Headlines

  • Phillies Sign Archie Bradley
  • Yankees, Corey Kluber Agree To Deal
  • Yankees, Aaron Judge Avoid Arbitration
  • Dodgers, Cody Bellinger Avoid Arbitration
  • White Sox Sign Liam Hendriks
  • Yankees, DJ LeMahieu Nearing Agreement
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Indians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2020-21 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2021
    • 2021 MLB Arbitration Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • Last 100 Comments
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Korea’s NC Dinos Sign Christian Friedrich, Jake Smolinski

By Jeff Todd | July 2, 2019 at 6:10pm CDT

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.

Share 0 Retweet 5 Send via email0

Christian Bethancourt Christian Friedrich Eddie Butler Jake Smolinski Korea Baseball Organization Tampa Bay Rays Transactions

Astros Designate AJ Reed For Assignment
Main
Yankees Release Kendrys Morales
11 comments
newest oldest

Comments

  1. Metsfan9

    2 years ago

    Both decent major leaguers good luck to them in Korea. Also was Bethancourt playing catcher or pitcher in Korea?

    1 Like
    Reply
    • Big Chungus

      2 years ago

      catcher

      Like
      Reply
    • athleticsnchill

      2 years ago

      Smolinski isn’t a decent major leaguer. He’s a strictly platoon outfield, His career numbers against LHP are okay, but he is inept against RHP. .204/.263/.289 in about 400 PA’s, and that is a trend that hasn’t changed since the A’s released him.

      Like
      Reply
      • Metsfan9

        2 years ago

        A decent major leaguer in my book is someone that has more than 50 games in the big leagues. You have to have perspective barely anyone makes the bigs let alone is in the league for a semi long time

        Like
        Reply
  2. Fred

    2 years ago

    Friedrich… just another long line of Rockies pitching prospect bust

    1 Like
    Reply
  3. todd76

    2 years ago

    Christian Bethancourt… I never thought he’d turn out to be a bust.

    2 Like
    Reply
    • lowtalker1

      2 years ago

      Both he and gattis came threw the same system.
      One adjusted the other sucked

      Like
      Reply
  4. DarkSide830

    2 years ago

    im sure Betancourt is still better then a lot of teams backup catchers. Miami?

    1 Like
    Reply
    • bravesiowafan

      2 years ago

      He has one of the worst work ethics in baseball. It’s been well documented he would rather play video games than doing his homework

      Like
      Reply
  5. andrew farelli

    2 years ago

    Looks like the NC Dinos have made a big upgrade since Betancourt was mediocre and Butler was just plain bad.

    1 Like
    Reply
    • Sheep8

      2 years ago

      They need to make a move in the standing and those “foreigners” weren’t really helping, so it could not hurt!

      1 Like
      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Phillies Sign Archie Bradley

    Yankees, Corey Kluber Agree To Deal

    Yankees, Aaron Judge Avoid Arbitration

    Dodgers, Cody Bellinger Avoid Arbitration

    White Sox Sign Liam Hendriks

    Yankees, DJ LeMahieu Nearing Agreement

    Mets, Brad Hand Discussing Deal

    Giants Sign Alex Wood

    MLB Names Theo Epstein Consultant To Commissioner’s Office

    Astros To Sign Pedro Baez

    Recent

    Phillies Designate Kyle Garlick For Assignment

    Phillies Sign Archie Bradley

    Mariners Interested In Joakim Soria

    Cubs To Sign Shelby Miller

    Pitching Notes: Castillo, Reds, Anibal, Red Sox, Cora

    AL East Notes: Benintendi, Kluber, Rays

    MLBTR Poll: Grading The Yankees’ Recent Deals

    Quick Hits: Blue Jays, Brantley, Cardinals, Hicks, Astros

    East Notes: Lindor, Yankees, Springer, Mets, Jays, Braves

    Latest On Yankees’ Free Agent Targets

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Trevor Bauer Rumors
    • Francisco Lindor Rumors
    • Kris Bryant Rumors
    • J.T. Realmuto Rumors
    • George Springer Rumors
    • DJ LeMahieu Rumors
    • Marcell Ozuna Rumors
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • 2020-21 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2021
    • 2021 MLB Arbitration Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Indians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version