Padres' Seiya Suzuki: Expected to sign with Padres

Suzuki is expected to join the Padres on a five-year, $70 million deal, Yahoo Japan reports.

Suzuki will join fellow countryman Yu Darvish in San Diego and represents the team's second major acquisition out of Asia in the last two years, as the Padres also landed Ha-Seong Kim out of South Korea last winter. Kim struggled with the transition to MLB pitching as a rookie, but while it's impossible to say for sure whether or not Suzuki will have similar difficulties, he's at least coming from a league that sits closer to MLB in talent level. Suzuki has been one of Japan's best players for the last several seasons and is coming off a year in which he hit .317/.433/.639 with 38 homers while playing strong defense in right field, so there's plenty of reason to be optimistic for his stateside debut.