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Dan Straily Signs With KBO’s Lotte Giants

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The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization announced the signing of veteran right-hander Dan Straily yesterday (h/t to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News Agency). The Apex Baseball client will receive $400K for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Straily, 33, is a familiar face for the Busan-based club. He pitched with Lotte between 2020-21, starting his tenure there with a 2.50 ERA through 194 2/3 innings his first season. The second year wasn’t quite as dominant, as Straily allowed a bit more than four earned runs per nine across 165 2/3 frames. That’s still solid production, though, and the Giants tried to bring him back for a third season. Straily declined Lotte’s contract offer over the offseason as he set his sights on a return to the major leagues.

In February, Straily signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks. He spent the season at Triple-A Reno, starting 12 of his 15 appearances. He managed just a 6.35 ERA in an extremely hitter-friendly environment, however, and the D-Backs passed on a few opportunities to bring him back to the majors. They signed Dallas Keuchel after he’d been released by the White Sox and turned to Tyler Gilbert to plug the back of the rotation once Zach Davies landed on the injured list in late June. According to his transactions log at MLB.com, Straily was released by the D-Backs on Monday to pursue the KBO opportunity.

While Straily didn’t reach the big leagues in Arizona, he got to the majors each season from 2012-19. Over that stretch, he suited up with the A’s, Cubs, Astros, Reds, Marlins and Orioles. An effective back-of-the-rotation arm for the majority of the time, he posted four seasons with 100+ innings and an ERA of 4.26 or lower. He owns a 4.56 mark in just more than 800 MLB innings.

Yoo relays that the Giants are releasing former big league hurler Glenn Sparkman in a corresponding roster move. The right-hander pitched for the Blue Jays and Royals between 2017-20, including a 136-inning campaign for Kansas City in 2019. He split last season between the Orix Buffaloes in Japan and the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate before signing with the Giants over the winter.

Sparkman made 19 starts and tallied 84 2/3 innings with Lotte, but he managed only a 5.31 ERA. The 30-year-old struck out a decent 23.1% of batters faced, but he walked batters at an elevated 11.1% clip and generally struggled to keep runs off the board. Now that he’s a free agent, Sparkman could explore minor league opportunities stateside.

Zach Reks Signs With KBO’s Lotte Giants

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Outfielder Zach Reks, whom the Rangers designated for assignment Saturday, is signing with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants for the remainder of the season, per an announcement from the Giants (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). The Rangers didn’t formally announce the move, but Reks was released yesterday following that DFA, per his transaction log at MLB.com, paving the way for him to take this new opportunity overseas. He’ll earn $310K for the remainder of the season.

The 28-year-old Reks has seen brief big league action between the Dodgers (10 plate appearances) and Rangers (34 plate appearances) over the past two seasons. He’s hit just .205/.205/.227 in that small sample, but the former 10th-round pick has obliterated Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .331/.421/.579 batting line in 140 plate appearances this season. Overall, he’s a .290/.388/.537 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, making it at least a bit of a surprise that he never got an earnest look in either Texas or Los Angeles (or with another organization).

Reks, coincidentally, will be replacing an outfielder with a fairly similar career arc. He and DJ Peters were both Dodgers draftees — twice teammates in Triple-A Oklahoma City — who made their way to the Rangers after being designated for assignment in Los Angeles. Both received larger but still relatively brief looks in Texas before ultimately landing with Lotte in the KBO. Peters was just waived earlier this week after struggling through his KBO debut, and Reks will hope for better results than his former teammate enjoyed.

A strong couple months in the KBO isn’t likely to put Reks back on the immediate MLB radar, but it could potentially open additional opportunities with the Giants or another team in the KBO. Should he fare well in multiple KBO campaigns, it’s always possible he could follow the paths of Eric Thames, Darin Ruf and others who’ve broken in out in South Korea following nondescript MLB tenures and make his way back to the big leagues down the road. Reks will play all of the 2023 season at age 29, so there’s still ample time for him to either make that loop or to more simply carve out a lucrative multi-year career in the KBO if he plays to expectations there.

KBO’s Lotte Giants Waive DJ Peters

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The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’re waiving former Dodgers and Rangers outfielder DJ Peters (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Yoo adds that the Giants are expected to announce a new foreign-player acquisition soon.

Peters, 26, was the Dodgers’ fourth-round draft pick back in 2016 and had been in his first season in the KBO after agreeing to a one-year, $600K deal with the Giants this past offseason. He made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 2021 before being picked up by the Rangers in an early-August waiver claim and seeing fairly regular action for them down the stretch. Between the two teams, Peters batted .197/.242/.422 with 13 homers, nine doubles and a triple in 240 plate appearances — showing good power but also considerable strikeout-to-walk concerns (34.2% strikeout rate, 5.0% walk rate).

While Peters has improved on both his strikeout and walk rates in the KBO (21.8% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate), his overall .228/.299/.402 batting line through 354 plate appearances looks fairly similar to last year’s showing in the big leagues — plenty of pop but with glaring OBP concerns. Peters has been credited for huge power and a concerning hit tool dating back to his prospect days, and that’s largely how his career has played out through his first taste of both MLB action and KBO play.

That huge raw power — FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited him with 70-grade power on the 20-80 scale as recently as the 2020-21 offseason — above-average speed and strong throwing arm ought to keep getting Peters opportunities, though following a release in the KBO he’ll likely need to look to a minor league deal if he returns to North American ball. Still, it’s a tantalizing package of raw tools that a team could stash in the upper minors as depth with the hope of a potential breakout.

KBO’s Doosan Bears Sign Brandon Waddell, Release Ariel Miranda

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The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve signed lefty Brandon Waddell for the remainder of the 2022 season (hat tip: Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency). Waddell, a client of Ballplayers Agency, will earn $230K between now and season’s end. Waddell had been pitching with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, but the Cards announced this morning that his contract has been sold to the Bears. Waddell will take the spot of reigning KBO MVP and former big leaguer Ariel Miranda, who has been released due to ongoing health issues in his left shoulder.

Signings of this nature are generally favorable for all parties involved. Waddell will be guaranteed a notable six-figure sum that trounces what he’d have earned by finishing out the season in Triple-A. He’d have needed to spend close to two months on the big league roster to earn that type of cash with the Cardinals, and there was no guarantee he’d be given that opportunity. The Cards, meanwhile, lose a bit of depth but receive a buyout for a player they might not have called to the Majors at all, and the Bears of course gain the rights to a pitcher who clearly intrigues them.

The 28-year-old Waddell is a former fifth-rounder of the Pirates who’s spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues, splitting his time between Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Baltimore. He’s logged just 12 2/3 total big league innings, yielding eight earned runs on 16 hits and 11 walks with nine strikeouts in that time.

Those grisly MLB numbers aside, Waddell has posted solid or better Triple- A numbers in three of his four seasons at that level. An 8.70 ERA in the juiced-ball 2019 campaign skews his overall numbers, but Waddell pitched to a 3.59 ERA in 135 1/3 innings there in 2018 and, since moving to the bullpen last year, has a 2.91 ERA with a 45-to-14 K/BB ratio in 43 1/3 innings of relief work.

The jump to the KBO will provide Waddell with some immediate earning power and also get a foot in the door for a potential second season overseas if he shows well in the second half of the 2022 KBO campaign. We’ve seen plenty of players in this mold carve out lengthy and lucrative careers pitching in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, and it’s always possible that improved production pitching in Asia will lead to an eventual big league return (as was the case with Miles Mikolas, Merrill Kelly, Chris Flexen and others in recent memory). The benefit is two-fold, as if Waddell can manage to pitch his way back into MLB consideration, he’d return as a free agent and thus be able to sign a Major League deal that is not beholden to the constraints of MLB’s arbitration system.

As for Miranda, the injuries are an obviously unfortunate development for a pitcher who, after 2022, looked like someone who could be on the cusp of an MLB return himself. The 33-year-old southpaw saw parts of Major League action in three seasons (2016-18) with the Orioles and Mariners, notching a 4.72 ERA in 223 innings along the way. He’s since had success in all three major Asian professional leagues — the KBO, Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League — with his 2021 season, in particular, generating intrigue.

Miranda racked up 173 2/3 innings of 2.33 ERA ball with the Bears last season, punching out a gaudy 31.7% of his opponents against a solid 8.8% walk rate. Last year’s 225 strikeouts were a KBO record, and Miranda parlayed that dominant showing into a $1.9MM payday that made him the second-highest paid foreign pitcher in the KBO, trailing only righty Drew Rucinski.

This year, however, Miranda made just three starts and totaled 7 2/3 innings with seven runs allowed and a staggering 18 walks, clearly demonstrating that he was never at full health. Now a free agent once again, Miranda will have options to consider, although it’s extraordinarily rare for a player to be released by a KBO club due to injury and then return to the KBO as a free agent, even with a different club. A return to NPB, the CPBL or perhaps a big league team (likely on a minor league deal) could still be options for Miranda this winter, health-permitting.

Shawn Morimando Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

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The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced last night they’ve agreed to terms with left-hander Shawn Morimando on a contract (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). He’ll receive a $230K salary for the final few months of the season.

Morimando, 29, has appeared in parts of two major league seasons. He debuted with Cleveland back in 2016, making a pair of appearances for the eventual American League champions. After a few years spent in the upper minors, he returned to the big leagues for a few on-and-off stints with the Marlins last year. He made four appearances and tallied 10 1/3 innings of 11-run ball. Morimando had a better showing with Triple-A Jacksonville, posting a 4.32 ERA across 89 2/3 frames.

Outrighted off Miami’s 40-man roster at the end of last season, Morimando signed on with the CTBC Brothers of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. Through 91 1/3 innings there, he worked to a 2.56 ERA with a solid 23.1% strikeout rate and a quality 6.8% walk percentage. That earned him a look in the KBO, where he’ll presumably receive a pay bump.

In a corresponding move, the Landers released veteran starter Iván Nova. Reports emerged last week the club was looking to move on from the right-hander, who posted a 6.50 ERA across 12 outings. Morimando and the recently-signed Juan Lagares join Wilmer Font to comprise the allotted three foreign-born players on the Landers roster, while Nova heads back to the free agent market.

Juan Lagares Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

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Free agent outfielder Juan Lagares has signed with the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization, the team announced (h/t to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News). The ACES client will be paid $495K for the remainder of the season.

It’s the first professional trip outside North America for Lagares, who has spent the past 16 years in the affiliated ranks. The 33-year-old has suited up with the Mets and Angels for 850 games in the major leagues. A Gold Glove caliber center fielder early in his career, he earned regular playing time on the strength of his glove for a good chunk of his stint in Queens.

Over the past few seasons, Lagares has settled in as a depth outfielder in the majors. His defensive metrics have tailed off and he’s posted well below-average numbers at the plate in each of the past two seasons. Lagares hit .236/.266/.372 through 327 plate appearances with the Halos last year. He returned on a minor league deal over the winter and earned another big league look in late May. After a disappointing 20-game showing, the Angels designated him for assignment last month. He cleared outright waivers and hit free agency, and he’ll now join a Landers team that has the KBO’s best record (52-26).

In a corresponding move, the Landers are releasing first baseman Kevin Cron. The former Diamondback spent the 2021 season in Japan and made the move to South Korea on a $750K contract last offseason. He’s struggled to a .222/.255/.420 line across 259 trips to the plate. While he’s hit 11 home runs and flashed some of the power potential he showed in the minor leagues, his on-base deficiencies mounted to the point the team decided to move on. The 29-year-old will be a free agent.

That also seems as if it’ll be true for veteran starter Iván Nova. Yoo adds the Landers are seeking a replacement for the 35-year-old righty, who signed for $900K over the winter. Nova has been tagged for a 6.50 ERA through 12 starts, only striking out 11% of the batters he’s faced. Yoo notes that various injuries could have played a part in that underperformance, but the club will look for an alternative nevertheless. An 11-year MLB veteran, Nova hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2020. KBO teams are permitted to carry two foreign-born pitchers on their rosters, so the Landers seem likely to look for a new option to pair with Wilmer Font, who is having an excellent season.

Thomas Pannone Signs With KBO’s Kia Tigers

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Lefty Thomas Pannone, who was granted his released by the Red Sox last night, has signed on with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization for the remainder of the season, the Tigers announced (via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Pannone will earn $300K for the remainder of the season.

Pannone, a 28-year-old lefty, appeared in the Majors with the Blue Jays in 2018-19, combining for a 5.43 ERA in 116 innings (13 starts, 36 relief appearances). The former ninth-round pick struggled out of the rotation (7.31 ERA) but showed promise in those 36 bullpen outings (3.40 ERA, 23.6% strikeout rate). He never got another look with the Jays during the shortened 2020 season, however, and after being removed from their 40-man roster that summer, he became a minor league free agent and signed with the Angels for the 2021 campaign.

Although he arrived at Angels camp with a solid Triple-A track record, Pannone’s return from that 2020 layoff was a disaster. He totaled 118 1/3 innings with the Halos’ top affiliate in Salt Lake but was rocked for a 7.07 ERA in that time. The 2022 season with Boston’s Triple-A club in Worcester has been a much better one. Pannone has an improved, albeit unexciting 4.57 ERA in 63 innings with the WooSox, but he’s also posted a sensational 70-to-7 K/BB ratio (26.7 K%, 3.1 BB%).

That pristine K-BB% surely piqued the interest of the KBO’s Tigers, who are in the market for a new starting pitcher after waiving former Cardinals and Giants minor leaguer Ronnie Williams. The 26-year-old Williams was in his first KBO season this year but scuffled to a 5.68 ERA with nearly as many walks (28) as strikeouts (32) through 44 1/3 innings.

Pannone’s KBO signing may be something of a footnote for many MLB fans now, but it’s always worth keeping an eye on former major league and minor league pitchers as they venture to the KBO or Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. It’s become increasingly common to see pitchers return from the KBO or NPB to make an impact in the Majors. Merrill Kelly, Miles Mikolas, Chris Flexen, Robert Suarez and Joely Rodriguez are among the recent examples of pitchers who’ve followed that trajectory.

Red Sox Release Thomas Pannone, Roberto Ramos

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The Red Sox have released left-hander Thomas Pannone and first baseman Roberto Ramos from their minor league contracts, as reflected on each player’s respective transactions tracker at MLB.com. It seems both players could explore opportunities in South Korea. Pannone told Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Twitter link) he was soon to sign with a KBO team, and McDonald suggests Ramos may do the same.

Pannone has 49 big league appearances under his belt, all of which came with the 2018-19 Blue Jays. He tallied 116 innings of 5.43 ERA ball in a swing role over that stretch, and he’s spent the past couple seasons in the upper minors. Pannone struggled mightily with the Angels’ top affiliate in 2021, but he’s had a strong showing in Worcester this season.

The 28-year-old’s 4.57 ERA across 63 innings with the WooSox doesn’t stand out, but he’s paired it with quality strikeout and walk numbers. Pannone has fanned 26.7% of batters faced while handing out free passes to a meager 3.1% of opponents. That quality work against upper minors hitters will get the former ninth-round pick a shot at the highest level in Korea, where he’ll no doubt earn a loftier guaranteed salary than he’d been as a depth arm in Worcester.

Ramos, 27, is no stranger to Korean baseball. A former Rockies prospect, he topped out at Triple-A in the Colorado system but signed on with the KBO’s LG Twins in advance of the 2020 season. The left-handed hitter blasted 38 home runs during his first season with the Twins, compiling a .278/.362/.592 showing through 494 plate appearances. He had an average first half with the Twins last year and was released in mid-June due to injuries.

This February, Ramos hooked on with the Sox on a non-roster pact. He’s struggled in his return to affiliated ball, hitting .158/.287/.342 with a huge 37.8% strikeout rate in Worcester. That’s obviously not the kind of showing for which he’d been hoping, but Ramos impressed during his first KBO season a couple years back and drew some attention from evaluators for his raw power during his time as a prospect.

Felix Pena Signs With KBO’s Hanwha Eagles

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June 10: The Hanwha Eagles announced agreement with Pena on a deal that will pay him $500K for the remainder of the season (h/t to Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap). He’ll take the roster spot of former Pirates and Blue Jays righty Nick Kingham, who was released last week due to an elbow injury.

June 8: Right-hander Felix Pena is exercising an opt-out in his minor league deal with the Mets in order to sign with a team in the Korea Baseball Organization, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’s not clear yet which club Pena will sign with.

Pena, 32, signed with the Mets over the winter on the heels of an outstanding showing in the Dominican Winter League (1.91 ERA, 27-to-7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings). He’s appeared in eight games with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse thus far — six starts and a pair of relief appearances — working to a 4.06 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate and very strong walk and ground-ball rates (7.0% and 53.3%, respectively).

A solid swingman with the Halos from 2018-20, Pena turned in a combined 215 2/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball with a 23.6% strikeout rate, a 7.7% walk rate and a 43.4% grounder rate during that three-year run. He’s made 24 starts at the MLB level in addition to another 80 relief outings, though it’s likely he’ll work out of a rotation in the KBO.

Pena suffered an ACL tear with the 2019 Angels, rebounded with a solid 2020 effort and then posted disastrous results both in the Majors and in Triple-A during the 2021 season. A hamstring strain shelved him for the first six weeks last season, and he was clobbered for seven runs in just 1 2/3 frames upon returning. The Halos passed him through waivers and retained his rights, but he surrendered 61 innings in 68 1/3 Triple-A frames over the remainder of the year in Salt Lake.

That ugly sequence took him off the MLB radar, but Pena’s strong showing in winter ball and solid work in Triple-A look to have earned him a six-figure salary overseas. If he shows well enough in the KBO, he could potentially put himself back on the MLB map, as we’ve seen with increasing frequency in recent years.

KBO’s LG Twins Sign Robel Garcia

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June 5: Kurtz relays that the Twins have announced a deal with Garcia for $180K.

June 4, 8:38PM: The KBO League’s LG Twins are in talks with Garcia about a contract, according to a Naver Sports report (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net).

5:08PM: The Cubs have released utilityman Robel Garcia, according to MiLB.com’s official transactions page.  Garcia “is expected to pursue a career overseas,” Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register reports, so today’s move could be a precursor to Garcia quickly announcing a deal with a non-MLB team.

Garcia made his Major League debut with the Cubs in 2019 and hit a respectable .208/.275/.500 with five home runs over his first 80 plate appearances.  This trip to the big leagues was the culmination of a rather unusual path for Garcia, who was out of affiliated baseball entirely from 2014-16 and then played two seasons in Italy before resurfacing in the Cubs’ minor league system.

From there, Garcia became a popular waiver claim candidate, as he was a member of five different organizations (Cubs, Reds, Mets, Angels, Astros) between July 2020 and February 2021.  After finally landing in Houston, Garcia hit .151/.216/.208 over 117 PA in the Show last season.

This year, Garcia had been on fire with Triple-A Iowa, batting .295/.394/.619 with 12 home runs in 165 PA.  However, as Birch observes, Garcia was seen as an expendable piece given the crowded state of Chicago’s infield.  Even with some injuries recently surfacing within the infield picture, the writing seemed on the wall for Garcia when he wasn’t called up for even a cup of coffee in the majors to fill any of those vacancies.  The 29-year-old Garcia will now look, for the second time, to revive his career with a stint in an international league.

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