December 21: The A’s made it official today, announcing the signing.
December 20: The A’s are in agreement with starter Drew Rucinski, pending a physical. It’s reportedly a one-year, $3MM guarantee for the Paragon Sports International client. The deal also contains a $5MM club option for the 2024 season.
Rucinski returns to the U.S. after four seasons in South Korea. The 6’2″ righty kicked around the majors in the middle of the last decade as a swing option. While Rucinski worked as a starter in the minors, he came out of the bullpen for six of seven appearances with the Angels in 2014-15. Rucisnki spent the next year in Triple-A with the Cubs organization before spending two years as a depth reliever. He pitched twice for the Twins in 2017 and logged 35 1/3 innings over 32 relief appearances for the Marlins the next season.
That marked a career-high workload for the Ohio State product, and he made the jump to the Korea Baseball Organization the next offseason. Rucinski landed with the NC Dinos, kicking off a four-year run in which he’d work as a durable innings eater. The righty started 30-plus games in all four of his KBO seasons, pitching at least 177 1/3 innings in each year. Rucinski was consistent and very effective, posting an ERA between 2.97 and 3.17 in every season.
Rucinski only struck out 16.8% of his opponents during his debut season, but he topped a 20% strikeout rate in each of the next three years. Rucinski topped out at a 24.3% strikeout percentage in 2022, while this year’s 2.97 ERA over 193 2/3 innings marked his lowest with the Dinos. He threw plenty of strikes, walking just 4.3% of batters faced this year. Rucinski also induced grounders on two-thirds of batted balls in each of the last three years, with those dominant numbers earning him another MLB look.
MLBTR placed Rucinski 50th on this offseason’s top free agent list. His one-year pact falls short of MLBTR’s projected two-year, $9MM guarantee. Pitchers like Chris Flexen and Merrill Kelly secured two-year contracts coming over from the KBO, but Rucinski’s age apparently limited him to one year. He’ll turn 34 next week, while Flexen and Kelly each returned to the U.S. before their 31st birthday.
It’s a low-cost flier for the A’s, whose spacious home park figures to play well for a pitch-to-contact arm of Rucinski’s ilk. Cole Irvin and Paul Blackburn look to have secured season-opening rotation spots alongside Rucinski, while players like James Kaprielian, Ken Waldichuk, Adam Oller and Adrián Martínez could battle for spots at the back end. Oakland GM David Forst and his staff could still look to augment that group, even in another rebuilding season.
The A’s still have just $54MM in projected 2023 payroll, per Roster Resource. They’ve added Jace Peterson and Aledmys Díaz on lower-cost two-year deals, while Trevor May, Rucinski and Manny Piña (in the Sean Murphy trade) have been brought aboard with one-year commitments.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported Rucisnki was in agreement with the A’s. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report it was a one-year, $3MM guarantee with a $5MM club option.
Omg I can’t believe I got this one right in the contest!
I wanna know why Cleveland hasn’t done any minor league signings. Can someone answer me that?
ruff kuntry is on a roll. Perhaps they can 🙂
I actually am on a roll! I picked Drury to Ángels!
He did? I had not seen that. Congratulations, ruff kuntry! Buy a lottery ticket soon 🙂
Maybe I should lol
Answer: They have.
1 catcher doesn’t mean they have. He won’t even make the roster and you know that.
Yes. The answer is none your business.
He was my favorite player on the NC Dinos in 2020 and I’m excited for him to come to Oakland!
I’m wondering if he’ll be in the rotation or the bullpen.
Don’t think we have much room in the rotation, especially if Puk is in the mix
That’s what I’m thinking, but maybe he’ll join the rotation in the second half because guys like Puk, Blackburn, and Irvin will be trade candidates.
I feel like Puk could be a dominant Closer if a chance
Lol I think I’d rather stay in Korea then play for the A’s rn.
Why? Oakland is one of the best stadiums for pitchers! It’s a great opportunity for him and will make $5M in ‘24 if he pitches well this season. He wouldn’t get anything close to $5M in Korea lol
It was a cheap shot but now I’m out ratioed and my feelings are hurt.
The a’s are like aaaa for a real shot at being on a ML team. Perfect opportunity
Plus if you do well with the A’s there’s a good chance they’ll send you somewhere else real quick lmao
100% Rucinski will start. He had 30 or more starts in 4 consecutive seasons through 2022.
It’s possible, but I think he’ll probably begin the season in the bullpen. The rotation already consist of Blackburn, Irvin, Waldichuk, Muller, Kaprielian (reports say he’ll be healthy for spring) as well as the report of Puk possibly shifting to the rotation. Not to mention guys like Sears, Oller, Jefferries, and Martinez as rotation options.
Yes, why sign a starter if you already have 8 options of young talent that you need to vet?
I kind of wanted the cubs to sign him for some depth.
He had a 5.71 strikeout to walk ratio last year! They should have given him 3 or 4 years with a club option at this cheap an AAV if possible. He is likely worth 8-10 million a year if his K/BB is a permanent thing. Given how guys with 1 good year the last season are making 10+ million, this guy is a steal. It’s not the fact that he was good overseas, but rather the constant improvement in K/BB ratio that I think would make him a steal at this rate. They can extend him mid-season or trade him for a good haul with this cheap a contract. Great signing by the As! Maybe makes up for the Murphy trade
Colby Lewis (Bakersfield guy from my city) comes to mind. He never did that well in the majors, goes to Japan for two years and flat out dominates leading the league in K’s, comes back to the states and carved out a nice career with Texas.
For Rucinski to do what he did in the hugely hitter friendly Korean league is quite impressive! This was a great signing for the A’s!
I agree, great signing by the A’s! Doesn’t make up for Murphy trade, but it makes it hurt a little less.
It shouldn’t whatsoever, but savvy signing
Oakland should also sign Wilmer Font from SSG, Casey Kelly & Adam Pluto from LG, and Eric Jokisch from Kiwoom. And there you have it, the front 5 of Oakland
So the A’s got someone from MLBTR’s top 50! I believe he was #50.
Yes, and I believe it was Tim Dillard who picked the A’s which tempted me to pick the A’s as well.
Thank you, Tim!
My favorite NC Dino.
Seriously, I turned on the first game of 2020, saw a former Angel on the hill, and threw my fandom behind the Dinos.
Figured as an Angel fans I’d jinxed them but they won it all.
HHJJ, how are you viewing overseas games???
In 2020 ESPN carried the KBO. I haven’t watched them since MLB came back.
Ohhh I see. It would be pretty cool if there was a way to see NPB and KBO games!
All these players are getting too much money … Small market (and cheap owners) teams are doomed !!
Doesn’t Muller have a shot to make the starting rotation too? Or even Sears? No mention of them at all?? They have to be better options than Martinez.
Yeah, I don’t know why they weren’t even mentioned and Rucinski was automatically given a lock in their opinions. Muller particularly should be in the OD rotation IMO.
Lets hope for the A’s sake Rucinski turns out to be more Merrill Kelly than Josh Lindblom
They A’s got a potential starter for a $ 3m guarantee? That looks like a low-risk contract which could yield high dividends – pitcher often have good numbers in Oakland.
Gruß,
BSHH
Was bummed when the Angels didn’t give him. A better look