Carlos Correa, who hit a walkoff home run in Thursday night’s 4-3 win, added an RBI single. Baltimore Orioles Darren Holmes Fernando Abad Joe Panik New York Yankees Notes Tampa Bay Rays Tanner Roark Toronto Blue Jays Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, By Steve Adams | December 16, 2019 at 6:04pm CDT. opacity:.9; He has started six of the last 10 games and will head to the bench even with righty Austin Voth on the hill for Washington. Rays manager Kevin Cash will withhold several of his lefty-hitting regulars from the starting nine in the series finale while southpaw James Paxton takes the hill for the Yankees. The majority of Tsutsugo's off days this season have come against lefties, but he'll sit against right-hander Nathan Eovaldi in this one despite slugging his seventh home run as part of a 2-for-5 night Friday. As a player, he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series in 1981 against the New York Yankees. Altuve followed with a double into the left-field corner that brought in Springer, who might have been out if Brandon Lowe had thrown to the cutoff man instead of second base. Brandon Lowe will take over as the designated hitter with Mike Brosseau starting at second base and batting fifth. display:inline-block; An even distribution of Tsutsugo’s $12MM guarantee would put the team’s Opening Day payroll at about $70.7MM (not including the posting fee), which would check in a bit south of last season’s $76MM Opening Day mark. Thanks in part to his 2019 showing, MLBTR forecasts a two-year, $10MM payday in free agency for Castro, 32. “We’re hoping we can have a happy ending to this historic season and historic year.”, “This team’s battled back big time,” he added. A fractured right wrist and a strained oblique limited Encarnacion to only 109 games and 486 plate appearances in 2019, his lowest totals in either category since the 2010 season.  When Encarnacion was healthy, however, he still wielded a formidable bat, hitting .244/.344/.531 with 34 homers for the Mariners and Yankees.  Encarnacion turns 37 in January and would likely be used mostly as a DH in Toronto, owing to both his age, the Rogers Centre’s artificial surface, and the Jays’ desire to see what they have in first baseman Rowdy Tellez. Unfortunately, the pitch came across the zone a bit too high and Tsutsugo took full advantage as he was able to connect the barrel with he and send it soaring through the air towards left-center field. The ball landed three rows deep in the seats just to the left of the former Captain Morgan/Ducky’s/you-too-can-sponsor-this party deck, for a two run home run. His best season came back in 2016, when he launched a career-high 44 home runs and slashed .322/.430/.680. Manuel Margot homered twice and drove in three runs for the Rays. The Rays are looking at a variety of possibilities for improving their outfield mix, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). background:#ce1141; background:#ce1141; Led NPB with 44 HR and tied Sho Nakata of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for the NPB lead with 110 RBI…also ranked among NPB leaders in avg. More than a dozen Japanese reporters, mostly based in New York and Los Angeles, attended his introductory press conference, which was carried on live TV in Japan at 2:30 a.m...Six Rays staffers, including Kevin Cash and Erik Neander, discreetly slipped away from the Winter Meetings in San Diego this offseason to drive to Los Angeles and meet with Yoshi in person following an introductory phone call… the Rays presented a 20-page information guide on the team and Tampa Bay area…the group met at a facility owned by Nolan Arenado, who shares the same agent...When he makes his Rays debut, Tsutsugo will become the fourth Japanese-born player in franchise history, following Hideo Nomo (2005), Akinori Iwamura (2007-09) and Hideki Matsui (2012)…Iwamura is the only other Japanese-born player to begin his major league career with the Rays-he signed a three-year contract after playing with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows...Yoshi spent 10 seasons with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball Organization…following his signing with the Rays, Yokohama shared a 2-minute, 25-second farewell video on social media saying, "a samurai from Yokohama is making the move to Tampa Bay"…the number five in Kanji is pronounced 'go,' meaning the length of the video could be read as "two-two-go...The BayStars are known as one of the most progressive analytics-driven franchises in NPB… Yoshi believes he will benefit from this practice even more in the U.S., where data is more abundant and comprehensive...During his at-bats, Yoshi's home crowd would extend their arms and chant: "Up high into the sky of Yokohama, hit a home run, Tsutsugo! Over the 2016-19 seasons, he led NPB with 139 HR and ranked 3rd with 372 RBI…hit .293/ .401/.574 (566-for-1,931) over that stretch… he made the Central League All-Star Team in five consecutive years from 2015-19. Despite blowing a 3-0 series lead, they remain one win away from the second World Series in franchise history — and one loss from joining the 2004 Yankees in ignominy. Tsutsugo is not in the starting lineup against the Marlins on Saturday, Neil Solondz of the Rays Radio Network reports. Avisail Garcia Hunter Renfroe Marc Topkin Shogo Akiyama Tampa Bay Rays Tommy Pham Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, By Mark Polishuk | December 10, 2019 at 5:57am CDT. Behind the plate, the belief is that Jason Castro – one of the best catchers remaining on the open market – is at the top of the Tigers’ list, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. Aaron Judge Coronavirus New York Yankees Notes Tampa Bay Rays Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, By Mark Polishuk | February 20, 2020 at 4:51pm CDT, As Yankees righty Luis Severino gets some unwelcome news on his birthday, here’s the latest from around the AL East…, Anthony Alford Boston Red Sox Brandon Drury Derek Fisher Joe Panik Jonathan Lucroy Notes Rowdy Tellez Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, By Mark Polishuk | December 19, 2019 at 6:26pm CDT. Tsutsugo is out of the lineup Monday for Game 1 of the Rays' American League Divisional Series with the Yankees, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports. With the next pitch, Ryu was looking to go back to the low-and-away approach, but the ball curtailed out of his hand and drilled Tsutsugo in the right shoulder. Tsutsugo, who went 2-for-5 with a triple and a run while hitting out of the leadoff spot in Friday's win over the Orioles, is due for more work out of the top of the order in the wake of Austin Meadows' (oblique) placement on the injured list, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports. Houston also is trying to become the first team to win a pennant with a losing regular season record (29-31). DECEMBER 16: Tampa Bay has announced the signing. “I’ve been practicing with the coaches and we’ve been working on things every day,” Tsutsugo said, through Yoshitomo Tsutsugo understands that Spring Training stats don’t count, but the Japanese slugger felt good about hitting his first home run of the spring in just his second game. Snell allowed two runs and three hits in four-plus innings, struck out four and walked four. In fact, he has an OPS north of 1.000 over his last 15 games, collecting two doubles, four homers and more walks (11) than strikeouts (10) in that span. Garcia is, as previously rumored, one of the ongoing targets, per Sherman. opacity:1; He has yet to win a World Series as a manager. Tsutsugo is not in Wednesday's lineup against the Nationals. width:100%; I’ll put in my best tomorrow and drive more runs in.”, Anatomy of a home run: Yoshitomo Tsutsugo clubs his first MLB dinger, Charlie Morton is CFM, Randy Arozarena is a bad man, ALCS Game 7 Instant Reaction: DRaysBay Playoff Podcast Series. In the decisive Game 7 in 2017, McCullers started and went 2 1/3 scoreless innings while Morton pitched the final four innings for the victory. Tsutsugo homered Opening Day but then went 14 games without a long ball, with only one double in that span. Astros closer Ryan Pressly pitched for the third straight day and got three outs for his second save to go with a win in Game 5. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Baltimore Orioles James Paxton Ji-Man Choi Jose Iglesias New York Yankees Notes Richie Martin Tampa Bay Rays Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, By Mark Polishuk | May 10, 2020 at 10:27pm CDT. OF Yoshitomo Tsutsugo assigned to Leones del Escogido.