BALTIMORE (AP) — There are plenty of reasons why the Baltimore Orioles would love to hold onto Tomoyuki Sugano for the rest of the season.
The Japanese right-hander is loved in the clubhouse, rarely misses a start and, most important, knows how to win on the mound.
Those qualities also make Sugano quite appealing to a contender looking to upgrade its starting rotation before Friday’s trade deadline.
Sugano shackled the Colorado Rockies on four hits over six innings in Sunday. He matched his season high with eight strikeouts and improved to 8-5.
Signed to one-year contract in December, Sugano has clearly been a success in his first season in the big leagues after an impressive career in Japan. The question is, will the 35-year-old rookie stay in Baltimore or be traded by the last-place club?
Sugano would prefer to stay put, but he’s beginning to understand that anything can happen right up until the final minute of the fast-approaching deadline.
“It’s obviously my first time. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sugano said through an interpreter after Sunday’s game.
After a solid start with the Orioles, Sugano struggled in June and was blown out in successive starts against Tampa Bay (June 27) and Texas (July 2). Then, after adjusting his delivery, he gave up just four hits in six innings against the Mets on July 10 to get back on track.
On Sunday against the Rockies, he looked particularly sharp in what might have been his final outing with the Orioles.
“We need him,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “When Sugano throws the ball well, he gives us a chance to win. And we need to win games.”
So does a team looking to make a run at a pennant or World Series championship.
“If they watched the last three starts, I’d take him,” Mansolino said. “You watch that Mets start, I’d take him in a heartbeat.”
If Sugano goes elsewhere, he will be missed by his new friends in Baltimore.
“He is so well-liked in that room,” Mansolino said. “The players mess around with him, he messes around with his teammates. He’s done it very gracefully.”
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