Cubs Meeting with Japanese OF Seiya Suzuki Monday Night
Reports out of Japan that Seiya Suzuki had already agreed to a deal with the Padres may have been a wee bit premature. The 27-year-old outfielder did work out in San Diego this weekend and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune reported that a decision was expected soon, but there’s at least one more meeting scheduled before that happens.
— MP (@MichaelJPage) March 14, 2022
According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, Suzuki and his reps will sit down with the Cubs Monday night. When Jed Hoyer addressed the media earlier in the day, he said they still planned to add several players and were talking to several of them who could be of the “significant” variety.
Source confirms Cubs are expected to meet with Seiya Suzuki and his reps tonight. Cubs have numerous holes to fill and would love to add Suzuki. The 27-year-old outfielder fits short-term goal of trying to compete now & long-term for when Cubs hope young prospects arrive in bigs
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) March 14, 2022
Suzuki, a contact hitter with pop and speed, would certainly be significant in terms of both money and projected impact. Though evaluators differ on how productive he will be, his righty bat and plus glove would fit well in Chicago. Just as long as people don’t expect him to be a savior or refer to him pejoratively as the next Kosuke Fukudome, which would actually be a pretty good thing because Fukudome was a very solid player.
The Cubs need left-handed power in a bad way, but their outfield is already lefty-heavy and Ian Happ is going to miss time due to a cleanup procedure on his elbow last month. So while Suzuki doesn’t fill one very glaring need on the roster in the short-term, he does check several other boxes for now and into the next few years.
