Question: What’s going on with Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez? From: Kent Sanders
Answer: Kent, yours is a very popular question. Many readers, including John Kazlo, Stan Carter, Phil Cooke, Keith Offredo and Robert Whitmore, are eager to know about the Orioles’ interest in Valdez and Suárez, which appears to be continuing.
Valdez, Suárez, Tatsuya Imai and Zac Gallen seem to be the top four starters on the free-agent market. Imai must sign by Friday or else he’ll pitch in Japan in 2026.
The guess here is that Valdez and Suárez will sign after Imai. Suárez, Imai and Gallen are all clients of Scott Boras, who negotiated a seven-year, $210 million contract for Dylan Cease with Toronto.
We don’t know exactly who the other players are for the four starters, but I’m sure the Orioles are interested, and perhaps there’ll be some quick movement after Imai signs with a team this week.
Question: Is it feasible to perhaps re-sign Tomoyuki Sugano and use him to help lure Imai to Baltimore before his posting window closes? From: Kory Fargo
Answer: Kory, I don’t think the Orioles will re-sign Sugano, especially now that Zach Eflin is coming back. Sugano and Imai never played on the same team. I’m not sure they know each other. Last year, when Sugano signed, he was asked about the Orioles signing Roki Sasaki, and he said he didn’t know him.
Actually, Imai played on the Seibu Lions with Dietrich Enns in 2023 and 2024, but I’m not sure if Enns has tried to get Imai to sign with the Orioles.
Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style