Yankees’ Allan Winans Granted Release To Pursue Opportunity In Japan

December 18th: Winans is signing with the Seibu Lions, according to various sources.

December 17th: The Yankees have granted right-hander Allan Winans his release so that he can sign with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It’s not yet clear which team the 30-year-old righty will be joining. His release opens a spot on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which is now down to 36 players.

Situations such as this one tend to benefit all parties. The Yankees will lose some depth, but Winans wasn’t a lock to last the whole offseason on their 40-man roster anyhow — particularly since he’s out of minor league options. Japanese teams typically pay a release fee of a few hundred thousand dollars to a player’s MLB club in order to facilitate the release. Winans, meanwhile, will earn far more pitching overseas than he would on a split big league deal that sees him oscillate between Triple-A and the majors.

Winans has pitched in each of the past three major league seasons, albeit sparingly. He’s totaled 49 1/3 innings between Atlanta and New York but been roughed up for a 7.48 ERA in that time. His track record in Triple-A is superlative, however. He’s spent parts of fours seasons between the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett and the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, combining for a 2.79 ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 355 1/3 innings.

Despite that success at the top minor league level, Winans has been hit quite hard in the majors. The flat 90 mph he’s averaged on his four-seamer in the big leagues is well below the average in today’s era of increased velocity but is more common in NPB, where the average heater sits closer to 91 mph. Given his sharp command and strong track record in the minors, Winans should command a rotation spot in NPB and could fare quite well.

It’s increasingly common to see pitchers thrive overseas and come back to North America on notable free agent deals, though most typically throw harder than Winans. Pitching well in Japan could also position him to re-sign on a more lucrative deal in subsequent seasons. There are plenty of former fringe 40-man players in the majors who’ve gone overseas and enjoyed lengthy, lucrative careers pitching in NPB, the Korea Baseball Organization and/or Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.