UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal is reporting the deal is for $85 million with the posting fee coming on top of that.
Japanese baseball star Seiya Suzuki has signed a five-year deal with the Chicago Cubs, according to two Japanese language news sites (sanspo.com and tokyo-sports.com.jp). NBC Sports Chicago personality David Kaplan followed up with his own report of the news. Two of the three reports have it at $70 million, while sanspo.com said it was for 10 billion yen, which converts to $84,526,500. That latter figure might include the posting fee a team pays for Japanese free agents.
The 26-year old Suzuki has played for Hiroshima since 2021. Last season, he had a slash line of .317/.433/.639 with 38 home runs and 88 RBIs. In nine seasons with Hiroshima, he has won five Golden Glove Awards and earned five NPB All-Star appearances. He has two batting titles to his credit and has been voted the Best Nine Award the last six straight seasons.
Suzuki joins and outfield that was projected to start Ian Happ in left field, Rafael Ortega in center field, and Jason Heyward in right field. Clint Frazier is the projected DH with the National League switching to a permanent DH rule.