10:40am: Major League Baseball has taken the procedural step of requesting a status check on Yoon from the Korea Baseball Organization, according to a Yonhap News report (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). The KBO confirmed that Yoon is indeed a free agent and able to sign anywhere.
TODAY, 9:05am: Yoon is traveling to the United States on Wednesday in hopes of securing a contract, according to a report from Korean news outlet Arirang (video link).
JAN. 10: The Red Sox and Twins are both interested in Korean right-hander Suk-Min Yoon, tweets Peter Gammons of the MLB Network and GammonsDaily.com. Gammons also spoke with one executive who guessed that the Giants are a good fit for Yoon as well. In an article at GammonsDaily.com earlier this week, Gammons noted that Yoon is one of many depth options still on the radar for the Red Sox. Cuban right-hander Raicel Iglesias is also among their potential targets.
It's been quiet on the Yoon front this offseason, as agent Scott Boras has had his hands full in negotiating contracts for Shin-Soo Choo, Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Pelfrey while also trying to build the markets for Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales. As MLBTR's Tim Dierkes noted in his free agent profile of Yoon, the 27-year-old has a low-90s fastball and was considered the second-best pitcher in the Korea Baseball Organization behind Hyun-jin Ryu prior to Ryu's jump to MLB. He has experience as both a starter and a closer.
The Twins have been connected to Yoon multiple times this offseason, but it's unclear whether or not they'd still have significant interest after adding Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes and re-signing Pelfrey. He could slot into Minnesota's bullpen, but the relief corps was one of the few strengths for last season's 96-loss Twins team.
Watch this guy no one knows about will cost $1mm a year and be better than Tanaka. Who knew how good Iwakuma would be last year?
Most notably the A’s, but also the Twins, who had previously tried to sign him a couple years prior. The A’s came quite close, but Iwakuma took offense to their offer, feeling that he deserved more and saying he was “disrespected.” As it turns out, he did deserve more; he’s quite the pitcher!
Yes he is…still, all the hype was centered around Darvish, Iwakuma was a hidden gem.
I agree, Iwakuma is better than darvish even so he is way undervalued in my opinion anyways.
I wouldn’t say Iwakuma is better, Darvish is straight nasty and has some of the best stuff in baseball. He is still tremendous though and flew under the radar.
They are both top of the rotation starters but Darvish is a legitimate number one starter. Not taking anything away from Iwakuma but imagine how much better Darvish’ numbers would be pitching at Safeco as opposed to Arlington.
wernt the O’s connected to this guy early in the off season?
Did the O’s sign anyone they were connected to early in the off season?
Balfour for like 4 min.
I would LOVE to see the Brewers sign Yoon. He could fill a need at either SP or RP, and could probably be had for several years at a price the Brewers would be willing to pay. I highly doubt we will look at him, but I really want us to.
He’s young and there are very few miles on his arm (only 220.2 career innings) but he’s also hasn’t been anything extraordinary in the KBO (3.63 ERA, 1.292 WHIP, 2.60 K/BB). He’s worthy of MLB interest but nothing overly costly.
The innings are wrong. He’s been pitching since 2005 (not sure why baseball reference didn’t put in his first 5 years). He does has 1100+ innings on his arm (with a 3.19 ERA, 1.198 WHIP, and 950 K – not sure on the BB numbers), but its spread out over 9 years. It’s not the brutal beating that Tanaka/Darvish were taking though.
Thanks, not sure why BR doesn’t have it either. Wow he started pitching young!
I chuckled a little with this piece.
If the price is not too outrageous, I’m all for it!
I would like to see Worley given another honest shot considering what it cost to get him (Ben Revere), but the rest of the rotation-filler types like Deduno, Diamond, Albers, and the like can be cut loose for all I care.
Deduno is alright, but he’s too fragile and inconsistent to be counted on.
Gibson could fill out the rotation nicely, but for all the high hopes and ‘savior’ hype going into last year, nobody knows what to expect this year. He could very easily spend the bulk of another season in AAA, seeing as he looked completely outmatched at times last year. Or he could go 15-8 in the Bigs. He’s a wildcard.
Pelfrey is seemingly guaranteed a spot in the rotation given his recent signing but I wouldn’t be so sure about that. If he struggles for months on end looking like a sure-fire loss every time he toes the rubber like much of last year, he may find himself in the pen or on another squad.
Correia was the Twins best pitcher last year. However, I don’t see him being a Twin for much longer, especially if he has another decent year entering FA. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him dealt to a contender midseason. I think he’s in line for a solid contact similar to Jason Vargas, and he’s not worth that.
None of these guys should prevent the Twins from taking a shot at a guy with some upside like Yoon.
I was hoping the Phillies would be interested in him. Although, seeing them not connected to an IFA is not shocking. If healthy (which is somewhat of an uncertainty – he’s been pitching with shoulder issues for 5 years, and last year it seemed to hurt him pretty bad), he sounds like he’d be a back end starter or very solid late reliever.
In either case as far as the Sox are concerned they are concentrating on pitching depth, they already numerous options at the AAA/AA level at their disposal in guys like Owens, Ranaudo, Webster, RDLR, Hinojosa and even Watanabe. The name of the game is pitching and the Red Sox are loaded. So if either Iglesias or Yoon are added too the mix it would add an additional layer of depth. Tanaka might be the prize for those willing too spend huge amounts of money, but it’s signings like these that lengthen the pitching corps.
Boston was quite active in Korea several years back. Lin, Chiang, a few more I don’t recall the names of and they gave 2.5m in 2011 to another Korean name of Tzu-Wei Lin (different Lin).
none of them are korean…. they are all taiwanese or chinese
Yes, you are very correct.. It was Taiwan Boston was active in.. A very bad incorrect on my part.
Forgettable pitcher Sun-Woo Kim was Korean. Dude showed up with purple hair at his first Spring Training.
The fact that he could be a starter or closer coupled with Boras as his agent makes this guy tricky. Boras will demand a steep price and he might not be worth it if he’s only bullpen material.
I expect the Cubs will be in if Tanaka doesn’t work out. Another player who is going to have to wait until ~ Jan. 24 to start negotiating with teams.
I thin the Phillies should take a look at this guy could use him in the bullpen and a backup starter