Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/3/21: Tomoyuki Sugano, Ross Detwiler, Legacy Square, Paul Westphal

Happy Sunday! It’s the final day of the NFL regular season, which always feels like a turning point around here. The 40 in 40s are cued up for next week, we’re starting in on our prospect rankings for 2021, and the countdown to Spring Training is on.

In Mariners news:

• MLB Pipeline listed one prospect who will debut in 2021 for each team, and you’ll never guess who it is! No, I’m lying, you’ll totally guess. But click on the story anyway and take a peek around the AL West to see what kind of competition is coming down the, er, pipeline. I think there’s a good chance Kelenic is the best out of all of them.
• That is it for Mariners news today. I couldn’t even scrape any interesting content off a player’s Instagram, that’s how bottom of the barrel we are today. Hopefully things will pick up again now that we’re post-holiday and the hot stove will ideally warm back up.

Around the league:

• The next big international free agent domino to fall? Hochi News (link if you can read Japanese) reports that Japanese RHP Tomoyuki Sugano is currently in the US and meeting with his agent to evaluate final offers from MLB clubs. Per Jon Morosi, the Mets, Jays, and Giants are all in the running.

• Morosi also reports that the Dodgers remain interested in D.J. LeMahieu, perhaps even more so now that division rival San Diego has single-handedly lit a Viking-sized hot stove, strapped it to A.J. Preller’s back, and started the climb up Mount Playoffs.
• Possible landing spots for former Mariner Alex Colome include the Astros, Red Sox, Nationals and Twins, per Robert Murray, who notes that Colome worked with current Twins manager Rocco Baldelli while in Tampa Bay. Anywhere but the Astros, please; I have fond memories of Colome as a Mariner and would prefer not to tarnish them.
• The Marlins have signed veteran lefty Ross Detwiler to a one-year MLB deal. Since the Marlins’ 40-man is full, that means they’ll have to make a cut off their roster, which has the potential to be a more interesting name than Ross Detwiler.
• Former Pirate (and Blue Jay, and Diamondback) Socrates Brito has signed an MiLB deal with the Yankees.
• Pinstripe Alley examined a possible fit for former Angel Matt Shoemaker in the Bronx.
• It’s your ballot and you can do whatever you want with it but man, waiting ten years and then submitting a blank ballot?

• Years after the controversial removal and auctioning off of seven bronze statues honoring Negro League greats in “Legacy Square” in PNC Park in Pittsburgh, the team will be “rebooting” Legacy Square to pay homage to the rich tradition of Negro League baseball in Pittsburgh.

In other Seattle sports news:

RIP to Paul Westphal, NBA Hall of Famer who played for the Sonics in 1980-81 and returned to coach the team from 1998-2001.