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KBO’s KT Wiz Re-Sign William Cuevas

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The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced they have re-signed right-hander William Cuevas (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). The deal comes with a $900K guarantee, with an additional $100K available in incentives.

Cuevas, 29, pitched in parts of three MLB seasons with the Red Sox and Tigers, although he combined for only 22.1 innings at the highest level. He’d typically been on hand as high minors starting pitching depth between 2015-18. Cuevas is probably most well-known for his time with the Red Sox, who originally signed him out of Venezuela a decade ago. In addition to Detroit and Boston, Cuevas briefly pitched in the Marlins’ system, although he never made the big leagues with Miami.

Cuevas made the jump to Korea after the 2018 season. In his first season with the Wiz, he tossed 184 passable innings. His 3.62 ERA ranked 14th among 27 qualifiers, per MyKBO Stats, while his 17.8% strikeout rate (11th) and 8.3% walk rate (22nd) were more serviceable than remarkable. Nevertheless, the Wiz were evidently encouraged enough to commit one of their three roster spots available for foreign-born players to Cuevas in 2020.

Nick Kingham Signs With KBO’s SK Wyverns

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Right-hander Nick Kingham has signed with SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic reports. The deal comes with a $500K salary, a $200K signing bonus and a $200K option, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.

The 28-year-old Kingham is best known for his tenure with the Pirates, who chose him in the fourth round of the 2010 draft. Kingham eventually became a top 100 prospect, but the 6-foot-5 hurler has fallen flat in the majors since debuting in 2018. Across 131 2/3 innings in the bigs divided between Pittsburgh and Toronto, Kingham has managed a less-than-stellar 6.08 ERA/5.58 FIP with 7.86 K/9, 3.49 BB/9 and a 39.5 percent groundball rate.

The soft-tossing Kingham, who has averaged less than 92 mph on his fastball, has been better in Triple-A ball. Kingham has posted a 4.00 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over 297 frames at that level. He’ll now try to outdo those figures and rebuild his stock in Korea.

Adrian Sampson Signs With KBO’s Lotte Giants

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NOVEMBER 25: Sampson has formally been granted his release to pursue the KBO opportunity, the Rangers announced. Texas’ 40-man roster now sits at 39 players.

NOVEMBER 20: The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization are set to sign Rangers right-hander Adrian Sampson, Naver Sports reports (hat tip to Levi Weaver of The Athletic). The deal comes with a $500K salary and a $339,700 signing bonus, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.

The 28-year-old Sampson has been a member of multiple MLB organizations since the Pirates used a fifth-round pick on him in 2012. He went to the Mariners in a 2015 trade for left-hander J.A. Happ, though the M’s cut ties with Sampson after 2016, leading the Rangers to claim him off waivers.

Sampson, then recovering from elbow surgery, didn’t pitch in the majors in his first year with the Rangers. However, the majority of his innings have come at the MLB level since then. While Sampson amassed all 125 1/3 innings of his 2019 frames as part of Texas’ staff, he could only muster a 5.89 ERA/5.69 FIP despite playable strikeout and walk rates of 7.25 and 2.59 per nine. Sampson has enjoyed more success preventing runs in Triple-A ball, where he owns a 4.11 ERA with 6.5 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 over 398 2/3 innings.

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Re-Sign Eric Jokisch

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Former Cubs lefty Eric Jokisch has re-signed with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, per an announcement from the Heroes (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). He can earn up to $700K on the one-year deal.

Now 30 years of age, Jokisch only appeared in one MLB season — when he posted a 1.88 ERA in 14 1/3 innings with Chicago back in 2014 — but had a track record of solid performances in the upper minors before heading to South Korea last offseason. Jokisch’s first year with the Heroes was a strong one, as he pitched 181 1/3 innings of 3.13 ERA ball with 7.0 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9.

Since Jokisch is only re-upping on a one-year deal, he’ll be a name worth keeping an eye on over the course of the 2020 campaign. It’s become increasingly common for fringe big leaguers who find success in the KBO or in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to use those leagues as a launching pad for a second chance in MLB. Eric Thames, Miles Mikolas, Chris Martin and Merrill Kelly have all done so in recent years, and righty Josh Lindblom is looking to add his own name to that list this winter.

Korea’s NC Dinos Sign Aaron Altherr, Mike Wright

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The NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed outfielder Aaron Altherr and right-hander Mike Wright, Naver Sports reports (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Both players will earn an $800K salary and a signing bonus of $200K. Altherr and Wright will make up two of the Dinos’ three allotted foreign players in 2020.

The 28-year-old Altherr will try to rebuild his stock overseas after a brutal 2019 divided among the Phillies, Giants and Mets. Altherr amassed a combined 66 plate appearances in those stops and batted a miserable .082/.136/.164 with one home run. It was the second straight rough year at the major league level for Altherr, a ninth-round pick of the Phillies in 2009 who looked like a potential building block for the team just a couple years ago. In 2017, his best season in the majors, Altherr slashed a strong .272/.340/.516 with 19 homers in 412 trips to the plate.

Wright, meanwhile, hasn’t had much success at the game’s highest level since entering the pros as a third-rounder of the Orioles in 2011. The 29-year-old has only pitched to a 6.00 ERA/5.22 FIP with 7.26 K/9 and 3.45 BB/9 in 258 MLB innings, including 29 1/3 frames between the O’s and Mariners in 2019. But Wright has performed well in Triple-A ball, where he has posted a 3.76 ERA and logged 6.9 K/9 against 2.45 BB/9 across 447 2/3 innings.

Hanwha Eagles Re-Sign Chad Bell

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The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization have re-signed left-hander Chad Bell, the club announced (h/t to Yonhap News Agency). It’s a one-year deal for the 30-year-old, who receives a $900,000 guarantee.

It’s a decent payday for the former Detroit Tigers southpaw, who finished twelfth among 27 qualified KBO starters in 2019 with a 3.50 ERA, per MyKBO Stats. That placed him one spot above Warwick Saupold, another former Detroit pitcher who reunited with Bell as an Eagle last season. The two will remain teammates, as Saupold himself signed a one-year extension with the Eagles two weeks ago. Per Yonhap’s report, the KBO team is also working to bring back former Rangers outfielder Jared Hoying. If that ultimately proves successful, the Eagles will return all three of their foreign-born players in 2020.

Bell is a former 14th-round MLB draft pick who got into 31 games (4 starts) for Detroit from 2017-18. He had a tough go in MLB, pitching to a cumulative 7.11 ERA in 69.2 innings, but he was generally fine in parts of five Triple-A seasons. He’ll now look to build off his solid KBO debut that featured 177.1 innings with the aforementioned 3.50 ERA and a 17.9% strikeout rate (10th among qualifiers) and an 8.4% walk rate (24th).

Hanwha Eagles Re-Sign Warwick Saupold

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With apologies to Warwick Saupold fans, the time isn’t yet right for a stateside return. The Aussie hurler has agreed to another year with Korea’s Hanwha Eagles, as Yonhap news reports.

Saupold will take home $1.2MM in total earnings, with the possibility of another $100K in incentives. That’s a nice payday for the former Tigers right-hander, who received 82 MLB relief appearances over three seasons but never entrenched himself on the Detroit roster.

As we noted recently, Saupold was among the former big leaguers that found success in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2019. Though he carried a less-than-exciting combination of 6.3 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9, he was able to keep the long ball in check (8 home runs) and produce strong results all year long. Saupold spun 192 1/3 frames of 3.51 ERA ball for the Eagles.

Former Big Leaguers Playing Abroad: KBO Hitter Roundup

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It’s always fun to keep an eye on familiar players who’ve taken their talents across the pond. Now that the 2019 season is in the books, it seemed an opportune time to check in. Numerous former big leaguers are playing abroad, many of them thriving in Asia’s top leagues.

We’ve seen foreign stints help spur big league revivals from quite a few players. Eric Thames, Miles Mikolas, and Chris Martin are among those that played significant roles in the 2019 MLB campaign. Whether any of the players covered below will do so remains to be seen, but there’s certainly a path.

Let’s start with the Korea Baseball Organization, the top league in South Korea. Remember, teams in the KBO and other leagues face limits on the number of non-native players they can employ. That creates a lot of pressure to secure big production from those roster spots, and often spurs mid-season change. (Statistics courtesy of the always excellent MyKBO.)

The top performers …

  • Former Phillies slugger Darin Ruf marauded the KBO once again, though he wasn’t quite as awesome this year (.911 OPS, 22 home runs) as he was in 2018 (1.024 OPS, 33 home runs). After scoring with Ruf, the Samsung Lions went after Mac Williamson in a mid-season move. But Williamson failed to gain traction in his forty contests, hitting a tepid .273/.329/.409.
  • Several other hitters joined Ruf as repeat KBO participants and star-level performers. Outfielder Jamie Romak has also now completed three excellent campaigns with the SK Wyverns. Like Ruf, he took a step back this year (1.001 OPS to .878 OPS), likely reflecting a KBO baseball de-juicing effort.
  • After a brief but promising showing in 2018, Jerry Sands rewarded the Kiwoom Heroes for bringing him back by swatting 28 dingers and batting a robust .305/.400/.543 on the year. Jared Hoying wasn’t quite as productive, but turned in a solid sophomore campaign with the Hanwha Eagles (.284/.343/.460).
  • The KT Wiz continued to benefit from their 2017 find of outfielder Mel Rojas Jr., who never got a big-league call-up from the Pirates or Braves. He slashed a robust .322/.384/.530 with 24 homers in his third KBO season.

Several KBO newcomers found something in their new organizations …

  • Jose Miguel Fernandez took a difficult path to the majors and did not receive a lengthy opportunity at the game’s highest level, but displayed his intriguing blend of hitting ability with the Doosan Bears. Appearing in all 144 contests, Fernandez poked 15 long balls and slashed a hefty .344/.413/.483.
  • The KIA Tigers dropped former Cardinals flash-in-the-pan outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker after just eleven contests. That may have been a quick leash, but they ended up making out well with Preston Tucker. The former MLB reserve outfielder ultimately slashed .311/.382/.479 with nine home runs.

Other KBO organizations are likely to go back to the drawing board after cycling through multiple players …

  • Another team changing horses in mid-stream was the LG Twins, who tired of former Phillies first bagger Tommy Joseph after he slashed .274/.335/.426 with nine long balls in 54 games. The club turned to another OBP-challenged slugger in the left-handed-hitting Carlos Peguero, who provided a bit more overall offense (.286/.333/.472) but no additional dingers (9) in his 57 appearances.
  • Former Padres infielder Carlos Asuaje struggled in 49 games with the Lotte Giants, slashing just .252/.358/.368. He was replaced by Jacob Wilson, a former Cards and Nats farmhand, but Wilson wasn’t much more effective (.251/.352/.433 with nine home runs). (Wilson and Rojas were the only two hitters to appear in the KBO this year without prior MLB experience.)
  • The NC Dinos opened the year with Christian Bethancourt behind the plate, but he didn’t do enough damage to hang onto his roster spot, with a .246/.311/.404 line in 53 games. That led to a mid-season change to former big league outfielder Jake Smolinski. Unfortunately, he managed only a .229/.301/.439 slash of his own.

Mac Williamson Set To Join KBO Team

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The Korea Baseball Organization’s Samsung Lions appear to have a deal with outfielder Mac Williamson. Sung Min Kim of Fangraphs tweeted the news that a signing was imminent, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweeting that Williamson is heading out for his new gig today.

Williamson gets the call to head to the hitter-friendly KBO after failing to take advantage of his latest MLB opportunities and finally losing his 40-man roster status. After a brief stint with the Mariners, who claimed him from the Giants, Williamson cleared waivers and took up residence at Triple-A. For all his struggles in the majors, the 29-year-old Williamson is a .265/.343/.487 hitter in over a thousand Triple-A plate appearances.

It’s fun to foresee the bat-flipping highlights that are soon to come from the Samsung lineup, which already features former big league slugger Darin Ruf. Whether or not Williamson can carve out a similar path to earnings and notoriety remains to be seen, but he’ll have a good example to follow in Ruf, who is now in his third season as a Lions star.

As Kim notes, it’s quite rare for KBO clubs to carry two foreign-born position players. They typically use at least one of their slots on hard-to-find arms. In this case, Kim says, former MLB righty Justin Haley will be cut loose after struggling. The Lions still employ hurler Deck McGuire along with Ruf.

Korea’s NC Dinos Sign Christian Friedrich, Jake Smolinski

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6:10pm: Smolinski has been granted his release by the Rays, tweets Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times.

10:00am: Korea’s NC Dinos are engineering some mid-season changes to their slate of foreign players. The club has wrapped up a deal with the indy ball New Britain Bees to purchase the contract of lefty Christian Friedrich, as first reported by the ALPB News Twitter account (link).

It seems the Dinos have eyes on another former major leaguer as well. Outfielder Jake Smolinski, who has been playing with the Rays’ top affiliate, is nearing a deal with the KBO club, according to baseball writer Sung Min Kim (Twitter link).

Teams in the Korea Baseball Organization are limited to three foreign players, among other regulations on spending. Accordingly, the Dinos will need to part ways with some existing players to facilitate these moves. Former big leaguers Christian Bethancourt and Eddie Butler will evidently be released to make way.

Friedrich, 31, has thrown nearly three hundred MLB innings, but the former top-100 prospect hasn’t cracked the bigs since 2016. He sat out all of last season but had shown well in the Atlantic League, posting 63 frames of 3.00 ERA ball with one strikeout per inning and 2.1 BB/9.

As for the 30-year-old Smolinski, he faced a tough path up to the majors in Tampa Bay. But the five-year MLB veteran has been hitting well this season at Triple-A, where he carries a .270/.360/.504 slash with a dozen home runs in 286 plate appearances.

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