NOV. 13: The KIA Tigers have officially signed Brooks, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net. His deal comes with a $479K salary and a $200K signing bonus.
NOV. 12: It appears that Orioles righty Aaron Brooks is headed to the KBO, according to reports from Dan Connolly of The Athletic (links to Twitter) and Naver Sports (Korean language link). If all the paperwork is completed, as expected, he’ll agree to a new deal with the KIA Tigers and be set free from the Baltimore 40-man roster.
This sort of arrangement is now commonplace for hurlers such as Brooks. The 29-year-old has shown enough to bounce around the waiver wire and receive MLB opportunities, but hasn’t fully established himself on an active roster.
Brooks did get a lengthy big-league look this year after a strong Triple-A campaign in 2018. He ultimately threw 110 frames on the year, spanning 18 starts and eleven relief appearances in stints with the A’s and O’s. The results weren’t as hoped, as Brooks stumbled to a 5.65 cumulative ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.
Though the Orioles again need to fill innings, Brooks was at risk of being kicked from the MLB roster at some point this winter. His lack of options helped keep him in the bigs in 2019 but also reduced his appeal to affiliated clubs. By allowing Brooks to leave, the Orioles will pick up some financial compensation. He’ll get a chance to compete at a high level and earn a salary that wouldn’t be available to him in North America.
The home run parade is going to the KBO!!!
Well this is good. We’ll have to sign at least one pitcher this offseason.
His leaving allows one more player to be selected in the Rule 5 draft this year.
I don’t care
Brooks was a filler with the A’s. Just wasn’t consistent though he did not receive ton of opportunities either.
this guy has had plenty of Major League opportunities and more than failed each one. cant believe he lasted this long.
He has had all of two season during which he pitched more than 50 innings at the MLB level…his 2019 WAR was 0.0, certainly not a success, but not a failure either. You DarkSide do not know of which you speak of…do a little research before you yammer on incorrectly unless you just like to bad mouth folks…
Aaron Brooks – NFL, NBA, MLB, and now KBO. What a career!
I hear he’ll make his NHL debut as a goaltender if the Leafs can’t get their back-up situation figured out.
didn’t Gary Thorne just call him a generational talent? seems like just yesterday
Speaking of the O’s, I think every team in baseball should be inquiring about Dylan Bundy. I can see a team like the Astros or Rays harnessing his potential and turning him into a solid #3.
His potential disappeared with his fastball. He barely hits 93 nowadays, generally sitting 90-91. The 97 with ease he had coming out of high school is long gone due to injuries.
Let’s see fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12917&posi…
says FB velocity was 94.9 in 2012 and then 94.9 in 2016 after the injuries…his best year was 2017 with average FB velocity of 92.4, FB velocity was 91.5 in 2019 (with WAR of 2.5). Phillies2020 is right, you mstchef13 are incorrect…
Bundy stinks.
No he doesn’t. Please stop posting, thanks!
Cant believe that Beane left Brooks on the roster all winter losing Ritchie Martin for it. Never understood why he kept a pitcher nobody would claim to lose the number one player in the Rule 5.
A’s have enviable infield depth but had issues with starter durability om 2018. while agree that keeping Brooks was the wrong move, I wouldn’t have kept Martin if not to trade him for another pitcher.
Looks like an improvement for the KIA Tigers over Jacob Turner.
This guy did shutout my Red Sox
Good luck. He’s a hard worker.
Not sure the $479K base makes sense. I know he struggled a bit last season but if he did make a team over here, he’d get about $100k more and MLB service time. Hope it works out for him, but surprised he’d leave for less than MLB minimum, especially with service time already.
With the signing bonus he made the equivalent of what he’d make spending the entire season on the ML roster. My thought is that he found it unlikely he’d do so. But I agree it was odd to see a guy sign for the ML minimum in Korea. When they spent the entire year in the bigs the season prior. But he has no risk on this deal and it’s fully guaranteed.
Which team has more fans in these comment sections — Detroit Tigers or KIA Tigers?
From the Orioles to the KBO. A little bit closer to being on a major league team.
wow that was stupid thing to say
Not really, in theory a .520 team in the KBO could play just as well as the Detroit Tigers or the Baltimore Orioles. Except the Kia Tigers weren’t that good last year.
I do not believe a .520 a team in the KBO could be as good as the orioles. Regardless of how poor we are the team is made up of major leaguers. Any of those KBO squads would have 5-6 max that would make a major league ball club. And that’s a high end projection.
Brooks? And done…
Good one! That’s at least a three-bagger.