The free-agent market in Major League Baseball may be crawling along at an all-time slow pace, but there are plenty of recognizable former big league names landing contracts overseas. Here’s the latest group of names signing (or re-signing, in some cases) contracts in Nippon Professional Baseball and in the Korea Baseball Organization…
- Former Tigers outfielder Steven Moya is headed to Japan on a one-year deal with the Chunichi Dragons, as Emily Waldon of The Athletic and 2080ball.com (Twitter link). The Jackson Management Group client was long considered one of the Tigers’ more promising farmhands but struggled in multiple big league auditions from 2014-16, hitting .250/.293/.452 in 133 plate appearances. The 26-year-old Moya struggled in Double-A and Triple-A this season but hit .284/.310/.501 in Triple-A as recently as 2016.
- The KBO champion Kia Tigers announced that they’ve re-signed right-hander Hector Noesi, outfielder Roger Bernadina and left-hander Pat Dean to 2018 contracts (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Noesi will earn $2MM with the Tigers next year, while Bernadina will earn $1.1MM and Dean will take home $925K. Noesi, 30, struggled through nearly 400 MLB innings from 2011-15 but has carved out a niche for himself as a high-quality starter in Korea, where he’s posted consecutive 200-inning seasons with a 3.44 ERA and a better than 3-to-1 K/BB ratio. Bernadina, who spent parts of six seasons with the Nationals, belted 27 homers with a .913 OPS last year in the KBO. Dean, a former Twins third-round pick who pitched 67 innings for Minnesota in 2016, pitched to a 4.14 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 in 176 innings out of the Tigers’ rotation in 2017.
- Former MLB infielder Jimmy Paredes has a deal with the KBO’s Doosan Bears (also per Yoo). The 29-year-old will take home an $800K bonus in his first KBO season. Paredes hit .251/.286/.369 in parts of six big league seasons between the Astros, Orioles, Royals, Phillies and Blue Jays from 2011-16 before latching on with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last season. Paredes struggled in his first run through NPB, but he’ll hope to more closely replicate his lifetime .301/.338/.461 Triple-A batting line in his first season with the Bears in 2018.
Lol, I thought y’all spelled padres wrong for a second
no mention of paredes
… you’re trash
Ok calm down Mr. tough guy
You saying that makes everyone on here think that if you. You’re a turd.
I could not agree more, but I will not stoop to customcrowns level of name calling, as it just shows his level of maturity and blatant disrespect.
HOWEVER, I strongly suggest he read my comment further below, for a bit of perspective, before he decides to comment after another temper tantrum…
Jimmy Paredes must have signed in Japan too
Pat Dean/Paredes typo perhaps?
Wow that Pineda – Montero swap went terrible for Seattle. Noesi had an E.R.A above 6 in Seattle and Montero had a .668 OPS with the Mariners and couldn’t lay off the ice cream.
I almost forgot to mention that Montero also couldn’t lay off the steroids either.
Yeah, they did him a world of good.
Sorry on the Paredes snafu and the fact that the post just cut off mid-sentence on Pat Dean. There was some weird glitch on our back-end where it published an incomplete draft of this post that I started earlier in the day rather than the finished version. Not sure what on Earth caused that.
No real reason to apologize. You all do great work here, and are countless members’ go to site for any baseball rumors and transactions.
Mistakes are bound to happen, and for those commenters being rude and ridiculous, I truly and strongly challenge you to find a better all-encompassing site for baseball rumors, reports, interviews, and transactions..I can PROMISE you, you won’t find one, so show a little respect, and stop trying to take every little, petty, and irrelevant shot at a group of people that are providing you with a huge favor…Not to mention a FREE one at that!!
Well said and 100% agree!!
^this
Agreed! Well said.
No one here seems to like Moya much? I thought he was gonna he huge he was a spring training bruiser and a high prospect sad he didn’t amount to anything… yet
I have a feeling he’s going to crush it this season and have a huge year to kickstart his new career overseas.
Steven Moya has proven that he is stubbornly immune to instruction. Worse, he blames just about anyone and anything for his poor performance.
Looks like a monster but has a terrible glove. His bat could have made up for that but not here in the States.
I do remember that Tigers fans really did seem to think Moya was going to be a stud despite the huge red flags in his minor league profile. I’m a Padres fan and many of us have been saying the same sorts of things about Hunter Renfroe. I think Renfroe’s bust potential is high for the same reasons Moya busted – atrocious defense and very poor plate discipline. We’ll see on Renfroe, but he definitely looks like a quad-A guy to me.
With that power, Moya will be a stud in that league.