Report: Red Sox being 'aggressive' in pursuit of Japan's Tomoyuki Sugano

The Boston Red Sox need pitching help -- there's no denying it. Apparently, the club's search for depth is going overseas. 

The Red Sox reportedly "intend to be aggressive in their pursuit" of Japan's Tomoyuki Sugano, who was posted by the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball league Tuesday morning, according to  Sean McAdam of Boston Sports Journal. Any Major League Baseball team can sign the right-hander by paying a release fee to the Giants.

Boston's pursuit of Sugano won't be easy. According to MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and New York Yankees also have shown interest in the long-time Yomiuri pitcher. 

Sugano has been one of Japan's best pitchers since 2013, when he joined the Giants at 23 years old. He won the Sawamura Award, which is equivalent to MLB's Cy Young Award, in 2017 and 2018. Last season, he went 14-2 with a 1.97 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 131 strikeouts over 137.1 innings. 

In his analysis of Sugano, Morosi compares the 31-year-old to Kenta Maeda and Masahiro Tanaka, while also suggesting that he could be the second-best arm on the market behind Trevor Bauer. 

Boston will be without Chris Sale to start the 2021 season and could use another arm to bolster its rotation despite that. Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Tanner Houck and Nick Pivetta project to be starters next season, unless the Red Sox acquire another arm to push one of those guys to the bullpen. 

The Red Sox also have been linked to Bauer, Corey Kluber, Matt Shoemaker and J.A. Happ, among others.