Yoon, Orioles finalize $5.6m, three-year deal

SARASOTA, Florida (AP) ― South Korean right-hander Yoon Suk-min and the Baltimore Orioles have finalized a three-year contract for $5,575,000, a deal that could escalate to $13,075,000 if the pitcher starts 26 or more games each season.The 27-year-old was 73-59 with a 3.19 ERA in nine seasons with the KIA Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization.Yoon is expected to compete for a spot in Baltimore’s starting rotation.Yoon gets a $675,000 signing bonus under the agreement announced Monday, payabl

Feb. 18, 2014

S. Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min officially signs with Baltimore Orioles

South Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min has officially signed a multiyear contract with the Baltimore Orioles after passing his physical, the Major League Baseball (MLB) club announced Tuesday (Korean time).The Orioles said they will formally introduce Yoon at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon in Sarasota, Fla., the site of the O's spring training camp.Yoon's deal is worth $5.75 million for three years, and the value could hit around $13 million with performance-based incentives. According to th

Feb. 18, 2014

Yoon passes Orioles’ physical, deal becomes official: reports

South Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min has passed the physical with the Baltimore Orioles, making his multiyear deal with the Major League Baseball club official, U.S. reports said on Sunday.MLB Daily Dish, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, said the South Korean right-hander has cleared the physical and the deal will be announced in the coming days.The Orioles haven’t made an official announcement of Yoon’s signing, which was first reported on Thursday, but the team has scheduled a pre

Feb. 17, 2014

S. Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min reaches agreement with Baltimore Orioles: reports

South Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min has reached an agreement with the Baltimore Orioles, pending a physical, multiple U.S. reports said on Thursday.CBS Sports.com said the right-hander has agreed to join the Major League Baseball team but will have to pass the team's physical. Another report on MLB.com said the deal is worth $5.75 million over three years.Earlier this week, Yoon tweeted a photo of himself wearing an Orioles cap, fueling speculation that a deal was imminent. The Orioles said there

Feb. 14, 2014

Jeter: Yankees have to move on without A-Rod

TAMPA, Florida (AP) ― Derek Jeter says the New York Yankees have no choice but to move forward now that Alex Rodriguez has accepted his suspension for the 2014 season.Rodriguez ended his extended and acrimonious fight with Major League Baseball on Friday, withdrawing a pair of lawsuits that were filed in an attempt to overturn a season-long ban for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal ― the longest penalty in the sport’s history related to performance-enhancing drugs.Jeter spoke Monday at t

Feb. 11, 2014

Busan to sign agreement with baseball body to build Hall of Fame

The southern port city of Busan will soon reach an agreement with the national governing body of professional baseball to build the sport's Hall of Fame, officials said on Saturday.They said Busan, the nation's second-largest city, will sign a deal next month with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and the county of Kijang within the city to open the Hall of Fame by 2016.Building the commemorative hall is part of the KBO's project to celebrate more than 100 years of baseball and 30-plus years

Jan. 25, 2014

Closer Oh hopes to minimize mistakes in first Japanese season

South Korean pitcher Oh Seung-hwan said Thursday he hopes to keep his mistakes to a minimum as he prepares for his first season in Japan.The new Hanshin Tigers closer left Seoul to join the Nippon Professional Baseball club on Thursday, after spending one day at home to handle administrative matters.Oh, the all-time leader with 277 career saves in the Korea Baseball Organization here, signed a two-year deal with the Tigers in November.Looking tanned and visibly slimmer, the 31-year-old right-han

Jan. 23, 2014

MLB approves expanded replay starting this season

PARADISE VALLEY, Arizona (AP) ― Ever since the game was invented, before television or even radio existed, baseball counted on the eyes and ears of umpires on the field. Starting this season, many key decisions will be made in a studio far away.Major League Baseball vaulted into the 21st century of technology on Thursday, approving a huge expansion of instant replay in hopes of eliminating blown calls that riled up players, managers and fans.“I think it’s great,” San Francisco Giants manager Bru

Jan. 17, 2014

Kershaw, Dodgers agree at $215m

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Pitcher Clayton Kershaw agreed Wednesday to a $215 million, seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press, a deal that makes the two-time Cy Young Award winner baseball’s first player with a $30 million average salary.The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been announced.Kershaw receives the most lucrative deal for a pitcher, breaking the mark of $180 million set by Just

Jan. 16, 2014

MLB takes formal step for big league clubs to sign S. Korean pitcher

Major League Baseball (MLB) has requested a status check on South Korean star pitcher Yoon Suk-min, baseball officials here said Tuesday, a formal administrative step before a big league club can sign any professional player from Korea.The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said it informed MLB that Yoon is eligible for free agency after being asked about the 28-year-old's status in the top domestic league.The request is the second of its kinds after MLB first tendered a status check to the KBO i

Jan. 14, 2014

KBO clubs set to open training camps

All nine clubs in the top South Korean baseball league will begin their overseas training camps this week, starting their offseason preparation in earnest.The Korea Baseball Organization clubs will all leave the country on Wednesday and spend around 50 days in warmer regions before returning home in early March.Away from the biting winter in South Korea, the three-time defending champs Samsung Lions, along with pitchers and catchers of the Kia Tigers, will set up their camps on the Pacific islan

Jan. 14, 2014

KBO abolishes salary cap on foreign players

The top domestic baseball league decided Tuesday to abolish the salary cap imposed on foreign players, a move that followed a series of controversial signings of late.The presidents of teams in the Korea Baseball Organization agreed to get rid of the $300,000 salary cap in their board meeting.The KBO clubs have increasingly faced allegations that they hadn’t been honoring the salary cap and that they were paying their foreign players more money under the table, bringing into question the effecti

Jan. 14, 2014

Ryu: Lions ready for fresh start

After his team won the past three South Korean baseball titles in a row, Ryu Joong-il, manager of the Samsung Lions, said the club is ready for a fresh start.The Lions held their inaugural meeting of 2014 at their training facility in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Afterward, Ryu told reporters the Lions will face a crossroads in the 2014 Korea Baseball Organization season.“When a team at the top stays complacent, then it’s bound to take a fall,” t

Jan. 13, 2014

A-Rod’s ban cut to 162 games

NEW YORK (AP) ― Alex Rodriguez’s drug suspension was cut to 162 games from 211 by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, a decision the New York Yankees third baseman vowed to fight in federal court.Rodriguez also would be sidelined for any postseason games this year under the ruling announced Saturday.“The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “This is one man’s decision, that was not put before a fair and imparti

Jan. 12, 2014