KBO’s KIA Tigers Re-Sign Socrates Brito
The KIA Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that outfielder Socrates Brito is returning for a third season with the team (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Brito will receive $800K in guaranteed money in the form of a $500K salary and a $300K signing bonus, plus he can earn an additional $400K in contract incentives.
It’s easy to see why the Tigers were interested in a reunion, as Brito has hit .298/.349/.478 with 37 homers over his two seasons (1162 plate appearances) in South Korea. The 31-year-old Brito has primarily been the club’s everyday center fielder, while also seeing some action in both corner outfield positions.
Formerly a prospect in the Diamondbacks’ farm system, Brito showed some signs of the dreaded “Quad-A” label, as his impressive .287/.339/.467 slash line over 1960 Triple-A plate appearances didn’t translate to the big leagues, albeit in a pretty limited sample size of MLB playing time — Brito hit only .179/.216/.309 over 218 PA with the D’Backs and Blue Jays from 2015-19. Brito signed minor league deals with the Pirates and Yankees in 2020 and 2021 without any more time in the majors, and Brito also had to endure a personal tragedy in 2020 when his brother passed away from COVID-19.
There hasn’t been any public indication that Brito has received any looks from Major League teams during his tenure in the KBO League, or even that Brito has necessarily been on the lookout for a return to North American baseball. There’s certainly still time for Brito to explore such possibilities in the future, but for now, he has carved a nice niche for himself with the Tigers.
Blue Jays Interested In Jonathan India
Jonathan India‘s name has been swirling in trade rumors for months, and the Blue Jays are the latest team to show some interest in the Reds second baseman, according to Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network (X link). Toronto has been mentioned as a speculative fit for India given the Jays’ need for second base help, though there isn’t any indication that a trade might be close, or whether this is anything beyond due diligence on the Blue Jays’ part.
Since Matt Chapman and Whit Merrifield are both in the free agent market, the Jays have been left pretty thin at both second and third base. In-house candidates Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Davis Schneider, and Ernie Clement are all on the big league roster, while any of Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez, or Leo Jimenez could make their Major League debuts in 2024 and work their way into the infield picture.
While Toronto has plenty of options in terms of volume, however, there isn’t much in the way of proven Major League capability. Biggio and Espinal have been inconsistent during their big league tenures, Schneider and Clement both hit very well in small sample sizes in 2023, and the rest have no big league track records at all (though Martinez and Barger are highly-regarded prospects).
India could provide an answer at second base, though the former NL Rookie of the Year isn’t exactly a sure thing coming off two somewhat underwhelming seasons. Since winning the ROY in 2021, India has hit .246/.333/.394 with 27 homers over 960 plate appearances for Cincinnati, with hamstring injuries and plantar fasciitis impacting his ability to stay on the field. Public defensive metrics have also been very unimpressed with India’s glovework, so his contributions as a second baseman specifically could be limited.
Even with these factors in mind, India just turned 27 two days ago and is only entering the first of three arbitration-eligible years, so Cincinnati normally wouldn’t be looking to trade such a controllable player. And, technically, the Reds aren’t open to a deal, as president of baseball operations Nick Krall has stated that the team isn’t “motivated” to move India elsewhere. The question of big league experience is also a factor in Cincinnati, as while the Reds are overloaded with young infielders ready for more MLB time, Krall also values the stability and depth India brings in the event of injury problems, or if some of the youngsters need more minor league seasoning.
That said, the Reds’ signing of Jeimer Candelario only added to the infield surplus. If Candelario is now taking regular time at third base, that leaves India, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Noelvi Marte all competing for middle infield spots. Even if Candelario slides over to first base, Christian Encarnacion-Strand also needs a place to play, and the DH position provides some a few extra at-bats for the Reds to juggle all these options.
The fit in Toronto also wouldn’t be perfect. As noted, India would be a defensive downgrade at second base, and the keystone is also the better defensive spot for most of the Blue Jays’ in-house options. In his look at India’s trade market last month, MLBTR’s Nick Deeds observed that while the Jays are planning to contend in 2024, they also might not want to block Schneider or Clement entirely from at least semi-regular playing time. Speculatively, an India trade package could involve the Jays sending one of their most experienced infielders (i.e. Biggio or Espinal) back to Cincinnati so the Reds could have some of the depth they crave, though pitching is the Reds’ greatest need.
It has been a quiet winter in terms of actual transactions if not headlines in Toronto, as the Blue Jays’ business has in some ways been impeded by their pursuit of Shohei Ohtani. Obviously GM Ross Atkins and his front office weren’t singularly focused on Ohtani over the offseason’s first six weeks, yet after coming up short to the Dodgers in the Ohtani race, the Jays still have a pretty full to-do list that includes the two infield positions, left field, DH, and perhaps the rotation and bullpen.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/17/23
Some minor league moves from around the baseball world…
- The Royals released Cody Poteet, according to the right-hander’s MLB.com profile page. Poteet underwent a Tommy John surgery in August 2022 and as a result missed almost all of the 2023 season, save for two innings of work in one game with Triple-A Omaha in late September. Kansas City signed Poteet to a minors deal last winter in anticipation that he’d spend most of the season in recovery, and the 29-year-old will now enter free agency again with at least a more optimistic health situation. Poteet’s MLB resume consists of a 4.45 ERA over 58 2/3 innings with the Marlins in 2021-22, as well as a 3.80 ERA in 521 2/3 career minor league frames.
- The Dodgers signed outfielder Austin Beck to a minor league contract, as Beck revealed via his X account. Beck selected sixth overall by the Athletics in the 2017 draft, though his eight games with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate in 2021 represents his highest step on the minor league ladder. Multiple injuries have set back Beck’s progress, most notably a torn ACL that cost him the entire 2023 season. The Dodgers will take a flier on Beck to see if there’s any late-bloomer potential now that he’s healthy, and Beck is still only 25 years old.
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Rays Interested In Naoyuki Uwasawa
With the Tyler Glasnow trade now finalized and Ryan Pepiot a part of the Rays’ pitching mix, the team is continuing to look for pitching help. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that “the Rays have some interest in” Naoyuki Uwasawa, whose 45-day posting window is up on January 11.
Tampa becomes the seventh MLB team known to have some level of interest in the right-hander, as a Sports Hochi report (Japanese language link) in September revealed that the Angels, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Reds, and Royals all had scouts watching one of Uwasawa’s starts for the Nippon Ham-Fighters. It is probably safe to assume even more teams have some level of interest in Uwasawa due to both his track record in Nippon Professional Baseball, and the fact that he might have a relatively low price tag in comparison to many other free agent pitchers on the market.
Uwasawa (who turns 30 in February) had a 3.19 ERA over 1118 1/3 career innings in NPB, all with the Fighters from 2014-2023. Though it took a few years for the righty to fully establish himself on the Fighters’ roster, Uwasawa’s results have always been pretty solid, and his 2.96 ERA over 170 innings in 2023 represented a career best. Uwasawa is a three-time NPB All-Star, including a nod this past season.
The two big knocks against Uwasawa from a Major League scouting perspective are his lack of strikeouts (19.67% strikeout rate) and a lack of velocity. Uwasawa’s average fastball clocked in at around 90.8mph in 2023, according to MLBTR’s Dai Takegami Podziewski in the September edition of the NPB Players To Watch feature. While Uwasawa has solid control and obviously his contact-heavy approach has led to great success in Japan, whether or not his stuff will be able to fool MLB hitters over the long term is surely a question front offices are asking themselves as they consider offers.
The Rays have a long history of helping pitchers either achieve new levels of success or turn their careers around entirely, so one would imagine they could be a particularly solid landing spot for a pitcher making the transition from NPB to MLB. Tampa Bay doesn’t have a lengthy history with Japanese pitchers or the posting system in general, yet broadly, any intriguing player who represents something of a bargain signing would appeal to a Rays team that is always looking to keep a limited payroll.
Signing Uwasawa would cost the Rays or any MLB team an additional posting fee to the Fighters, on top of whatever Uwasawa himself would earn in a contract. The Fighters’ release fee would be worth 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the deal’s next $25MM, and then 15% of any money beyond $50MM. If Uwasawa doesn’t agree to a Major League contract by the end of his 45-day posting window, he would return to the Fighters for the 2024 NPB season.
Shin-Soo Choo To Retire After 2024 KBO Season
Longtime big league veteran Shin-Soo Choo announced earlier this week (hat tip to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News) that 2024 will be his final season in pro baseball. The 41-year-old Choo has played with the Korea Baseball Organization’s SSG Landers for the last three seasons, and he’ll spent one more year with the Landers before hanging up his cleats. Choo is essentially playing for free in 2024, as he re-signed with the Landers for a KBO-minimum salary and will donate the sum to charity.
“I decided it was time for me to put a period on my baseball journey that started in 2001,” Choo said in a team statement to the Korea Times and other outlets. “Since the 2024 season will be my last one, I want to show my gratitude to baseball fans, both at home and on the road, and give them long-lasting memories throughout the year.”
Choo hit .275/.377/.447 over 7157 plate appearances and 1652 games in the majors from 2005-20. A “professional hitter” type, Choo delivered a very solid 123 wRC+ over his 16 MLB seasons, always showing a knack for getting on base even in his less-successful seasons at the plate. Choo was also something of an underrated threat power-wise (218 home runs) and on the basepaths (157 steals in 212 chances), as he authored three 20-20 seasons during his big league career.
An international signing for the Mariners in 2000, Choo spent parts of his first two Major League campaigns in Seattle before being traded to Cleveland in July 2006. It was a shrewd acquisition for the Indians, as Choo went on to become a lineup fixture over seven seasons with the Tribe. However, as the team fell out of contention and Choo’s arbitration numbers began to increase, Cleveland dealt Choo to the Reds as part of a three-team, nine-player trade also involving the Diamondbacks in December 2012.
Choo’s lone season in Cincinnati was the best of his career, as he hit .285/.423/.462 with 21 homers and 20 stolen bases over 712 PA for a Reds team that reached the postseason. This great platform year led to a big free agent payday for Choo in the form of a seven-year, $130MM deal with Texas. Such a contract inevitably comes with high expectations, and unfortunately for both Choo and the Rangers, the deal didn’t really work out.
Between injuries and a declining glove, Choo’s value became entirely tied to his bat, and thus producing only good (111 wRC+) numbers in Texas wasn’t enough. Choo ended up generating only 7.5 fWAR over the length of that seven-year deal, and it didn’t help that the franchise as a whole went into a rebuild period during Choo’s tenure. After a pair of tough playoff losses to the Blue Jays in 2015-16, the Rangers didn’t post another winning record for the remaining four seasons of Choo’s deal.
After garnering only limited interest from big league teams during the 2020-21 offseason, Choo decided to head back to his native country and sign with the Landers (then known as the SK Wyverns). Since Choo had signed with the Mariners as an amateur, he had never played in the KBO League prior to 2021, and his homecoming has been a successful one. Choo has hit .259/.391/.427 over his three seasons with the Landers, and the team won the Korean Series in 2022.
Chicago Notes: Lee, Candelario, Pepiot
After losing Jeimer Candelario, Cody Bellinger, and Marcus Stroman to free agency last month, the Cubs figure to look for additional help at the corner infield spots and in the rotation while also continuing a search for a left-handed bat that saw them connected to both Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani before the superstars landed with the Yankees and Dodgers, respectively. According to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, that search for a left-handed bat took them to a somewhat unusual place, as Mooney indicates that Chicago pursued star KBO outfielder Jung Hoo Lee prior to him landing in San Francisco on a six-year, $113MM deal last week.
It’s something of a peculiar fit, as the Cubs have Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki locked into the corner outfield spots with top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong and his 80-grade glove in center field expected to break into the majors as a regular sometime next season. While that hasn’t stopped president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his front office from pursuing Soto and a reunion with Bellinger, it’s worth noting that Bellinger has plenty of experience at first base and that Soto is a fringe defender in the outfield who may be best suited for a DH role. Lee, by contrast, has spent his entire professional career in the outfield and is viewed as a plus defender on the grass with a chance to stick in center.
Despite the uncertain fit, Mooney suggests that the 25-year-old’s youth, left-handed bat, and ability to play center were all attractive factors in the eyes of the Cubs. Speculatively speaking, the club may have seen Lee as a piece who could slot into center field on Opening Day to allow Crow-Armstrong more time to develop in the minors. Upon Crow-Armstrong’s promotion, the club could have utilized the DH slot, where they have no regular starting option, to rest Suzuki, Happ, and Lee by divvying up time in the outfield corners between the three of them while also allowing them to all play on an everyday basis.
More rumblings out of Chicago…
- Sticking with the Cubs, Mooney suggests that the club “didn’t express interest” in retaining Candelario after he hit the open market last month. Candelario came up as a member of the Cubs but was shipped to the Tigers at the 2017 trade deadline alongside infielder Isaac Paredes in exchange for catcher Alex Avila and left-hander Justin Wilson. Candelario made his way back to Chicago this past summer when the Cubs landed him in exchange for infield prospect Kevin Made and lefty relief prospect D.J. Herz. Candelario’s second stint with the Cubs was shortened by a two-week stint on the injured list in September due to a back issue. Though Candelario was a strong fit for the Cubs’ offseason needs as a switch-hitting infielder who can contribute at both infield corners as well as DH, it’s possible the club was turned off from pursuing him by the relatively modest .234/.318/.445 slash line he put up in 157 trips to the plate with Chicago this season. Candelario wound up signing with the Reds on a three-year, $45MM deal earlier this month.
- Looking toward the south side, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the White Sox were interested in right-hander Ryan Pepiot as part of a possible return package while discussing a Dylan Cease trade with the Dodgers earlier this winter. Pepiot ultimately was shipped to the Rays alongside outfielder Jonny DeLuca in exchange for oft-injured ace Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot. It’s unclear if the Dodgers and White Sox are still engaged in discussions regarding Cease following the Glasnow deal, though the Dodgers are certainly in need of multiple starting pitchers this offseason and would surely benefit from the addition of Cease, who sports a 3.54 ERA and 3.40 FIP over the past three seasons, to their rotation mix.
KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Sign Enmanuel De Jesus
Left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus has signed on with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. Yoo indicates that the one-year pact between the sides is worth $800K.
De Jesus, 27 last week, signed with the Red Sox out of Venezuela back in 2014. De Jesus spent seven season with Boston working his way up the minor leagues, largely working out of the rotation despite eclipsing 70 innings of work in a season just twice during that time. From 2021 to 2023, De Jesus jumped between Triple-A affiliates with the Red Sox, Giants, and Marlins organizations, pitching to a 4.61 ERA with a 191 1/3 innings of work throughout the time. De Jesus ultimately got his first look in the big leagues as a September call up with Miami this past autumn. He drew two appearances with the Marlins during the stretch run but struggled in those trips to the mound, allowing eight runs on nine hits and four walks while striking out five and hitting three batters across 6 1/3 innings of work.
Despite his limited exposure at the upper levels of the minors and struggles in his two major league appearances, De Jesus has managed to secure a spot overseas, where he’ll be making more than the major league minimum next season. Clearly, the Heroes see something in De Jesus; as Yoo notes, KBO organizations can only sign three foreign players, with a maximum of two pitchers. For Kiwoom to commit one of those two slots to De Jesus, they were surely intrigued by his profile. De Jesus’s career has been marked with inconsistency as he’s switched between starting and relief roles and shuffled throughout multiple levels of the minors and organizations in recent years, but he posted some impressive peripherals in 101 2/3 innings of work with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in 2022 as he paired a 25.2% strikeout rate with a 42.2% groundball rate.
While De Jesus has yet to establish himself in stateside ball, plenty of players have gone on to has successful careers overseas and even return to the majors later on in their career. Diamondbacks righty Merrill Kelly is perhaps the most successful pitcher to revitalize his career with a sojourn to Korea, though it’s possible that reigning KBO MVP Erick Fedde will join him after signing a two-year pact with the White Sox earlier this season. At just 27 years old, De Jesus is certainly young enough to return to the majors at some point should he successfully establish himself as a quality starter on the other side of the world.
Cody Bellinger Reportedly Seeking $200MM Or More In Free Agency
With superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani now off the board after signing on with the Dodgers, the market has seemingly begun to come into focus for center fielder Cody Bellinger, the clear #2 position player on the free agent market this offseason. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Bellinger and agent Scott Boras are seeking “$200MM plus” in contract talks this winter.
That Bellinger is in position to even approach that figure is nothing short of incredible given the brutal fashion his time in LA came to an end. The outfielder dealt with shoulder, rib, and leg injuries throughout the 2021 season and struggled badly when he managed to take the field that season, posting an abysmal .165/.240/.302 slash line across 350 trips to the plate that season. While he was able to avoid the injured list in 2022, the diminished results lingered as he slashed just .210/.265/.389, prompting the Dodgers to non-tender him last offseason.
Not long after being non-tendered, Bellinger took a one-year deal with the Cubs and entered the 2023 campaign hoping to rebuild his value ahead of another trip to the open market after the season. He certainly succeeded in that effort, slashing .307/.356/.525 while earning a top ten finish in NL MVP voting and the second Silver Slugger award of his career. While this new-look Bellinger came with potential red flags regarding his quality of contact in 2023, MLBTR nonetheless projected him for a twelve-year, $264MM deal in our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, the second-highest projected guarantee after Ohtani.
Since then, many of Bellinger’s potential suitors on the free agent market have gone in other directions. The Yankees landed a trio of left-handed hitting outfielders in Juan Soto, Trent Grisham, and Alex Verdugo on the trade market, seemingly leaving no room for Bellinger on their roster. Meanwhile, the Giants recently landed outfielder Jung Hoo Lee on a six-year, $113MM contract. While it’s certainly feasible that San Francisco could have the resources available to land Bellinger as well, between the club’s existing outfield logjam and need for pitching, it seems more likely that the club would pursue top arms like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and Shota Imanaga than double up on talent in center field with a Bellinger signing.
That’s not to say that Bellinger’s market is completely devoid of suitors, of course. The Blue Jays haven’t been shy about their pursuit of a top-of-the-market lefty slugger this offseason, and Bellinger is the clear best player available to fill that niche with both Ohtani and Soto now off the board. Given that, it’s no surprise that Heyman suggests that Toronto is “expected to be a player” for Bellinger this offseason. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale takes things a step further, suggesting that the Blue Jays could be a “favorite” for the 28-year-old’s services this winter. Looking beyond Toronto, both Heyman and Nightengale also indicate that the incumbent Cubs could be a factor in Bellinger’s market this offseason while Nightengale also suggests the Padres as a potential suitor.
Any interest from Chicago or San Diego seemingly comes with caveats, however. The Padres are reportedly facing severe financial constrains and hope to duck under the luxury tax in 2024, and committing $200MM or more to Bellinger would eat away most of the savings the club procured by dealing Soto and Grisham to the Bronx earlier this month. Meanwhile, reports from Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic indicate that the Cubs could prefer to wait out the market and see if Bellinger “falls” to them on a more palatable deal than the outfielder’s current price tag. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have no such apparent financial restraints or reservations. Of course, it’s possible that another team in need of outfield help such as the Mariners could jump into the fray and change the outlook of Bellinger’s market as the offseason continues.
Mets, Yankees Reportedly Holding Second Meetings With Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto reportedly met with a contingent of Mets officials including owner Steve Cohen, president of baseball operations David Stearns, manager Carlos Mendoza, and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner at Cohen’s home Saturday night, according to a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It’s the second known meeting between the Mets and Yamamoto this offseason following Cohen’s trip to Japan earlier this month. SNY’s Andy Martino reports that Yamamoto will also hold a second meeting with the Yankees while he’s in New York.
Yamamoto, 25, is widely regarded as the top starting pitcher on the free agent market this offseason. His market has begun to heat up in recent weeks, with a report earlier this month indicating that seven top suitors had emerged in the Yamamoto sweepstakes. Subsequent reports have indicated that each of the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Blue Jays, and Phillies have met with Yamamoto, leaving that group as the likely finalists for the youngster’s services. While Martino reports that discussions between the Mets and Yamamoto have not yet reached the stage of a formal offer, Sherman indicates that the bidding process between interested clubs is expected to “intensify” this coming week, with a resolution expected before the end of the calendar year. That’s hardly a surprise, as Yamamoto’s posting window expires on January 4.
With so many big market teams involved in the bidding process, rumors have swirled that Yamamoto’s final price tag could exceed $300MM. Though that hefty sum could factor in the posting fee owed to the Orix Buffaloes as compensation for Yamamoto’s services, it would nonetheless be an astounding contract for the right-hander. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole‘s $324MM pact currently standing as the only contract (except that of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani) among starting pitchers to reach the $300MM threshold. That Yamamoto could even approach that stratosphere without having even thrown a pitch in the majors is a testament to his unique combination of youth and immense talent. Across seven seasons with the Buffaloes, Yamamoto has never posted an ERA above the 2.35 figure of his rookie season and has posted sub-2.00 ERAs in four of his last five seasons, including a microscopic 1.16 ERA in 171 frames this past season.
After parting ways with future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the trade deadline over the summer, the Mets could certainly use the sort of front-of-the-rotation caliber arm Yamamoto projects to be. While the club has already added Luis Severino to its starting staff this offseason, even a bounce-back season from the righty would leave the Mets with holes to fill in a rotation that includes little certainty behind Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. Righty Tylor Megill and lefty Joey Lucchesi appear to be the most likely internal candidates to round out the club’s rotation as things stand.
As for the Yankees, the club is in a somewhat similar boat with little certainty behind Cole. Though lefties Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon have both flashed front-of-the-rotation potential in the past, both southpaws are coming off down seasons in 2023 during which they were plagued by injuries and under performance. Meanwhile, the club has little depth outside of that trio and Clarke Schmidt after shipping rotation candidates Michael King, Randy Vasquez, and Jhony Brito to the Padres in exchange for Juan Soto earlier this month.
One wrinkle in the New York clubs’ pursuits of Yamamoto is their backup plans should he ultimately sign elsewhere. While the Yankees are generally expected to pivot to other top-of-the market arms such as Shota Imanaga in the event they fail to sign Yamamoto, the Mets appear unlikely to do the same. Recent reports have indicated that Stearns’s front office is not expected to pivot to other top-of-the-market options like Imanaga, Jordan Montgomery, and Blake Snell in the event that the club misses on Yamamoto. Per the report, the Mets view Yamamoto as a uniquely valuable player worth splurging on, but would otherwise prefer to focus on shorter-term deals for mid-market arms such as Lucas Giolito as they look to rebuild their rotation mix.