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The story
The Cubs have offered free-agent outfielder Seiya Suzuki a qualifying offer (QO), according to U.S. media reports. The QO applies to players who completed a five-year contract and have never received one before; the amount — equal to the average salary of MLB’s top 125 earners — comes to roughly $23.15 million (about ¥3.65 billion) this year. Suzuki is seen as a strong candidate for a multi-year deal worth over $100 million (about ¥15.8 billion), so he’s widely expected to turn the offer down. The thread covered how the QO system isn’t really meant to retain the player — it’s built on the assumption he’ll reject it, letting his old team collect draft-pick compensation once he signs elsewhere — along with stat comparisons to Imanaga and Tucker, and speculation about where Suzuki might land in free agency.
Cubs give Seiya Suzuki a qualifying offer — worth ¥3.65 billion for one year, but rejection looks likely; contract near ¥15.8 billion predicted; decision deadline 6 a.m. JST on Nov. 18
Multiple U.S. media outlets reported on the 2nd (Nov. 3 Japan time) that free-agent outfielder Seiya Suzuki (32), who left the Cubs as a free agent, has received a qualifying offer (QO) from the club. The QO goes to players who spent a full season with the same team and have never received one before; it guarantees a one-year salary equal to the average of MLB’s top 125 salaries. This offseason that works out to $23.15 million (about ¥3.65 billion).
Suzuki has completed the five-year contract he signed in 2022 and is one of the most closely watched names on this offseason’s free-agent market. Since he’s in position to land a big multi-year deal, he’s unlikely to accept the QO. This season he hit .270 with 26 home runs and 86 RBI; over his career he’s hitting .269 with 113 home runs and 382 RBI. Several U.S. outlets are projecting a contract worth over $100 million (roughly ¥15.8 billion).
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
If he turns it down and signs elsewhere, the Cubs get a draft pick out of it — that's the whole point. It's an offer designed to be declined.
Guess that's the Carp pedigree for you — same team that produced Kuroda. (said with a Hiroshima-dialect flourish)
Though Maeken (Kenta Maeda) hasn't amounted to much lately.
Has it gotten harder for him now that PCA (Pete Crow-Armstrong) runs the outfield?
The front office already lost interest in re-signing him last year.
Re: #28 is probably the real goal here.
They'll probably lowball Imanaga with a stingy offer too.
Feels like management just doesn't think much of Japanese players.
And he's bad with the media too, which doesn't help him.
is there any upside for the player here? The whole thing's built around getting rejected.
Didn't Imanaga turn one down last year? Or am I misremembering?
I bet a guy secretly thinking "nobody really wants me, I might not get a good offer anyway" would just accept it, right?
It'll be the Phillies or the Blue Jays.
Personally I want him with the Phillies —
since Schwarber's locked in at DH, they could shift Harper back to first base and let Suzuki actually hold down right field full-time.
Hoping he finally wins a Gold Glove next year.
So they ask you "wanna extend at the average salary?" — basically "we don't rate you and have zero expectations, but here's a token extension anyway." That's pretty insulting.
Yeah, it's a system that only benefits the team.
The players' union wants it scrapped.
With the new labor deal, this might actually be the last year QOs exist.
mediocre across the board.
Reminder: he's still the best Japanese right-handed hitter ever.
Shinjo's bat was never this good. Suzuki looks reasonable if you benchmark him against Tucker (though that's only true using Tucker as the yardstick).
TV rights money gets pooled and split league-wide. Apparently 25 of the 30 teams are in the black.
Astros-era Tucker was clearly a tier above. But from his injury-plagued Cubs years onward, he's basically on the same level as Suzuki now — his defense has slipped too.
Would've loved to see the Ohtani-Suzuki buddy duo, but it's not happening.
They're not even close, actually.
Suzuki's complained that whenever he asks Shohei about baseball stuff, Ohtani won't tell him anything.
I doubt there's a lockout coming.
Even the Dodgers seemed to lose on purpose (to cool down the labor optics).
Popularity's already slipping as it is — why would they risk tanking it further now?
This year's free-agent class is thin on outfielders, so Suzuki's value is actually higher by hitting the market now.
Even with a lockout, there'd still be plenty of time to negotiate — last time was also a lockout year, but back then he came over via the posting system, which left a really tight window.
That created leverage concerns then, but this time he's a true free agent, so it doesn't apply.
Just a surreal world I'll never have any connection to.
Apparently MLB's total league revenue is around ¥1.9 trillion lol.
At current dollar-yen rates it might actually be past ¥2 trillion now.
Wish he'd just accept it like Imanaga did and stick it to them,
but I guess he probably wants out anyway.
Not even sure Imanaga's decision to stay was the right call anymore. With this year's numbers, a big contract might be out of reach.
Once you're past 30, MLB teams start treating you worse.
Wait, what?
This offer is built entirely on the assumption he'll reject it and leave — so the Cubs can collect a draft pick out of it.
he's basically a Matsui type anyway.
At the Giants he'd be pulling a ¥4 billion salary.
Background and key points of this discussion
A qualifying offer (QO) is a one-year contract a team offers a free agent whose future is uncertain, with the salary set at the average of MLB’s top 125 earners. If the player turns it down and signs elsewhere, his former team receives compensation in the form of draft picks — a system widely seen as skewed in favor of teams, which is why the players’ union has pushed to have it reformed. The “this is just harassment” take that came up in the thread misreads the system’s real purpose: in practice, it’s a routine procedural step aimed at star players who are expected — even assumed — to turn it down in favor of a bigger multi-year deal. Suzuki’s stats (.270, 26 HR, 86 RBI) drew mixed reactions when compared to Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Kyle Tucker, but there were plenty of positive takes too, citing his career numbers and his strength against left-handed pitching this season; posters also noted that a thin outfield class in this year’s free-agent market works in Suzuki’s favor.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[MLB] Cubs give Seiya Suzuki a qualifying offer — ¥3.65 billion for one year, but rejection looks likely.”
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