The Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be in the mix for another major Japanese import this offseason, with outfielder Teruaki Sato now available on the MLB market.
Sato has spent the last two seasons crushing NPB pitching, piling up nearly 80 home runs and more than 200 RBIs across 282 games. After that kind of run, he’s poised to test himself in the majors.
According to Japanese outlet Kyodo News, the Hanshin Tigers have accepted Sato’s posting request. That move starts a 45-day window for MLB clubs to negotiate with the 27-year-old slugger, and Toronto is expected to be among the teams looking hard at him.
The fit makes sense on more than one level. At their end-of-season press conference, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins both said the organization wants to deepen its footprint in the Japanese market. Going after Sato would be a direct way to do that.
“The Japanese market will obviously be something we will explore again this winter,” Shapiro said.
Sato is coming off the best year of his career, hitting .306 with 39 home runs and 106 RBIs. He also joined rare company in NPB, becoming just the ninth player in league history to win the Triple Crown by leading in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.
For a Blue Jays offense that had trouble scoring last season, Sato would represent an obvious jolt. Toronto finished dead last in the majors in driving in runners, and his bat from this past season would have led the club in every major offensive category.
That said, moving from NPB production to MLB success is never automatic. Still, the Blue Jays have recently had success making the leap with Japanese talent. Their most recent signing, Kazuma Okamoto, led Toronto with 33 home runs in his rookie year.
The price tag could be hefty, too. Toronto gave Okamoto a four-year, $60 million deal last offseason, while potential AL Rookie of the Year candidate Munetaka Murakami landed a two-year, $34 million contract with the Chicago White Sox.
Sato is projected to command as much as $20 million per year, and that could complicate things for the Blue Jays if the proposed hard salary cap of $245.3 million is put into place. Toronto is already $8 million over that proposed line.
Per Yahoo Japan, Sato plans to head to North America in November to start meeting with interested clubs, though fans may have to wait until the end of the month to find out where he ends up.
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