After trading away the team’s top hitter in Tommy Pham during the winter of 2019, the Tampa Bay Rays made some waves when they secured a contract with free agent Japanese slugger, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, with the offset salary.
Tsutsugo had played the previous ten years as a member of the Yokohama Bay Stars, with whom he hit .285/.382/.528 with 205 homeruns over 968 games played. During the peak of his performance with Yokohama, Tsutsugo was among the top players in Nippon Professional Baseball on a regular basis.
At the time of the signing, there wasn’t a clear spot for Tsutsugo on their roster, but the team believed in his offensive capabilities enough that they’d plug him into their lineup.