Right-hander Casey Kelly has re-signed with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. Kelly will receive a base salary of $1.2MM, with a further $300K available in incentives. The Twins also signed Adam Plutko a few days ago, bringing them up to the maximum of two foreign pitchers. As Yoo points out, this means they will not be bringing back left-hander Andrew Suarez.
Kelly was a highly-touted youngster, being a first-round draft pick of the Red Sox in 2008. Boston gave Kelly a bonus of $3MM, which was a franchise record at the time. He quickly came to be considered one of the top prospects in the game, appearing on Baseball America’s Top 100 for four consecutive seasons from 2010 to 2013 and headlining the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox.
The righty made his debut with the Padres in 2012 but had to be shut down due to Tommy John surgery after just six starts. He eventually made it back to the big leagues for brief stints with San Diego in 2015 and Atlanta in 2016, but with uninspiring results. He then had a nice showing with the Giants in 2018, logging an ERA of 3.04 over 23 2/3 innings.
That run with the Giants was enough to pique the interest of the LG Twins, who brought Kelly to Korea for 2019. Since then, Kelly has got into a groove and thrived, spurring rumors each year that he would be considering a return to MLB. In 2019, he threw 180 1/3 innings over 29 starts, putting up an ERA of 2.55. In 2020 and 2021, his ERA slipped just over 3.00, but he still made at least 28 starts and threw over 170 innings in each campaign. In total, over the three seasons with the Twins, he’s thrown 525 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.96. That sort of consistent production has drawn the attention of MLB teams, but the 32-year-old is staying in Korea for a fourth straight season.
As for Suarez, he will no longer have a place on the Twins’ roster. The southpaw was a second-round pick of the Giants in 2015 and made his MLB debut in 2018. He made 29 starts that year and logged 160 1/3 innings with an ERA of 4.49. 2019 was a bit of a setback, as he bounced between Triple-A and the big leagues, with an ERA close to 6.00 at each level. With 2020’s shortened MLB campaign and canceled minor league season, he was frequently optioned and only got to throw 9 2/3 innings.
He signed with the LG Twins for 2021 and seemed to get back on track, appearing in 23 games, 22 of them starts, with an ERA of 2.18 and 126 strikeouts over 115 1/3 innings. Despite that strong showing, the club has seemingly moved on to Plutko, which leaves Suarez available to pursue other opportunities. Given that Suarez is just 29 years old and coming off a strong campaign, he should garner plenty of interest from other clubs.
Wonder if Suarez could be a low-risk, low-cost signing for an MLB team given how fast the main free agent pitchers signed. Could be signed to a minor league deal on a team like the Reds, Pirates, Rays, or Diamondbacks where he’d have a decent chance to crack the majors.
Rizzo turned out to be the only one in that trade to live up to the hype.
Not only that trade, but the subsequent trade that the Padres made netted nothing of value. Andrew Cashner (28-43 5 seasons 608 innings) was mostly a bust although he was a gamer and volunteered to pinch run, etc…
I get all excited when I see “Twins” in the headlines.
The KBO twins have signed more players this off-season than the Minnesota twins.
and only one of them now have to replace the amazing production of future HoFer Rob Refsnyder.
*inner circle HoFer
Good for Casey Kelly having success overseas. And good for the outflux of talent to the leagues in other countries. If the minor leagues are going to continue underpaying players then I think as many as can leave should leave. If the major leagues don’t want to see a mass exodus to foreign leagues then they need to straighten out his mess. Sure, there are limits to how many can leave but maybe this is a strong enough message to MLB.
I think Casey Kelly would have probably got a major league deal with his recent success overseas if there was not a lockout going on MLB. I can think of half a dozen teams he could probably help right now. MLB seems content on just making money and not keeping the best competition on the field. All I ever here is talk of expansion when there are 3-4 players on almost every roster as there is that probably should be playing in AAA. Then there is the fact several teams essentially have almost no fan base. Good for Casey Kelly taking the guaranteed money.
I agree with you on the fan base thing but it seems to be location, location, location. Florida just doesn’t support Major League Baseball enough to warrant two teams. Other places support their teams when they’re good like Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, but those teams are pretty bad right now. I think there are more than enough teams but some need to be moved.
Then there’s the whole pitcher thing. 5 inning starters and 1 inning relievers over 162 game season. You need 6 or 7 starters and at least 12 to 15 relievers just to get through the season.
And they were thinking of moving the mound back?
Baseball is run by really stupid people.
@why. I used to live about 3 hours from the Royals stadium which was the closest for about the first 40 years of my life. When they were going to the World Series in 2014-2015 I seen more people wearing Royals hats than ever before in my area. I’ve lived about a 4 hour drive from Coors field for severest years now and have yet to see anyone wearing a Rockies hat or merchandise of any kind on anybody’s house or vehicles. I think Omaha would be a great location for a MLB team. They always draw big crowds for the college World Series and there’s a lot of wealth in that area.
Yes Fred, I don’t get the Rockies at all. People would rather be outside running, hiking, biking, skiing, etc. than sitting in a ballpark. Omaha sounds intriguing, I’ve only passed through once.
I went to one Royals game years ago. My friend explained that they built the field to drain super fast so they wouldn’t have rainouts because the fans came from all over and some from pretty far away.
I remember being in Baltimore years ago and spotting Frank Cashen walking to the game with his wife. Another great baseball town.
Perhaps if the MLBPA actually cared about the majority of professionals within their own industry (i.e. minor leagues) and not just the wealthy majority (i.e MLB), that lines their pockets, things might change.
It’s hard to compare baseball to non-sport professions. Part of the issue is the high number of people trying to be MLB players and the low number of people who actually get there. You’d think that would be a factor and it is in terms of average MLB salaries. The entertainment business has a similar situation, all but the famous are waiting tables and such.
If the major leagues don’t want to see a mass exodus to foreign leagues then they need to straighten out his mess.
==================================
Guys like Kelly leaving don’t even register on the radar for the MLB. On a net basis, it probably makes no difference is Sawamura is in the US and Kelly in Japan, or vice versa.
Phillies should go for Suarez.
Ranger worked out, why not?
Seriously though, Andrew could be exactly the bridge starter they need .
Either that or he could be the #2 guy on the Orioles staff …..
KBO sometimes turns out to be the change of scenery players need. Flexen is vastly improved since going over and returning.
Kelly won’t return without a MLB contract and those aren’t being given out during lockout days.
Andrew Suarez should have his agent check back with the San Francisco Giants.
And the Minnesota Twins