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Multiple Teams Expressing Interest In Sócrates Brito

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Numerous MLB teams have expressed interest in free agent outfielder Sócrates Brito, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman’s report did not specify which teams might be interested. Brito has spent the last three seasons with the Kia Tigers of the KBO.

Brito, now 32, was once a well-regarded prospect in the Diamondbacks system. He was chosen as the organization’s minor league Minor League Player of the Year in 2015, and most sources considered him one of the team’s top 10 prospects entering the 2016 season. However, he was never able to translate his minor league success to the majors. Over 99 MLB games with the D-backs and Blue Jays from 2015-19, Brito slashed .176/.216/.309 in 218 trips to the plate. Despite his elite sprint speed and solid outfield defense, he produced -0.6 FanGraphs WAR.

After a rough year at Triple-A with the Yankees in 2021, Brito signed a contract with the Kia Tigers and packed his bags for Korea. It turned out to be the right decision. He was named a KBO All-Star in each of his first two seasons with the Tigers. While he did not make the All-Star team in 2024, he set new career highs in home runs, runs scored, and RBI. He also helped his club win the Korean Series for the 12th time in franchise history and the first time since 2017. All told, Brito has slashed .302/.352/.491 with 63 home runs, 40 stolen bases, and an .843 OPS over three seasons in the KBO.

Heyman’s report does not necessarily suggest that Brito is planning (or even trying) to return to affiliated ball. He has enjoyed a successful career so far in Korea, in terms of individual accolades, team accomplishments, and financial compensation. His contract for the 2024 season guaranteed him $800K and contained an additional $400K in incentives. If he can land a similar deal from the Kia Tigers for 2025, one can see why he wouldn’t be interested in returning to North America for anything less than a guaranteed contract. Despite his excellent performance in the KBO, his uninspiring MLB track record could scare off potential suitors from offering such a guarantee.

William Cuevas Re-Signs With KT Wiz

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Right-handed pitcher William Cuevas is coming back for another year with the KT Wiz of the KBO.  His contract, announced by the team and relayed over X by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Jiheon Pae, is worth $1.5MM in US dollars. The 2025 season will be the righty’s seventh with the club.

Cuevas, now 34, originally signed with the Red Sox as an 18-year-old international free agent in 2009. He would eventually bounce from the Red Sox, to the Tigers, to the Marlins, and back to the Red Sox, appearing in big league games for Boston and Detroit. He pitched to an 8.06 ERA and 4.92 SIERA in 22 1/3 MLB innings.

After the 2018 season, the Red Sox released Cuevas so he could pursue an opportunity in the KBO. From 2019-22, he pitched for the Wiz on a series of one-year contracts. However, he was released early in the 2022 season after suffering an elbow injury. Fortunately for Cuevas, the issue proved not to be too serious. He was able to make an appearance for the Diablos Rojos del México of the Mexican League later that year.

Cuevas returned to affiliated ball the following season, signing a minor league contract with the Dodgers in April 2023. He pitched 44 innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City, striking out 43, walking 20, and giving up 13 home runs, resulting in a 6.14 ERA and 7.47 FIP. On June 8, the Dodgers released Cuevas, allowing him to re-sign with the Wiz the next day. While his performance at Triple-A wasn’t exactly impressive, he clearly did enough to prove to his former club that his elbow was back to full strength. Indeed, he put up a 2.60 ERA and 2.79 FIP in 114 1/3 IP over the remainder of the KBO season.

Fresh off his successful 2023 campaign, Cuevas earned another contract from the Wiz. He didn’t look nearly as sharp in 2024 as he did the year before, producing a 4.10 ERA and 4.39 FIP. Still, he was durable and reliable, giving the team 31 starts and 173 1/3 IP. Only two KBO pitchers threw more innings this past season, and only one made more starts. Thus, it comes as little surprise that the Wiz have welcomed Cuevas back once again for 2025.

Matt Davidson Re-Signs With KBO’s NC Dinos

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The NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization are re-signing infielder Matt Davidson to a $1.5MM deal with a club option for 2026 valued at $1.7MM (h/t Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News).

Davidson, 34, first signed with the Dinos back in January. Once a first-round pick in the 2009 draft by the Diamondbacks and a regular on top-100 prospect lists in the early 2010s, Davidson has appeared in parts of six big league seasons but has never quite been successful in establishing himself in the majors. He played just 31 games total at the big league level for Arizona. While he hit a decent .237/.333/.434 in that time, he was shipped to Chicago in the deal that brought Addison Reed to the Diamondbacks the following offseason.

After arriving in Chicago, Davidson was relegated to the minor leagues in the first few years of his time with the organization, where he hit quite well; the slugger is a career .253/.335/.479 hitter at the Triple-A level and demonstrated 20-homer power for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. He received semi-regular playing time with the White Sox from 2017 to 2018 and hit a respectable .224/.291/.435 with 46 home runs during that time, though he also struck out at an untenable 35.1% clip. Since the end of the 2018 season, Davidson has appeared in just 33 games at the big league level. Most recently, he hit .167/.167/.292 in an eight-game stint with the Athletics in 2022.

2023 saw Davidson head overseas to try his hand at playing baseball in Asia, though he initially did not head to the KBO. First, he went to Japan to play for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Hiroshima Carp. He hit a middling .224/.288/.452 overall in 117 games for the Carp. While he slugged 21 homers, his high strikeout rates and lackluster on-base percentage led the club to part ways with him. That led him to the Dinos, and his first season in Korea could’ve hardly gone better. While serving as his club’s primary first baseman, Davidson slashed an excellent .306/.370/.633 in 131 games. He slugged a KBO-leading 46 homers, and his 1.003 OPS ranked third in the league.

That dominant performance clearly got the Dinos’ attention, and they were quick to lock him up for the next two seasons after his power helped to keep the team somewhat competitive during a disappointing 61-81 season. While Davidson’s deal guaranteed him just $700K last winter, this year he’s been guaranteed more than double that figure and could earn more than $3MM total over the life of the contract if the option for next year is picked up. Given Davidson’s age, it’s unclear whether attempting a comeback in the majors could be in the cards for him when his contract with the Dinos ends, though if he continues hitting as he did last year he could follow in the footsteps of Eric Thames and look to revive his stateside career after years of posting otherworldly numbers in KBO play.

Elieser Hernández, Austin Dean Re-Sign With KBO’s LG Twins

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The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization are bringing back right-hander Elieser Hernández and first baseman Austin Dean for 2025. Per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (X link), Hernández will make $1.3MM while Dean will get $1.7MM.

Hernández, 30 in May, was a midseason replacement for the Twins. Once a potential rotation building block with the Marlins, he missed significant time due to injuries, including the entire 2023 season. He returned in 2024 to get limited looks with the Dodgers and Brewers before heading overseas to join the Twins in late July.

He went on to log 47 innings for them over 11 appearances, including nine starts. He allowed 4.02 earned runs per nine with a 28.2% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 51.2% ground ball rate. Yoo adds that Hernandez also tossed 11 scoreless innings in the postseason. The club clearly liked what they saw and will bring Hernández back for another season.

For Dean, 31, this will be his third season as a Twin. He played in parts of five MLB seasons from 2018 to 2022 but never got more than a part-time role. He has found a regular gig in Korea and has made the most of it. He hit 23 home runs last year and slashed .313/.376/.515, then followed that up with 32 home runs and a .319/.384/.573 line in 2024.

The MLB minimum salary is going to be $760K next year, so both players have gotten themselves up into a higher level of earning power, and likely with some extra job security as well. For the Twins, they also signed right-hander Yonny Chirinos this week, so this fills their quota of foreign-born players. Each KBO team is allowed three such players, with a maximum of two pitchers.

KBO’s LG Twins Sign Yonny Chirinos

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The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed right-hander Yonny Chirinos, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Jiheon Pae (X link). It had previously been reported by XSportsNews reporter Kim Geun-han and relayed by Kurtz (X link). The righty will earn $1MM in 2025, in the form of a $200K signing bonus and $800K salary.

Chirinos, 31, once seemed like a potential rotation building block for the Rays. Over the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he tossed 223 innings, allowing 3.71 earned runs per nine. He struck out 21% of batters faced, walked just 5.9% of opponents and kept the ball on the ground at a 43.5% clip.

But elbow troubles became the story for a few years and he hasn’t been able to get back on track since. He only made three major league appearances in 2020, requiring Tommy John surgery in August of that year. He missed the entire 2021 campaign while recovering. While trying to get back from that procedure, he was further delayed by an elbow fracture. He wasn’t activated off the IL until September of 2022, over two years after going under the knife, making two appearances at the end of that season.

He’s been back on the mound for the past two years but hasn’t been able to get back to his previous level of performance. He has a 5.63 ERA in 115 innings over the two most recent big league seasons, with his strikeout rate at just 15.3% in that time. He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Marlins going into 2024 and was only on their roster for about a month from the middle of June to the middle of July.

Had Chirinos stayed in North America, he surely would have been limited to another minor league deal somewhere. Even if he made it back onto a major league roster in 2025, he likely would have been limited to a salary somewhere around the $760K league minimum.

By heading overseas, he has unlocked a bit more money and presumably a bit more job security. If he can make the most of his opportunity with the Twins, perhaps he can take another crack at North American ball down the line.

KBO Signings: Heredia, Naile, Reyes

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A trio of former big leaguers re-signed with teams in the Korea Baseball Organization this week.

  • Outfielder Guillermo Heredia re-signed with the SSG Landers (X link via Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net) on a $1.6MM deal with another $200K in incentives. It’ll be the third KBO season for the Cuban-born outfielder. Heredia, who suited up for five MLB teams during a seven-year run, is coming off a .360/.399/.538 line with 21 homers and 31 doubles. He owns a .343/.393/.502 slash over two seasons in Korea. Heredia’s most recent big league experience came as a depth outfielder for the Braves in 2022. The Landers signed Mitch White and re-upped Drew Anderson earlier this month, so the Heredia deal finalizes their trio of foreign players to open next season.
  • The Kia Tigers retained righty James Naile on a $1.6MM deal with $200K in incentives, tweets Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The 31-year-old hurler is headed into his second KBO season. His first year could hardly have gone better. As Yoo notes, Naile won the league’s ERA title with a 2.53 mark across 149 1/3 innings on a Tigers team that went on to win the Korean Series title. Naile missed time late in the season when he was hit in the jaw by a comebacker, but he made it back in time for the championship series. A former 20th round pick out of UAB, Naile made 17 appearances with the Cardinals between 2022-23. The Tigers signed righty Adam Oller earlier this offseason. They’ve yet to announce whether they’ll re-sign outfielder Socrates Brito, who has spent the past three seasons there and is coming off a .310/.359/.516 showing.
  • Outfielder Victor Reyes is returning to the Lotte Giants on a $1MM deal with $250K in incentives (X link via Kurtz). The switch-hitting center fielder had a .352/.394/.511 slash with 40 doubles and 15 longballs in his first season with Lotte. Reyes, 30, appeared in parts of five seasons with the Tigers during his stint in the majors. He played nearly 400 games for Detroit between 2018-22, hitting .264/.294/.379 in almost 1300 plate appearances. The Giants still have two spots available for foreign players, both of which can be used on pitching. Charlie Barnes and Aaron Wilkerson held those positions in 2024, though the team has yet to announce whether either pitcher will be back next season.

Posting Window For Hyeseong Kim Likely To Begin Next Week

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It’s already widely known that the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes will post infielder Hyeseong Kim for major league teams this offseason. An exact timetable, however, hadn’t come into focus until today. Kim himself tells Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency (X link) that he expects the posting to be formalized next week. He’s planning to travel to the United States early next week in advance of the process.

Kim, who’ll turn 26 in January, has long looked the part of an interesting entrant into the offseason free agent market. The former double-play partner of current big leaguer Ha-Seong Kim, he’s old enough and has enough experience in the KBO to be considered a “professional” under Major League Baseball’s international free agent parameters. That allows him to sign a major league deal of any length and for any amount (unlike, say, NPB star Roki Sasaki, who’ll be limited to a minor league deal with a bonus that falls within the guidelines of MLB’s hard-capped international amateur system).

The left-handed-hitting Kim has turned in four straight above-average seasons at the plate in the KBO, batting over .300 with an on-base percentage of at least .372 in each of those four seasons. He’s light on power but did connect on a career-high 11 home runs this past season, adding in 26 doubles and four triples. Hitting the ball over the fence has never been Kim’s calling card, however. He’s developed into a KBO star due to his outstanding bat-to-ball skills, plus speed and plus glovework. Over the past four seasons, he’s swiped 135 bases in 155 attempts (87.1% success rate) and lowered his strikeout rate each season, culminating in just a 10.9% strikeout rate in 2024.

Overall, Kim carries a .321/.381/.418 over the past four seasons, including a .326/.383/.458 batting line this past season. He’s regarded as a plus defensive second baseman who can handle shortstop and has ample experience at both positions. The Mariners have already been linked to Kim, and he ought to command a fair bit of interest from other teams once his free agency begins in earnest. The A’s, Royals, Pirates, Braves, Yankees and Brewers make varying levels of sense as speculative fits.

Once the Heroes formally post Kim, it will open a 45-day window during which he and his representatives at CAA Baseball can negotiate freely with all 30 major league teams. Any team that signs Kim will be paying not only the agreed-upon guarantee to the player himself, but a formal posting/release fee to the Heroes. That fee, which is in on top of the contract, is equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. Additional earnings, such as performance bonuses/incentives or salaries on option years fall under that purview once they are unlocked or exercised.

Jake Cave Signs With KBO’s Doosan Bears

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The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve signed outfielder/first baseman Jake Cave to a one-year, $1MM contract (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Cave, a client of the Ballengee Group, will head overseas for the first time in his career and earn the maximum salary for a first-year foreign player in the KBO.

A veteran of seven big league seasons, Cave spent the 2024 season with the Rockies and hit .251/.290/.396 with seven home runs in 346 plate appearances. The Rockies passed Cave through waivers following the season, and he elected free agency once he went unclaimed.

Cave, 32 next month, has spent the bulk of his career with the Twins but was also with the Phillies in 2023 and the Rox this past season. Overall, he’s a lifetime .236/.292/.400 hitter in the majors (85 wRC+). Contact, or a lack thereof, has been a notable issue for him. Cave has fanned in 30.8% of his career plate appearances. He does have a knack for making decent contact when he puts the ball in play, with nearly 25% of his career batted balls being line drives. That’s several percentage points north of league-average, but his lack of contact offsets that penchant for solid contact.

Cave has logged more than 1000 big league innings at each of the three outfield spots. The Phillies also gave him 122 innings at first base in 2023. He spent a good bit of time in center field with Minnesota early in his career but has worked primarily in the corners in recent seasons, drawing solid grades for his glovework. Statcast credits him with above-average sprint speed and above-average arm strength in the outfield, ranking him in the 60th and 61st percentile of MLB players this past season, respectively.

As Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency points out, Cave will round out the Bears’ international signings for the year. KBO clubs are permitted to carry three foreign players, and Doosan already signed pitchers Cole Irvin and Thomas Hatch earlier in the offseason.

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Sign Kenny Rosenberg

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The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization announced their trio of foreign-born players for the 2025 season. The Heroes signed outfielders Yasiel Puig ($1MM) and Ruben Cardenas ($450K salary with $150K in incentives) and left-hander Kenny Rosenberg ($700K salary with $100K in incentives). The deals were relayed (on X) by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.

Rosenberg is the only one of the trio who appeared in the majors in 2024. The 29-year-old southpaw pitched in seven games for the Angels, allowing an even 6.00 ERA across 24 innings. It was the third straight season in which Rosenberg made a handful of appearances for the Halos. He worked as a depth option for the rotation or low-leverage relief and combined for a 4.66 mark over 67 2/3 frames.

Los Angeles released Rosenberg within the first few days of the offseason. This will be the first overseas stint for the Cal State Northridge product. Rosenberg had previously split his eight-year professional career between the Rays and Angels organizations. He has a solid Triple-A track record. Over parts of five seasons at the top minor league level, he carries a 4.10 ERA while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters.

Puig hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2019. He played the 2022 season in Korea with the Heroes. Puig spent the ’24 campaign in Mexico. Cardenas spent most of this this year in Triple-A. He divided his time between the Rays’ and Phillies’ systems but didn’t get a big league call. He signed with the KBO’s Samsung Lions late in the year but only made seven appearances. The Cal State Fullerton product should get a more significant opportunity for the Heroes.

KBO’s Samsung Lions Re-Sign Lewin Díaz, Denyi Reyes

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The Samsung Lions of the KBO League announced that they have re-signed first baseman Lewin Díaz and right-hander Denyi Reyes, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Jiheon Pae (X link). Díaz will get a $100K signing bonus, a $500K salary and $200K of incentives while Reyes gets a $200K signing bonus, $700K salary and $300K of incentives.

Díaz, now 28, was a very popular player during his time in North America, though without getting an extended big league opportunity. He started his major league career with the Marlins but only got limited looks in the three years from 2020 to 2022.

Having exhausted his options after that stretch, his grip on his roster spot became tenuous and he was designated for assignment by the Fish. Before the 2023 season started, he went to the Pirates, Orioles, Atlanta and Orioles again via waivers or cash trades. The O’s did eventually run him through waivers and didn’t call him up in 2023.

In general, Díaz has performed well everywhere except the majors. He hit .181/.227/.340 in his brief looks in the big leagues but had a much nicer line of .258/.340/.479 at the Triple-A level over the 2021-2023 seasons. He is also considered a strong defender at first base, so that made for an intriguing combination, likely why he kept getting so much attention.

He went to the Mexican League in 2024 and put up a huge slash of .376/.452/.647 in 75 games there. He then got a deal with the Lions in the middle of August, with a strong .282/.331/.518 line in 29 games in Korea, seemingly enough to convince the Lions to bring him back.

Reyes, now 28, was a similarly fringe roster player during his time in the affiliated ball. He got to make three appearances for the 2022 Orioles and then got into nine games for the 2023 Mets, posting a 6.26 earned run average in his 27 1/3 innings.

He posted some intriguing rate stats in the minors but was victimized by the long ball. From 2021 to 2023, he threw 209 1/3 innings on the farm with a 21.4% strikeout rate that was close to average and 5.7% walk rate that was quite strong. But thanks to 47 balls leaving the yard in that time, he had a 5.59 ERA.

Reyes signed with the Lions going into 2024 and went on to have a solid year, with the groundball-heavy league seeming to be a good fit for him. He logged 144 innings over 26 starts with a 3.81 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 4.9% walk rate, 62.3% ground ball rate and 15 homers allowed. The Lions were evidently pleased with that performance and will bring him back for 2025.

Both players are still relatively young and could try to return to MLB in the future if they continue to have good results overseas, as players like Erick Fedde or Eric Thames have done. For now, they will lock in some decent money that’s in the vicinity of the MLB minimum, which will be $760K next year.

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