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White Sox, Jhan Marinez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox have signed reliever Jhan Mariñez to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Chicago also added outfielder Cornelius Randolph on a non-roster pact.

Mariñez has 103 MLB appearances under his belt. He broke into the majors as a 21-year-old with the Marlins back in 2010, making four appearances. Regarded at the time as one of the more promising pitching prospects in the Florida farm system, he was sent to the White Sox in September 2011 as compensation for Chicago allowing manager Ozzie Guillén to be released from his contract to take the same role with the Fish. Mariñez made a pair of appearances with the Sox the following season but he was outrighted off their roster after a rough Triple-A showing in 2013.

It took a few seasons for Mariñez to make it back to the major league level, but he found a bit of success upon returning in 2016. After a few innings with the Rays, Mariñez landed in Milwaukee and tossed 58 2/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball. He pitched to a 3.70 mark between three clubs the following season but never missed the kind of bats one would expect from a reliever with a fastball that averaged just under 96 MPH.

Now 33 years old, he’s trying to make his first big league return since an eight-inning stint with the Orioles in 2018. Mariñez’s 3.56 career ERA isn’t bad, but his strikeout and walk numbers (17.1% and 10.2%, respectively) have been underwhelming. The Dominican Republic native has a 3.54 ERA in six career Triple-A seasons, where he’s punched out a more palatable 24.2% of opponents. He’s spent the past two seasons only participating in winter ball action, but he’ll now return to the affiliated ranks and try to pitch his way back onto the big league radar in his second stint with the Sox.

Randolph has never played in the majors, but he garnered some prospect attention early in his career. The Phillies selected him out of a Georgia high school with the tenth overall pick in the 2015 draft. Randolph appeared at the back half of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list the following winter after raking in rookie ball. Always projected to be a left fielder, he had a high offensive bar to clear though. The hope was he’d be a polished enough hitter to overcome those defensive concerns, but that didn’t play out in Philadelphia.

The lefty-hitting Randolph has always drawn a fair amount of walks, but he’s never hit more than 13 home runs in a minor league season. He’s dealt with increasing strikeout issues on his way up the ladder, including a 30.5% strikeout rate in 164 Triple-A plate appearances last year. Randolph owns a .254/.342/.377 line as a professional and hit .235/.323/.386 in his first crack at the minors’ top level. The 24-year-old elected minor league free agency at the end of last season and will try to earn a big league look in his new organization.

Royals Sign Daniel Mengden To Minor League Deal

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The Royals announced this afternoon they’ve signed right-hander Daniel Mengden to a minor league contract. He’s the second veteran hurler to join the organization on a non-roster deal in as many days, as they also added former Astros and Red Sox righty Brad Peacock.

Mengden has spent parts of five seasons in the majors, with the entirety of that time coming in an A’s uniform. The Texas A&M product broke into the big leagues in 2016, starting fourteen games down the stretch. He was tagged for a 6.50 ERA as a rookie, but Mengden found more success keeping runs off the board over the following seasons. He combined for 218 1/3 innings of 4.08 ERA ball over 42 outings (including 33 starts) from 2017-19.

Despite that run of decent results, Mengden annually posted below-average strikeout and ground-ball rates. He excelled at avoiding walks between 2017-18 but saw the free passes spike to a 10.4% mark over 59 2/3 frames in 2019. Mengden’s ERA sat at 4.83 that season, which has marked his last real look at the big league level. He worked just 12 1/3 innings over four outings in the shortened 2020 campaign before Oakland outrighted him off their 40-man roster that September.

Mengden elected minor league free agency and signed with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization last offseason. He proved a solid pickup, tossing 120 frames of 3.60 ERA ball with a 20.7% strikeout rate and a 7% walk percentage for the Gwangju-based club. The 29-year-old returns to affiliated ball in hopes of pitching his way back to the bigs with a Kansas City team that has a fair amount of talented young starters but not a whole lot of rotation certainty.

A .350 opponents’ batting average on balls in play was a big culprit behind Brady Singer posting a 4.91 ERA last season, but estimators (4.04 FIP, 4.30 SIERA) were more favorable. Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic are former top prospects, but both struggled in 2021. That was also the case for veterans Brad Keller and (to a lesser extent) Mike Minor, although both seem likely to get season-opening rotation roles based on their career resumes. Hard-throwing righty Carlos Hernández and another former top prospect, Jackson Kowar, also started games last season, while Angel Zerpa made his big league debut during the final week of the year. Kansas City no doubt plans to get most of those hurlers continued work, although the lack of big league track record for the majority of those arms could give Mengden a chance to pitch his way onto the big league roster with a solid Spring Training and/or start at Triple-A Omaha.

Codi Heuer Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Cubs reliever Codi Heuer underwent Tommy John surgery recently, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. Heuer himself revealed that he’d undergone what looked to be a major arm procedure on Instagram earlier today. He’ll now be sidelined for the 2022 season.

Because Heuer is on the 40-man roster, he’s been restricted from working out with the Cubs or speaking to the team’s medical staff. As such, the injury occurred at a workout that was not supervised by the team and, presumably, the surgery was recommended by third-party medical experts as well. He’ll begin the rehab process without the assistance of the Cubs’ medical staff, though he’ll obviously be able to work with team doctors and trainers once the lockout is finally lifted.

Heuer, 25, was acquired from the White Sox alongside Nick Madrigal in the crosstown July trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the South Side. The 2018 sixth-round pick had a dominant debut campaign in 2020, pitching to a 1.52 ERA with a 27.2% strikeout rate, a 9.8% walk rate and a 50% grounder rate in 23 2/3 innings of relief. His results slipped in 2021, however, as he slumped to an ERA north of 5.00 in his first 38 2/3 innings prior to that trade. Heuer’s struggles perhaps contributed to the ChiSox’ desire to acquire Kimbrel — a move that ultimately proved regrettable from the White Sox’ vantage point. Kimbrel struggled enormously following the swap, and he’s widely reported to be a trade candidate whenever the lockout lifts.

While the 2022 season will now be a lost one for Heuer, he can still be a prominent piece of the Cubs’ long-term relief corps. He’ll be controllable for three more seasons beyond the 2022 campaign and, if he’s able to pitch closer to his 2020 form than his 2021 upon returning, ought to be a candidate for high-leverage work before long. Heuer averaged 97.8 mph on his fastball as a rookie and posted a strong 14.4% swinging-strike rate that season.

Heuer’s velocity dipped a bit in ’21 and his fastball was hit quite a bit harder as a result — but opponents have been been embarrassingly feeble against Heuer’s offspeed offerings. Fifty-eight times so far in his young career, Heuer has ended a plate appearance while throwing a slider. He’s picked up 21 strikeouts in that time, and opponents have batted just .125/.171/.167 against the pitch. It’s been a similar story with his changeup; in 57 plate appearances ending on that pitch, opponents fanned 23 times and posted a .155/.219/.155 batting line. The slider has generated a 21.5% swinging-strike rate, while the changeup is even better at 26.6%.

With Heuer now out for the upcoming season, Rowan Wick becomes the even heavier favorite to pick up saves in the Cubs’ bullpen. They’ll quite likely be in the market for some additional bullpen help once the lockout ends, as Heuer, Wick and lefty Brad Wieck were the only three members of the currently projected relief corps who have even topped one year of Major League service time. Non-roster invitees like Jonathan Holder, Eric Yardley and Kevin McCarthy will all vie for bullpen jobs, but there’s a pretty clear need for some more established veteran arms to help piece the staff together.

Royals Sign Brad Peacock

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12:00pm: The Royals have now formally announced the signing.

11:39am: The Royals have signed right-hander Brad Peacock to a minor league contract, per their transactions log at MLB.com. The former Astros hurler was eligible to sign during the lockout because he wasn’t on a 40-man roster at season’s end, though he did briefly pitch with the Red Sox in 2021.

Now 34 years old, Peacock has spent the bulk of his career in Houston, appearing in parts of eight seasons as an Astro. He was a particularly versatile and vital member of the pitching staff from 2016-19, when he amassed 320 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball and split his time between the rotation and bullpen — pitching quite well in both roles. Unfortunately for both Peacock and the Astros, shoulder and neck injuries derailed his 2019-20 seasons. Peacock ultimately underwent shoulder surgery in October 2020 after he’d been limited to just 2 1/3 innings that season.

Peacock signed on with Cleveland last offseason and was traded to Boston in late August (a post-deadline deal made possible by the fact that he’d been on a minor league contract and had not been on the 40-man roster at any point prior). He made two appearances as a replacement player following a Covid-19 outbreak on the Red Sox and was tagged for nine runs in 5 1/3 innings before being returned to Triple-A (and removed from the 40-man roster). Things didn’t go much better for Peacock in Triple-A, as he combined for an 8.00 ERA in 36 innings between his two stops.

There’s obviously a good bit of work to do for Peacock to reestablish himself, but it’s easy to see why a team would take a flier on an arm of his caliber. At his peak, in 2018, Peacock punched out a dominant 35.3% of his opponents against just a 7.4% walk rate. He’s absolutely overwhelmed right-handed opponents throughout his career, yielding an awful .199/.280/.338 batting line in those situations. Lefties have generally been a problem for Peacock (career .265/.349/.480), as has turning a lineup over for a third time. That said, if his shoulder and neck are healed up from his 2019-20 woes, he could prove a similarly successful minor league reclamation project to Trevor Rosenthal and Greg Holland from the 2020 Royals.

As things stand, there are already a few spots spoken for in the K.C. bullpen. Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, Jake Brentz and Domingo Tapia all likely have spots locked down. Well-traveled righty Joel Payamps had a solid showing in 2021 and is also out of minor league options, which could give him the inside track on a fifth spot. Gabe Speier and Dylan Coleman were strong in small showings but will likely have to earn a spot in Spring Training (whatever form that takes). At the very least, there appears to be an opening for a veteran swingman — a role with which Peacock is quite familiar.

Read The Transcript Of Our Live Chat With Former MLB Outfielder Jonny Gomes

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Drafted in the 18th round by the Devil Rays out of Santa Rosa Junior College back in 2001, Jonny Gomes established himself as a Major Leaguer four years later with a third-place Rookie of the Year finish.  In his 13-year career, Gomes played for the Rays, Reds, Nationals, Athletics, Red Sox, Braves, and Royals.  He also played for Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Gomes was perhaps best known for his hard-nosed style of play.  As Gary Shelton of the Tampa Bay Times put it, “There is nothing laid-back, nothing calm about Gomes. He lives his life as if there are two outs in the ninth and the bases are loaded and the bars are closing and the fuse is burning and the air is running out.”  From 2005-15, Gomes was hit by a pitch roughly once every 49 plate appearances, the 12th most-often in MLB.

Serving primarily as a left fielder and designated hitter, Gomes hit 162 home runs in his career.  He hit at least 17 home runs in a season six different times, usually in fewer than 120 games.  A right-handed hitter, Gomes terrorized southpaws throughout his time in the Majors.  The list of pitchers he’s taken deep includes CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Chris Sale, and Randy Johnson.

The biggest home run of Gomes’ career came in Game 4 of the 2013 World Series for the Red Sox against Seth Maness and the Cardinals in St. Louis.  Despite not being in the original starting lineup that day, Gomes crushed a three-run shot that led to Boston’s win.  The Red Sox won it in six games, and Gomes’ patriotism was on full display at the White House.  Gomes would go on to pick up the second ring of his career in 2015 with the Royals before retiring in 2016.

Earlier this month, Gomes joined BaseballCloud as its Director of Strategic Partnerships.  Part of his role involves the expansion of the company’s optical tracking system, Yakkertech.  You can follow Gomes on Instagram here and connect with him on Cameo here.

Today, we were proud to host Jonny for a live chat with MLBTR readers.  Click here to read the transcript of today’s chat!

If you’re a current or former MLB player, come do a chat with us!  It only takes one hour, and you get to choose which questions you publish and answer.  Click here to contact us.

MLB Launches Fund For Spring Training Workers Impacted By Canceled Games

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Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it has launched a $1MM fund to help support Spring Training workers who have been impacted by the cancellation of Grapefruit League and Cactus League games. Funds will be issued by clubs based on individual need, and will be available to part-time and seasonal workers, including concession workers, grounds crew, security, clubhouse operators, general ballpark operators and game operators.

“We know that our sport is facing a challenging time as we work toward a new collective bargaining agreement,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement announcing the fund. “Regrettably, the people who make Spring Training a first-class experience for our fans have been affected through no fault of their own. As an institution, Major League Baseball and our Clubs remain committed to supporting our most vulnerable staff. We hope this fund will alleviate some of the financial concerns they have faced due to missed Grapefruit and Cactus League games this spring.”

MLB’s press release indicates that an additional fund will be established for seasonal and part-time employees who will be impacted by the potential loss of regular-season games as well. The MLBPA established a $1MM fund last Friday to support stadium workers who will be impacted by the cancellation of regular-season games.

The league and the union are set to continue negotiations today. Major League Baseball has characterized today as yet another deadline, suggesting that a 162-game season cannot be played if no deal is reached Tuesday.

MLB, MLBPA Continue Negotiations; MLB Suggests Tuesday As Latest Deadline For 162-Game Season

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March 8: SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that MLB’s most recent proposal does not include any movement on the pre-arbitration bonus pool. The league is still offering a flat $30MM pool with no increases over the five-year term of the agreement. The MLBPA had lowered its ask from a $115MM peak to $80MM at last check, though the union was also believed to be seeking annual increases to the size of the pool.

March 7, 10:52 pm:  Jeff Passan of ESPN writes that if an agreement were to come together Tuesday, Spring Training camps could open as soon as Friday. However, he cautions that the gaps between the two sides remain significant enough to “temper expectations” about a deal coming to fruition.

8:50 pm: MLB offered to raise the base luxury tax threshold to $228MM next season, with that figure rising to $238MM over the course of the CBA, Drellich reports. That’s a fairly notable jump over MLB’s previous offers to start that mark at $220MM and rise to $230MM by 2026, and it’d be an $18MM year-over-year jump from last season’s $210MM mark.

However, Drellich cautions that the league’s offer to move on the CBT came with “major strings attached.” Those conditions aren’t clear, although MLB has sought a 14-team playoff field and a draft for international amateurs in past proposals and could again be trying to get the MLBPA’s approval on either or both topics. The union has been seeking to increase the CBT to $238MM next season and move to $263MM by the end of the CBA.

8:29 pm: After yesterday’s proposal from the MLB Players Association to the league was met with hostility, lead negotiators reconvened today, reports Evan Drellich of the Athletic (Twitter link). They’re expected to meet again Tuesday, and MLB has suggested those discussions could be of particular importance.

Drellich reports that the league views tomorrow as the deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement to be in place to conduct a 162-game season (and with it, a full year of salary and service time for players). He and colleague Ken Rosenthal add that the league has informed the union it expects to cancel another week’s worth of games if no deal is done. Commissioner Rob Manfred already announced the cancelation of the first two series of the regular season last week, and the league had previously been adamant those games would not be made up. It now seems MLB is willing to entertain that possibility, although only if a new CBA is finalized on Tuesday.

This marks at least the second (arguably the third) time the league has imposed a deadline for an agreement to avoid the loss of regular season games. MLB had previously set February 28 at 11:59 pm EST as a marker to avoid delays to Opening Day. With the parties beginning to close the gap in negotiations that evening, the league pushed back that deadline to March 1 at 5:00 pm EST. Ultimately, no agreement was reached — the league claimed the union upped its demands overnight, while the MLBPA accused the league of exaggerating the previous night’s progress in the first place — and Manfred announced the cancelation of the first two series that evening.

The union expressed its displeasure with that decision. MLB had unilaterally instituted the lockout and set the end of February deadline for an agreement, while the MLBPA maintained that further negotiations should proceed without game cancelations. It’s not clear whether the union views tomorrow’s league-imposed deadline in the same manner. We’re a bit more than three weeks from the originally scheduled Opening Day, March 31. It seems likely that with those first two series already canceled, the path to 162 games would involve reworking the schedule and/or instituting doubleheaders rather than simply putting those games back on the docket.

Even if the lockout lingers to a point where everyone agrees a 162-game season is unfeasible, it stands to reason the union would embark on some efforts to recoup pay and service time lost. MLB instituted the lockout, after all, and their initial game cancelations were imposed over the objections of the union. MLBPA lead negotiator Bruce Meyer stated in the immediate aftermath of Manfred’s announcement it was the union’s position that players should receive compensation for games lost. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted last week, a battle regarding service time could be even more important than any dispute over pay.

Whether the parties will be able to come to an agreement tomorrow remains to be seen, but the recent tenor hasn’t been promising. There’s still a sizable gap on issues such as the competitive balance tax and the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players. Rosenthal wrote yesterday the league is willing to move in the players’ favor on the CBT in exchange for concessions by the union in other areas, but MLB’s other demands aren’t clear.

The league presented a formal counterproposal to the PA’s most recent offer at today’s call, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). According to Nightengale, that “(included) flexibility on several issues,” but it doesn’t seem the union viewed it that favorably. One player involved in discussions tells Rosenthal the offer remained too tilted towards MLB’s interests, while another said he was “done getting (his) hopes up” for an agreement.

Phillies Sign Justin Williams, Four Others To Minor League Deals

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The Phillies have signed former Cardinals outfielder Justin Williams to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The Roc Nation Sports client has been invited to big league camp, whenever Spring Training gets underway. He was eligible to sign during the lockout by virtue of going unclaimed on outright waivers and electing minor league free agency at the end of the 2021 season.

Also joining the organization are right-hander James Marvel, infielder Drew Maggi, catcher Karl Ellison and first baseman Joe Genord. There are no Major League Spring Training invites listed for that quartet, though Marvel, who has some limited MLB experience, and minor league veteran Maggi could still end up there down the line.

Williams, 26, is the most notable name of the bunch. The former second-round pick (D-backs, 2013) has been involved in a pair of notable trades in the past — first going from Arizona to Tampa Bay in exchange for Jeremy Hellickson and second going from Tampa to St. Louis as one of the headliners in the Tommy Pham deal. Williams was a well-regarded prospect at all three stops and has had plenty of minor league success, but he’s yet to put things together in the big leagues.

With the Rays, Williams received only one lone plate appearance in 2018, and it wasn’t until this past season in 2021, when he received any kind of real look in St. Louis. The Cards gave him 137 plate appearances over the course of 51 games in ’21, but Williams batted just .160/.270/.261 while fanning in a third of his plate appearances. Williams walked in 12.4% of those plate appearances, however, and when he did make contact, it was quite loud. His 92.1 mph average exit velocity is excellent, and 52.1% of his batted balls had at least a 95 mph exit velocity.

Williams hits the ball on the ground too often, but his penchant for hard contact has been interesting to scouts throughout his minor league tenure. The grounder-heavy output at the plate has limited him to a career-high 14 home runs, but he’s a career .294/.340/.438 hitter in the minors — including a .272/.330/.442 slash in parts of three Triple-A seasons. Defensively, he’s limited to the outfield corners and posted roughly average marks in 294 innings last year (+1 DRS, -0.5 UZR, -1 OAA).

Turning to the 28-year-old Marvel, he’s spent his entire pro career to date with the Pirates organization, who called him up to the big leagues and gave him four starts during the 2019 season. That brief cup of coffee didn’t go well, as Marvel was tagged for 16 runs in 17 1/3 innings while posting just a 9-to-6 K/BB ratio.

Marvel had a terrific minor league season in 2019, pitching to a combined 2.94 ERA in 162 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A, but he was nevertheless passed through waivers at the end of the season. He didn’t make the Pirates’ 60-man player pool in 2020, and he struggled in his return effort in Triple-A in 2021, logging a 5.26 ERA in 131 2/3 frames. Even with that rough ’21 campaign, Marvel has a career 4.45 ERA in Triple-A and a career 3.82 mark through the minors as a whole. He doesn’t throw particularly hard or miss many bats, but Marvel typically registers grounder rates around 50% with low walk rates.

The 32-year-old Maggi nearly made his MLB debut with the Twins last season. However, after selecting Maggi’s contract late in September, Minnesota surprisingly did not give the 11-year minor league veteran the opportunity to get into a game and make that long-awaited debut. It was an unfortunate footnote in a generally dismal Twins season. Maggi, who has ample experience at shortstop, third base and second base, is a career .263/.362/.401 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons and will hope to finally step into a big league game at some point with the Phils this season.

Genord, 25, was the Mets’ ninth-round pick as recently as 2019 but was released last August after hitting .203/.264/.353 in 227 plate appearances at the High-A level, where he was already older than the average competition he was facing. Ellison, 26, went undrafted out of college and has spent two seasons with the independent Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League. He hit .256/.303/.422 there last season.

Matt Szczur Announces Retirement

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Former MLB outfielder Matt Szczur announced his retirement this afternoon. The 32-year-old saw big league action in five straight seasons from 2014-18, with the bulk of that time spent with the Cubs.

Chicago selected Szczur in the fifth round of the 2010 draft out of Villanova. The righty-hitting outfielder was named a Top 100 prospect by Baseball America two years later and made his MLB debut in August 2014. Sczcur spent the next few seasons as a part-time player with the Cubs, tallying 200 plate appearances of .259/.312/.400 hitting for the World Series-winning team in 2016.

The Padres acquired him in a minor trade the following May, and he’d remain in San Diego for the next season and a half. Szczur tallied a career-high 237 trips to the plate over 119 games in 2017 but was limited to 57 games the following year. He’s bounced around the league via minors deals the past few years, including a 30-game stint with the Cardinals’ top affiliate last season. The New Jersey native didn’t get back to the majors, though, and his playing career came to an end when he was released by St. Louis in June.

Szczur moves on from baseball owner of a .231/.312/.355 career line with 12 home runs over 667 plate appearances. He played parts of ten seasons in the minors and hit .273/.332/.401 over five years at Triple-A. Interestingly, he noted as part of his announcement (the full extent of which can be found  via Twitter thread) that he’s embarking on a career as an artist. “Baseball is and always will be a part of me, but it’s time to trade in my bat for a brush. I’m looking forward to being a husband, father, family member, and friend.” MLBTR congratulates Szczur on his playing days and wishes him the best in his next endeavors.

Kwang-Hyun Kim Signs Four-Year Deal With KBO’s SSG Landers

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Kwang-Hyun Kim is returning to South Korea. The former Cardinals southpaw has a four-year deal with the SSG Landers, his former team in the Korea Baseball Organization (relayed by Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap). He receives a guarantee of approximately $12.3MM.

Daniel Kim reported this morning the Landers had tendered a status check on the southpaw. That indicated they were interested in bringing the Seoul native back to South Korea, and he and the team wrapped up a deal fairly quickly thereafter. Kim starred for the Landers (then known as the SK Wyverns) for the entirety of his career before making the jump to MLB over the 2019-20 offseason.

He’ll now return to the Incheon-based club, with whom he made his professional debut as an 18-year-old back in 2007. By his second season, he’d developed into a high-end starting pitcher. He posted a 2.39 ERA across 162 innings during his sophomore campaign, kicking off a stretch of three consecutive years with an ERA below 3.00. Kim didn’t quite sustain that kind of run prevention long-term, but he’d log 130+ frames with a sub-4.00 mark in five of his next eight seasons. That included a 2.51 ERA in a personal-best 190 1/3 innings in 2019, a strong showing that set the stage for him to come to North America the following winter.

The Wyverns made Kim available to MLB teams via the posting process, and he landed with the Cardinals on a two-year, $8MM deal. 2020 proved an anomalous year, as the season was delayed, shortened and played without fan attendance. Teams also had to deal with tight COVID-19 protocols, and the Cardinals’ season was put on hold for a couple weeks by a virus outbreak that necessitated a spate of late-season doubleheaders.

That was no doubt an especially stressful time for a player acclimating to a new environment and league, but Kim performed well in his first MLB season. He worked to a 1.62 ERA over 39 innings, compensating for a mediocre 15.6% strikeout rate by throwing a solid amount of strikes (7.8% walk percentage) and inducing ground-balls on over half the balls in play against him. Kim certainly benefited from the Cardinals’ stellar infield defense and an inflated 86.6% strand rate, but he also showed the makings of a capable rotation piece.

He backed that up over a greater body of work last year. Kim tallied 106 2/3 frames with a 3.46 ERA, again succeeding despite a lack of missed bats and a fastball that typically checked in around 90 MPH. His 47.4% grounder rate remained above-average, and he found success both in an early-season rotation role and in a bullpen stint after some elbow inflammation sent him to the injured list in mid-August.

Between his two seasons, Kim tallied 145 2/3 frames of 2.97 ERA ball. Fielding independent metrics (4.22 FIP and 4.89 SIERA) indicate he was probably fortunate to keep runs off the board at that clip. Yet even had his ERA been more aligned with peripherals that suggested he was a back-of-the-rotation arm, he’d have still easily outperformed the cost of the Cards’ modest investment.

In all likelihood, those will prove Kim’s career numbers at the big league level. He’s 33 years old (34 in July), so the four-year term will keep him with the Landers through his age-36 season. While it’s possible he could try to explore another jump to MLB at that point, it’s more probable he’ll play out the remainder of his career in his home country.

Kim’s return to Korea may also be the first instance of the ongoing lockout definitively leading a player to leave the majors. As recently as mid-February, it appeared as though Kim had intended to wait out the work stoppage and continue his MLB career. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored at the time, he appeared to have a shot at a multi-year deal. Kim’s ground-ball tendencies, control and excellent numbers when facing batters the first time in an outing made him an intriguing option for clubs seeking both rotation and left-handed relief help. With teams barred from communicating with major league free agents for more than three months (and counting), he’ll bypass that uncertainty and return to a familiar setting with the Landers on a long-term deal.

That’s not to say Kim “settled” for a return to Korea. His deal is worth 15.1 billion won, not coincidentally topping 15 billion won deals for Sung-bum Na and Dae-ho Lee that had previously been the largest guarantees in KBO history. Setting that record is presumably a point of pride for Kim, and he’d not have garnered a four-year guarantee had he remained in MLB. However, big league teams may have been willing to offer more than the roughly $3.075MM in average annual salary he’ll make on this deal had it been a typical offseason. A few other players have made the jump from MLB to foreign pro leagues this winter, but Kim would probably have garnered the most interest of that group had teams been able to keep in contact with his reps over the past few months.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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