The Rangers will likely clear some space on their crowded 40-man roster by selling the rights of left-hander Aaron Poreda and right-hander Miles Mikolas to the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
While many clubs have trimmed the total players on their 40-man roster down into the mid-30s by outrighting players, the Rangers still have a full 40-man roster. Grant notes that this type of deal typically brings back about $150-200K for the selling team, so there’s a bit of financial benefit as well. On the players’ side of the transaction, Japanese teams will often pay seven-figure salary to this type of player, making the move a potential win for all parties involved.
The 28-year-old Poreda, a former top prospect with the White Sox that went to the Padres in the original Jake Peavy trade, has bounced around the league since seeing his stock fade. He made his first appearance in the Majors since 2009 with the Rangers this past season, struggling to a 5.91 ERA in 21 1/3 innings, though his 21-to-7 K/BB ratio was encouraging.
Control problems have plagued Poreda in the minors, as he’s averaged more than eight walks per nine innings in 157 1/3 Triple-A innings after displaying far better control at previous levels. However, he seemed to rein that problem in this year, and he also averaged 95.4 mph with his fastball in the Majors this season in an admittedly small sample. Grant notes that he even touched 100 mph with his fastball at one point.
Mikolas, 26, pitched 57 1/3 innings for Texas this season but had struggles of his own, posting a 6.44 ERA with 38 strikeouts against 18 walks. He has a rather strong track record in Triple-A, however, where he’s compiled a 3.23 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 125 1/3 innings in parts of three seasons.
idk the rules of selling contracts but what if the players dont wanna go to japan?
They don’t have to go. Chris Colabello of the twins declined last year for example.
ah ok, i was just confused on whether it was considered a trade as they were under contract, aka player for compensation, thanks for your answer
Yeah, it’s a voluntary thing. Both Poreda and Mikolas will probably make more than $1MM per year over there, which is far more than they’d earn here.
which is kind of ironic because the Japanese come here to make money.
Yes, but the key difference is, of course, that the cream of the crop in Japan are usually not as successful in MLB, while the marginal AAAA type player often are far more successful in Japan. For guys like Poreda and Mikolas who have bounced between multiple franchises over here in recent years with middling results, not only could going to Japan be financially better for them, it gives them a chance at more innings, more success and more confidence.