Seiya Suzuki, the Nipon Professional Baseball star, will be posted by the Hiroshima Carp, his Japanese club, on Monday morning, according to Jon Heyman. Teams will have 30 days to negotiate and sign Suzuki, setting his signing deadline as 5 p.m. on December 22.
Any team can negotiate with Suzuki once he’s posted.
The Mets have scouted Suzuki, as MMO‘s Mike Mayer pointed out, and other teams like the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners are expected to bid for his services. The Mets could have a big hole in right field should Michael Conforto not return to the team.
The 27-year-old (turns 28 during next season) is an offensive juggernaut, smashing 38 home runs in 131 games in the 2021 season. He’s had an OPS over over 1.000 in three of his last four seasons, and his 2021 season saw him accumulate 8.4 WAR out of right field. He’s also won multiple Gold Gloves.
For a more comprehensive look at Suzuki, Tom Mussa wrote a good piece about the power hitter over at Prospects Live.
Suzuki’s posting window unfortunately lines up with a potential lockout in MLB. Should the owners and players enter a lockout on December 2, Suzuki’s posting window will be paused until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached, according to Keith Law on the latest Get Metsmerized podcast.
In addition to whatever contract Suzuki signs with an MLB club, that team will also have to pay a release fee to his NPB team. The details of how much that release fee will be is dictated by the size of the contract and is detailed here.
If Suzuki doesn’t sign with a team by his deadline, he will return to NPB and the Carp.
