Chicago Cubs, Seiya Suzuki agree to five-year, $85M deal, source confirms

The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a five-year, $85 million contract with star Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

Suzuki met with the Cubs front office and team chairman Tom Ricketts on Monday night before agreeing to the deal, the source said.

It's the highest salary for a Japanese position player coming to Major League Baseball and the second largest behind Masahiro Tanaka's $155 million contract with the New York Yankees.

The 27-year-old Suzuki joins the Cubs after playing nine seasons for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Nippon Professional Baseball. He hit .319 with 38 homers and 88 RBIs in 2021 and has a .315 career average with 182 homers and 562 RBIs.

The Athletic was first to report financial terms of Suzuki's deal.

Suzuki won the 2019 Central League batting title, is a four-time All-Star and is a three-time Gold Glove winner. He also won Japan's home run derby in 2019.

He was originally posted by Hiroshima on Nov. 22, but bidding for his services had been paused by the lockout.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.