Rockies right-handed reliever Seunghwan Oh is set to undergo season-ending surgery on his elbow to remove loose particles, Kyle Newman of the Denver Post reports. It’s the second bit of unwelcome health news of the night for the Rockies, who previously lost infielder Brendan Rodgers to season-ending shoulder surgery.
This news wraps up a miserable campaign for Oh, who last pitched May 30. The 37-year-old took the mound 21 times for the Rockies this season and pitched to a hideous 9.33 ERA/6.70 FIP with 7.85 K/9, 2.95 BB/9 and a 37.9 percent groundball rate over 18 1/3 frames. It was a far cry from the Oh who dominated at times over the previous three seasons with the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Rockies. Even factoring in this year’s disastrous production, the Korean-born Oh has still recorded a 3.31 ERA/3.46 FIP with 10.05 K/9 against 2.23 BB/9 across 225 2/3 innings since emigrating from the Japan Central League in 2016.
Oh turned in excellent numbers last year between Toronto and Colorado and amassed enough appearances (73; he needed 70) for his $2.5MM club option to vest for this season. The Rockies were happy to welcome Oh back at such a reasonable salary, though he indicated last October that he wanted to return to the Korea Baseball Organization, where he pitched from 2005-13.
While Oh decided to honor the remainder of his contract with the Rockies, it’s now fair to wonder what the future holds for the hurler known as the “Final Boss.” As a soon-to-be free agent, Oh could return to his homeland to finish his career or simply retire. If Oh returns to the majors, it seems likely he’ll have to settle for a minor league deal on the heels of a nightmarish contract year.
Oh no!
oh…
Hey, good article, but saying that he “[emigrated] from Japan” is kind of weird since he’s actually from Korea. I know he was pitching in Japan before he came to play in the MLB, and fair enough if you were just trying to play around with your wording a bit, but it just struck me as kind of awkward.
That’s reasonable. I changed it to Japan Central League.
He didn’t play in Japan. He was in the KBO
He played in Korea and then Japan.
Oh my!
Well now I don’t have to say “Oh” crap every time I see him enter the game.
Its too bad. Pitched well in Toronto last year. Colorado is always an uphill sprint for pitchers.
looks like the end of his MLB career. probably a boon for the KBO or NPB though.
Uhh oh…
He should fire his agent. I could have gotten him more guaranteed on a one year deal. Not really but could have persuaded him to take one year deals which would have netted him more. Honestly there is something wrong when a veteran free agent pitcher can’t get more than three million per. Look at the burnout and injury rate for a bp guy and tell me they don’t deserve more. I know professionals are better than me at some finer things in baseball but I’m starting to look way better in trades alone. Don’t get me wrong I miss and miss bad sometimes (I think I was in favor of trading Will Smith for example) but I’ve also looked great. German Marquez, a player I didn’t want to part with as well as Dickerson when they traded him and didn’t love the Gomez signing. It might seem small but coupled with selling high on rp’s/cl’s the last ten years it could have been huge. Heck with just Vasquez, Marquez and even Dickerson, they could have made the playoffs last year. This should be the beginning of a window but they keep trading pieces I feel they should have kept. Although I like the idea Burke should probably be kept but I like turning him into a player who doesn’t need protection, and Solak should have been kept. They should