The Angels inked right-hander Chris Volstad to a minor league pact earlier this offseason, but Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net reported this week that he is nearing a deal with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization (Twitter link). Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register confirmed with a source that the Angels are expected to grant Volstad his release this week in order to take an offer in Korea (Twitter link).
The 27-year-old made six appearances for the Rockies in 2013 but allowed runs in each of them, totaling a 10.80 ERA in 8 1/3 innings. He was better at Triple-A, posting a 4.58 ERA in 127 2/3 innings. In 703 2/3 career innings between the Marlins, Cubs and Rockies, Volstad has a 4.94 ERA and a 442-to-248 K/BB ratio.
Now we can afford Tanaka.
He’s only 27?? I would have guessed he was at least 32.
It does seem like he has been around forever. I imagine that the teams he has pitched for felt like he was around way too long, also.
Good experience for this young pitcher living overseas while making more than the U.S. league minimum. Wish you the best.
We hardly knew you… good thing Mark Mulder is on the way!
Why would anyone give up a deal with an MLB team that might get them back to the majors to go play in South Korea? Weird.
Money, for one thing. Also, playing time, in the sense that he will be more guaranteed of a consistent rotation spot in Korea than he would in the Angels system, where they would be more inclined to let younger prospects get their innings.
A lot of marginal vets in their upper 20s and early 30s are choosing the Japan/Korea/Taiwan route to get noticed these days instead of toiling in the minors: they get paid more, get to live overseas and learn another culture if they are so inclined, and scouting has evolved to the degree that you are just as likely to get noticed by an MLB franchise in need if you are in Tokyo, Topeka, or Timbuktu (well, maybe not Timbuktu…).