The Rockies have added some veteran innings to their rotation, signing right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year contract that’s worth a reported $5.1MM. He’s represented by the VC Sports Group. Kris Bryant was placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.
Sugano, 36, was a star in Japan prior to last season’s major league debut — one of the most durable and successful starting pitchers of the current generation in Nippon Professional Baseball. He contemplated a move to MLB earlier in his career but opted to remain with the Yomiuri Giants on a four-year, $40MM deal in the 2020-21 offseason rather than make the jump to North America.
He finally opted to commit to an MLB opportunity last offseason, signing a one-year, $13MM deal with the Orioles. He was one of several one-year additions to the Baltimore rotation, and Sugano panned out better than either Charlie Morton or Kyle Gibson did after signing a short-term deal with Baltimore.
It wasn’t a dominant debut effort by any means, but Sugano made 30 starts and piled up 157 innings with a 4.64 earned run average. His 5.3% walk rate was excellent, but the right-hander’s 15.1% strikeout rate was among the lowest in Major League Baseball. That lack of missed bats and pedestrian velocity on his fastballs (92.7 mph average four-seamer, 92.9 mph average sinker) led to too many barrels and far too many home runs. Sugano was tagged for 33 round-trippers — most in the American League and third-most in all of MLB — or an average of 1.89 homers per nine frames.
Certainly, that home run susceptibility is cause for some concern as Sugano signs on to play his home games at Coors Field. Then again, the Rockies entered the offseason in dire need of rotation help and are always going to have a hard time selling free agent starters on pitching at elevation. They managed to sway Michael Lorenzen earlier in the offseason and will now add Sugano, at the very least giving the rotation a pair of veteran options to eat innings and take some pressure off some still-developing young arms.
Sugano joins a rotation slated to include Lorenzen, Kyle Freeland and Ryan Feltner. Top prospect Chase Dollander, the No. 9 pick from the 2023 draft, was hit hard as a rookie in 2025 but probably has the inside track on the No. 5 spot. Nearly all of his 2025 struggles came at Coors Field; he posted a 3.46 ERA, 22.4% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate on the road (compared to a 9.98 ERA at home). Other candidates for the fifth spot include Tanner Gordon, McCade Brown and Carson Palmquist, among others.
The $5.1MM salary bumps Colorado to about $114.5MM in actual cash payroll and $132MM worth of luxury tax obligations, per RosterResource. Neither is close to the club’s respective franchise-record marks, though that’s to be expected as the Rockies embark on what’ll likely be a yearslong rebuilding effort under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and new general manager Josh Byrnes. If Sugano and/or Lorenzen can put together decent first halves of the season, either could find himself as a deadline option for contending clubs looking to add rotation depth, but if nothing else, they’re affordable innings eaters to help navigate a long season.
As for the Bryant side of the move, the news is unfortunate but hardly surprising. The 34-year-old played only 11 games last season and has suited up for only 170 games over the first four seasons of his seven-year deal with Colorado. He’s been diagnosed with a degenerative lumbar condition in his lower back that has made it unclear precisely when — or whether — the Rockies can count on him returning to the field.
The team will surely have more updates on Bryant as camp progresses. The 60-day minimum for his IL placement doesn’t kick in until Opening Day. All IL placements can be backdated by a maximum of three days, so at minimum, Bryant will be out for the first 57 days of the 2026 season.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported this morning that the Rockies were working to bring in some additional rotation help. Thomas Harding of MLB.com first reported the one-year agreement. ESPN’s Jeff Passan added financial terms.