit of an unknown when it comes to how Sugano's stats will translate.

In the hierarchy of baseball leagues, NPB is viewed as the second-best in the world, behind MLB.

Sugano has been elite in Japan, with a career ERA of 2.34 and a 1.03 WHIP. But it remains to be seen how he'll fare in the majors, where the competition is better.

There will be a release fee

There is no longer a posting fee owed to Japanese teams after signing their free agents, but the team that signs Sugano will owe Yomiuri a "release fee."

The amount of that fee will depend on several factors, but it will be in addition to the contract given to Sugano.

While the fee is an extra expense on top of the contract, it is not a prohibitive one.

There are younger options with higher upside

There is an easy case to make that Sugano is a better bet than Odorizzi or Tanaka. But it's hard to make the case that he's a better option than Snell or Castillo.

The question then becomes whether the Mets (or another interested team) would rather hang onto its prospect capital and sign Sugano, or go for the higher upside play by dealing a package of players to get Snell or Castillo.

PROS

He's viewed as a legitimate mid-rotation starter

While there is a question of how exactly Sugano's stuff will translate in the majors, scouts view his stuff as legitimate, with the belief that he has the floor of a No. 4 starter and the upside of a No. 2 starter.

In addition to a fastball and plus slider, Sugano has incredible command. He has never walked more than 41 batters in a season.

If Sugano becomes a No. 2 in the majors, he will likely provide immense value to the team that signs him. Even if he's only a No. 4, there is still a lot of value there.

The cost will likely not be huge

The additional release fee needs to be factored in, but the belief from one expert was that Sugano's services can be secured for an average annual value of $12 million over two seasons.

The above will be in a different stratosphere when compared to what Bauer gets and could also be less than what Odorizzi and Tanaka get.

His trend lines are very good

Except for 2019, when he dealt with a back injury, Sugano has been terrific over the last half decade, never posting an ERA above 2.14.

His WHIP in 2020 was 0.88 (the second-lowest of his career), and his home run rate last season of 0.5 per 9 innings tied the best mark of his career.

VERDICT

Mets president Sandy Alderson seemed to suggest last week during an appearance on WFAN that the team was at least keeping an eye on the market for Sugano and other international free agents.

We already know that the Mets have interest in Odorizzi, who did some of his best pitching under pitching coach Jeremy Hefner when Hefner was with the Minnesota Twins. But Odorizzi's track record is iffy.

If the Mets feel that Sugano's stuff will translate to the majors, there's an argument to be made for making him their top free agent target -- if we're assuming their "big" free agent spending will be done on George Springer and not Bauer.

Still, the trade options (Castillo and Snell) are tantalizing.

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