Carlos Peguero

Former Big Leaguers Playing Abroad: KBO Hitter Roundup

By Jeff Todd | October 8, 2019 at 7:11am CDT

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.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/9/16

By charliewilmoth | July 9, 2016 at 3:11pm CDT

Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

Veteran lefty Tom Gorzelanny has declined his outright assignment with the Indians and is now a free agent, the team has announced. The Indians designated Gorzelanny for assignment on Monday after he allowed seven runs in three innings for them. Gorzelanny, who turns 34 this week, has a career 4.40 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in parts of 12 seasons with the Pirates, Cubs, Nationals, Brewers and Tigers in addition to the Indians.
The Cardinals have announced that they’ve allowed outfielder Carlos Peguero to depart for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan. They will receive cash considerations in return. The 29-year-old Peguero has played with the Mariners, Royals, Rangers and Red Sox in parts of five big-league seasons, but has never stuck, accumulating just 319 career plate appearances. He’s shown big power in the minors, though, with 95 home runs and a .277/.346/.520 in the equivalent of about three full seasons at Triple-A.
The Rays have signed reliever Casey Coleman to a minor league deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Coleman opted out of his deal with the Mariners last week after posting a 2.08 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 39 strong innings with Triple-A Tacoma.
One of Coleman’s new Durham Bulls teammates is lefty Dana Eveland, who was designated for assignment this week. Via SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter), Eveland has accepted the Rays’ outright assignment. He posted an 8.55 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 6.8 BB/9 in 20 innings of relief with the Rays this season.
The Pirates have outrighted catcher Jacob Stallings, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Bill Brink tweets. The Bucs designated the defensive specialist for assignment last week. The 26-year-old has batted just .200/.235/.326 this season, but he received a brief callup because of a rash of injuries to Pirates catchers.

Cardinals Sign Carlos Peguero To Minors Deal

By Steve Adams | January 22, 2016 at 11:29am CDT

The Cardinals announced on Friday that they have signed outfielder Carlos Peguero to a minor league contract (via MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch, on Twitter). The Proformance client will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training.

Peguero, 29 next month, split the 2015 season between the Rangers and Red Sox organizations, seeing action in 30 games with Texas. Peguero batted just .186 in his 84 plate appearances with the Rangers, but he also posted a .310 on-base percentage and slugged .414 thanks to the fact that eight of his 13 hits went for extra bases (four doubles, four homers). Peguero is a legitimate power threat, as evidenced by his career .276/.345/.528 batting line at Triple-A. He belted 30 homers in the minors as recently as 2014 and hit a combined 25 between the Majors and Triple-A last season. Making consistent contact, however, is an issue for Peguero, who has punched out in 39.5 percent of his Major League plate appearances and has a 31.7 percent strikeout rate in parts of five Triple-A seasons.

Red Sox Outright Peguero; Japanese Team Interested

By Zachary Links | June 14, 2015 at 8:47am CDT

The Red Sox have outrighted outfielder Carlos Peguero to Triple-A Pawtucket, according to the MLB.com transactions page. However, he has yet to report and Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (on Twitter) hears rumblings that there may be a Japanese team interested in acquiring his rights.

Peguero, 28, was designated for assignment on June 4th in order to make room for the newly-added Alejandro De Aza. Peguero himself was a new addition for the Red Sox as Boston acquired him in late May from the Rangers. The Red Sox likely brought in Peguero to give them an additional left-handed bat in the outfield, but De Aza filled that need when he came aboard.

In total, Peguero saw only six big league plate appearances with Boston. He’s always had plenty of pop — as his 30 Triple-A home runs last year attest — but Peguero strikes out quite a bit while walking only at the league average. Now it remains to be seen whether Peguero will bring his big bat to the minors or to NPB.

As the MLBTR DFA Tracker shows, there are now eight players in DFA limbo: Rickie Weeks, J.C. Ramirez, Darwin Barney, Trevor Cahill, Erik Kratz, Bobby Wilson, Tim Stauffer, and Matt Dominguez.

Red Sox Designate Carlos Peguero

By Jeff Todd | June 4, 2015 at 2:31pm CDT

The Red Sox have designated outfielder Carlos Peguero for assignment, the club announced (via Tim Britton of the Providence Journal, on Twitter). His roster spot will go to the just-acquired Alejandro De Aza.

Boston added Peguero just over a week ago, and he saw only six plate appearances with his new club. He’s always had plenty of pop — as his 30 Triple-A home runs last year attest — but Peguero strikes out quite a bit while walking only at the league average. Still, his left-handed power bat holds reasonable appeal, though it remains to be seen whether another team will be inclined to give the out-of-options slugger an active roster spot

Red Sox Acquire Carlos Peguero

By Jeff Todd | May 27, 2015 at 4:50pm CDT

The Red Sox have acquired outfielder Carlos Peguero from the Rangers, Boston announced. Cash is headed back to Texas in the deal. Peguero, who had been designated for assignment by the Rangers last week, will join the Red Sox in Arlington for their upcoming weekend series against his former teammates.

Boston certainly does not appear in want of options in the outfield, but its current mix includes only one left-handed bat: Daniel Nava (a switch-hitter). It is conceivable — though far from certain — that the addition of Peguero could ultimately lead to a transaction involving Nava, though the team has alternative means of clearing active roster space in the near term.

Peguero, 28, brings poor on-base ability but strong power numbers to the table, as his .186/.310/.414 line this year suggests. He did hit 38 home runs at the Triple-A level last year, though he struck out over a third of the time on the way to that prodigious long ball output.

AL West Notes: Castillo, Jackson, Parker, Gonzalez, Pujols

By Steve Adams | May 20, 2015 at 10:24pm CDT

Though his role with the Cubs had diminished, Welington Castillo was still “shocked” to learn he’d been traded to the Mariners, he tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times: “I wasn’t expecting it. Now I’m here. It was a long day yesterday. Now I’m here and ready to go. I’m really excited to be here.” Castillo discusses the sometimes overlooked difficulty of being traded for a catcher, as he’s already been informed that he’ll be behind the dish for Thursday’s matinee, leaving him scarce time to get to know starter J.A. Happ, whom he’ll catch for the first time in his career. “I’m going to go and sit and watch video with him and go over the lineup, ask him, ‘what do you want to do, what do you like to do? What’s your first pitch? What’s your last pitch? What’s the pitch you throw behind in the count for a strike?’” Castillo is excited for the opportunity to play more, as even though he won’t be Seattle’s everyday option at catcher — that honor will still go to Mike Zunino — he should now pick up a couple of starts per week. With the Cubs, Castillo had just 47 plate appearances on the season.

Rangers Designate Carlos Peguero

By Jeff Todd | May 20, 2015 at 2:06pm CDT

The Rangers have designated outfielder Carlos Peguero for assignment, club executive VP of communications John Blake announced on Twitter.

The club needed a roster spot for righty Phil Klein, who will start tonight. But in the bigger picture, Peguero’s role — left-handed power bat at the outfield corner — will be taken over soon by Josh Hamilton.

Peguero, 28, has hit at about a league average clip — with marginal on-base numbers (.314 OBP) offset by good power output (.414 slugging percntage with four home runs) — through his 84 plate appearances on the year. That continues a rather familiar narrative for the slugger, who launched 38 long balls at Triple-A last year while striking out 189 times in 556 plate appearances.

Minor Moves: Florimon, Peguero, Adrianza, Tracy

By charliewilmoth and Brad Johnson | April 11, 2015 at 7:50pm CDT

Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

Reds pitcher Raisel Iglesias will make his major league debut tomorrow, writes Jason Haddix for MLB.com. He’ll be opposed by Cardinals hurler Carlos Martinez. The Reds committed to a seven-year, $27MM contract with Iglesias during the 2014 season.
The Orioles selected the contract of knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa, writes Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Wesley Wright was added to the disabled list in a corresponding move. Gamboa, 30, had yet to reach the majors although he figures to bounce back and forth this year. He’ll serve as depth in case Kevin Gausman is needed in long relief in the next couple games.
Pirates utility man Pedro Florimon has cleared waivers, tweets Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He has been outrighted to Triple-A. Per Brink (also Twitter), since Florimon has been outrighted before, he can decline and become a free agent. Brink is told no decision has been made.
The Rangers have announced that they’ve selected the contract of corner outfielder Carlos Peguero and recalled pitcher Jon Edwards. They’ve also moved Derek Holland (shoulder) to the 60-day disabled list and Ryan Rua (ankle) to the 15-day disabled list. Peguero is in the Rangers’ lineup tonight. The 28-year-old Peguero has played briefly, and not particularly impressively, for the Mariners and Royals in parts of four big-league seasons, but he’s demonstrated serious power in the minors (with 30 homers for Triple-A Omaha last year) and in Spring Training.
The Giants have outrighted infielder Ehire Adrianza to Triple-A Sacramento, MLB.com’s Chris Haft tweets. The team designated Adrianza for assignment last week. Adrianza, 25, hit .237/.279/.299 in 106 plate appearances while playing mostly shortstop and second base for the Giants last season.
The Yankees have announced that they’ve promoted lefty Matt Tracy. To clear space for Tracy on the 25- and 40-man rosters, the Yankees optioned lefty Chasen Shreve to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and moved Ivan Nova to the 60-day disabled list. Tracy will need to be added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster. Tracy’s stay on the roster could turn out to be short, however — the Yankees can use some quick bullpen reinforcements after their 19-inning game against the Red Sox last night, and Tracy would presumably join the team for that purpose. The 26-year-old posted a 3.76 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 150 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year.
Two players remain in DFA limbo, via MLBTR’s DFA Tracker: lefty Sam Freeman (Rangers) and outfielder Carlos Quentin (Braves).

Minor Moves: Krauss, Peguero, Rodriguez, Lerud

By Steve Adams | January 13, 2015 at 8:20pm CDT

Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…

First baseman/outfielder Marc Krauss, who was designated for assignment by the Angels last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. Krauss hit .194/.279/.323 with six homers in 208 PAs for the Astros last season but was designated to clear room on the 40-man roster when the Halos acquired Kyle Kubitza from the Braves.
The Rangers have signed both Carlos Peguero to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, executive VP of communications John Blake announced (Twitter link). Peguero, 28 next month, had an excellent season with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2014, hitting .266/.349/.563 with 30 homers. The former Mariners prospect has shown huge power throughout his minor league career but hasn’t been able to carry his success over to the Majors, where he’s hit .196/.245/.379 and fanned in nearly 39 percent of his 229 PAs.
The Rangers also re-signed Guilder Rodriguez to a minor league deal, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 31-year-old infielder was a nice story in an otherwise dreadful Rangers season in 2014, as he reached the Majors for the first time after 13 minor league seasons and collected a pair of hits in 12 at-bats. Rodriguez hit .260/.340/.290 in 284 PAs at Triple-A.
Catcher Steven Lerud has signed a minor league deal with the Nationals that contains an invite to big league camp, tweets Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington. The former Pirates third-rounder (2003) saw a bit of Major League time with the Phillies in 2012-13, but the 30-year-old has never received a prolonged look in the bigs. He’s a lifetime .225/.361/.337 hitter at Triple-A and has caught an excellent 34 percent of attempted thieves on the basepaths over the life of his career.

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