South Korean left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang has ended negotiations with his previous KBO team, the Kia Tigers, and is committed to landing a major league contract, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The Tigers had reportedly made Yang, 33 in March, a multi-year offer to return, notes Yoo, but he’ll instead continue to pursue an MLB deal.
Yang’s agent In-gook Choi told Yoo earlier this month his client was only interested in a guaranteed major league contract, saying he “(wouldn’t) take a split deal.” That’s no longer the case, as Yoo reports Yang would now be open to any contract that guarantees him a 40-man roster spot, even if he’ll have to start the 2021 season in the minors.
Finding a spot on a team’s 40-man could still prove to be a tough task, as Yang’s coming off a disappointing 2020. Last season, he pitched to a 4.70 ERA over 172.1 innings, a far cry from his brilliant 2.29 mark the season before. Perhaps more worrisome, Yang’s swing-and-miss and control seemingly both went in the wrong direction last season. The southpaw’s strikeout rate dropped over two percentage points (20% in 2020, down from 22.2% in 2019), while his walk rate nearly doubled (up to 8.6% in 2020 from 4.5% in 2019).
Last year’s numbers belie Yang’s much stronger career track record. In fourteen KBO seasons, all with the Tigers, Yang has compiled a 3.83 ERA with a 19.8% strikeout rate against a 9.4% walk rate.
Good luck getting a major league contract with those numbers in a league typically considered between Double-A and Triple-A in terms of talent. I’d be surprised if anybody even wanted him on minor league contract.
Yeah his numbers don’t look too impressive. Add to that the fact that he will soon be 33 and the odds certainly seem to be against him.
I expect a rebuilding team to offer him a 1 year deal, see what he can do and if he is successful then flip him at the trade deadline. Win/win
Sounds like he got his feelings hurt in negotiations. Probably should’ve took the multi year offer in his home country. Now he’d prefer to ride a bus in the minor leagues? Doesn’t make much sense. I doubt he will get paid enough to haul a interpreter around with him.
Giants should check him out. What else do they have to lose?
Yeah he seems like a minor league signing for the giants if he is willing. The giants need left handedness and if he can run the gauntlet of the pcl he would be worth a callup
I’m not sure any team is going to pick him up. He’s 32 and as many of stated Korea is like AA. If his numbers that he has are like that in AA, I’m not sure he’ll be a good piece for a team. Could be a depth piece, or a RP.
Yeah it seems like this would be a minor league deal. Not sure who would be interested in giving up a 40 man spot
Minor league deal with a spring training invitation. Why not?
Why did his agent start out making such unattainable demands? Even the most talented Cubans usually have to spend time in the minors, so why would a crappy pitcher in a crappy league think he was above it?
Only other Korean pitchers in the league right now, Kwang-hyun Kim and Hyun-jin Ryu went straight to the show. Ryu had way better KBO numbers though and was younger. Kim’s also in his thirties, had a career 3.27 ERA in the KBO compared to Yang’s 3.83. Its an offensive league too, so I’d cut him a little slack for that, but still its kind of a stretch for him to insist on MLB only. Seems like he is re-adjusting his demands accordingly because the market is telling him thats not going to happen.
Especially because his timing is horrible too, he’s trying to come over in his age 33 season, he just had a bad year, the SP market has looked weak for FA, and many teams don’t want to spend much this year. Some rebuilding team might as well take a flier on him on a split contract.
Philly
I thought the same thing. Roll the dice
yeah. split deal one year league min. nice incentive package. maybe add an option if he wants.
Worth a shot since Philly had 0 lefty starters until signing Matt Moore and he’s not really a guaranteed shot either.
Who’s going to break the bad news to Yang?
Learn to code, kid.
I think we have to remember that the KBO is a hitters league, not a pitchers league. A minor league contract with an invite to spring training is not out of the question.
Excellent point. Korean chicks dig the long ball too.
I would think, with the usual risk/reward caveat, that he can score a split contract somewhere. If flippin’ Matt Moore can get a deal, Yang is a definite possibility for any pitching-short (and there’s a ton of them) team.
Kei Igawa 2.0
While AA/AA the KBO is a really offensive league. His numbers are like pitching in the PCL.
So if you aren’t bumping a genuine prospect off the 40 man or have room, it makes sense on a low base contract.
Angels should sign him on a 1 year contract
He had some pretty good starts this past season but Kia’s manager Matt Williams would just leave him in as long as possible as to avoid an awful bullpen. He was usually good for giving up a 2run hr in the 7th, thus spoiling a quality start
The Tigers should sign him.
The Pittsburgh Pirates could be a good fit and he could get a major league deal since Kohl Stewart has gotten major League deals two offseasons in a row
I can’t see him landing a major league deal
Seems like bad timing on his part. He’s coming off a down season, while trying to enter MLB for the first time only weeks before spring training camps open and with teams dragging their feet on signing pitchers. It’s an environment that contributed to Tanaka, a quality MLB starter, to return to Japan.
The negatives: He’s 33, no MLB track record, coming off a down year, and he’s only 6’, which is short for a MLB starter. On the plus side, he’s a lefty, and he’s a workhorse. MLB teams will need arms that can give innings in 2021 as all pitchers had reduced workloads in 2020. Not so for Yang. He started over 30 games and pitched 170+ innings last year. He does that every year. That could be his biggest selling point.
If I was in his shoes, I’d go back to Korea, put up a good season, and try again after 2021 when the market should be better. For a guy making seven figures in Korea, he may be quite disappointed in the offers he gets.
He’s durable and the Pirates need a durable pitcher. He might not be the best, but if he’s a 4.0-4.5 ERA pitcher in the majors who can give you 180 innings and 6 innings an outing, I’ll easily take that.
Slow news day baseball-wise