{"id":55728,"date":"2025-05-17T11:34:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T11:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=55728"},"modified":"2025-05-17T11:34:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T11:34:21","slug":"report-news-this-free-agent-signing-is-quietly-saving-the-orioles-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=55728","title":{"rendered":"REPORT NEWS: This free agent signing is quietly saving the Orioles season"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"relative z-10\">\n<div class=\"article-intro mb-4 text-darkGrey font-group-large md:font-group-normal lg:font-group-large\">Baltimore&#8217;s season has been a total nightmare, but one underrated free agent signing has provided the slimmest of silver linings.<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"mb-0 md:mb-9 relative md:mx-10 md:mb-9\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_360,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 1x,  \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 2x,\n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F229%2F01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"Adley Rutschman, Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore Orioles\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4780,h_2688\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/229\/01jvdd715r20rqnvxt0j.jpg\" alt=\"Adley Rutschman, Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore Orioles\" width=\"4780\" height=\"2688\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"Adley Rutschman, Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore Orioles\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"ALT\" \/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\">Adley Rutschman, Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore Orioles | Ronald Martinez\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap justify-center lg:justify-normal\">\n<div class=\"flex lg:mr-4 lg:w-[calc(70%-3em)] max-w-full\"><main class=\"min-w-0 flex-1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"viewablity-block\">\n<figure class=\"player-wrapper relative aspect-video mb-[18px] bg-grey rounded-md hidden player-wrapper-lg md:block\">\n<div id=\"mm-player-placeholder-large-screen\" class=\"absolute top-0 left-0 w-full h-full\">\n<div class=\"voltax-mp-placeholder voltax-mp-placeholder-anchored floating\" data-is-split-view=\"false\">\n<div class=\"voltax-mp-container-anchored\">\n<div class=\"titleBar title-anchor\"><span class=\"title\"><span class=\"\">Celtics earn smallest slice, Knicks eating a bigger piece of Nick&#8217;s Title Pie | First Things First<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">The\u00a0Baltimore Orioles\u00a0could not be off to a worse start. At 15-27, Baltimore leads only the infamously bad\u00a0Chicago White Sox\u00a0in the American League standings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Expand the pool, and only Pittsburgh and Colorado are worse in the National League. That is bad company to keep.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">How we got here is unclear. New ownership was supposed to usher in an era of increased spending and real contention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Baltimore has been trending up the past couple of seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">There is immense talent coming through the farm system and several bona fide stars in the lineup already. Gunnar Henderson is supposed to win an MVP award one day. Jackson Holliday is supposed to be\u00a0<em>him<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of taking the next step, however, Baltimore has regressed into the troubling patterns of old.<\/p>\n<p>The lineup runs cold far too often and the pitching rotation is laughably bad. We all knew keeping Corbin Burnes was never realistic, but Mike Elias&#8217; unwillingness to even try to replace him was laughable. Charlie Morton?\u00a0Really?<\/p>\n<p>Just about everything that could have gone wrong,\u00a0has gone wrong. Morton is cooked. Tyler O&#8217;Neill has been\u00a0especially bad\u00a0as their first &#8220;big&#8221; free agent signing in years.<\/p>\n<p>And well, yeah, Burnes&#8217; absence stings. There has been one positive, though, in the form of unheralded Japanese ace Tomoyuki Sugano.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Tomoyuki Sugano has been the only positive in a bleak season for the Orioles<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">Lost in all the hubbub around R\u00f4ki Sasaki and recent Japanese stars like Sh\u014dta Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the stateside arrival of Tomoyoki Sugano, a longtime NPB star who inked a one-year, $13 million contract last winter to reinforce a weak O&#8217;s rotation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Through nine starts, Sugano has been far and away Baltimore&#8217;s most dependable ace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">He has a 3.08 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, with a high groundball rate (45.8 percent) and only nine walks allowed through 52.2 innings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Sugano does not get much swing-and-miss \u2014 he&#8217;s in the\u00a0fifth percentile\u00a0for strikeout rate\u00a0\u2014 but he works the edges of the zone with masterful precision, mixing low-90s heat with a sweeper and a gnarly split-finger pitch.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">He looked mortal in Thursday&#8217;s loss to Minnesota, allowing six hits and four runs in 6.1 innings, but Sugano has overwhelmingly outperformed his peers in the O&#8217;s rotation. If there is a path back to contention this season, it starts with Sugano&#8217;s sustained impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">If the season continues to fall apart, well, at least Sugano can provide meaningful value as a trade chip. He may end up as the only real positive in an otherwise dour campaign for the Orioles.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">At 35 years old, Sugano&#8217;s longevity and his ability to keep offenses in check without put-away stuff deserves commendation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">His arsenal is predicated almost entirely on finesse, and right now, his ability to deliver wins \u2014 Baltimore is 5-4 in games Sugano starts \u2014 is the only thing keeping the O&#8217;s clinging to life in the American League&#8217;s toughest division.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baltimore&#8217;s season has been a total nightmare, but one underrated free agent signing has provided the slimmest of silver linings. Adley Rutschman, Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore Orioles |&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>REPORT NEWS: This free agent signing is quietly saving the Orioles season - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=55728\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REPORT NEWS: This free agent signing is quietly saving the Orioles season - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Baltimore&#8217;s season has been a total nightmare, but one underrated free agent signing has provided the slimmest of silver linings. 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