Revolving door starting to swing for foreigners
Felix Jose, here in a Lotte Giants uniform, has been released by the Busan-based team. He was one of three foreign players in the Korean baseball league released over the weekend. [NEWSIS]
But Jose, a former major league All-Star with the St. Louis Cardinals, flunked the “What have you done for me lately?” test last week.
The Giants released Jose last Friday, making him the first foreign player to leave the Korean league last week. Two other teams, the Kia Tigers and the Samsung Lions, each released a foreign player over the weekend.
Jose had been battling an Achilles tendon injury in his left foot, and had only one home run and 12 RBI before Friday. That lone home run came Thursday against the SK Wyverns.
To replace Jose, the Giants signed right-handed infielder Eduardo Rios, 34, currently with the Mexican league, for $160,000. He is expected to join the team this Friday.
Jose made an immediate impact on the Giants upon joining the team in 1999, hitting 36 home runs and driving in 122 runs, along with a .327 batting average. In 2001, Jose led the Korean league in slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Jose left Lotte after 2001 and played sparingly over the next two years for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the U.S. major league. He came back to Korea for the 2006 season, and had 22 home runs and 78 RBI. But the injury had affected his balance and mobility.
“We’d been looking for his replacement all along, and it was basically a day-to-day thing with Jose,” said the Giants’ manager Kang Byung-cheol. “We feel we’ve given him enough opportunity.”
The team’s hitting coach, Kim Moo-gwan, was more upfront, saying, “I felt we had a better lineup without Jose. He was only trying to hit a long ball every time up, but he wasn’t great at making contact.”
Kang said he hadn’t seen Rios play in person. According to Baseball America, The Venezuela native hit 10 home runs and had 32 RBI with a .358 average in 41 games with Mexico’s Rieleros de Aguascalientes.
Just a day after signing former major leaguer Choi Hee-seop, the last-place Kia Tigers on Friday released 30-year-old American starting pitcher Seth Etherton. They signed American Jason Hall Scobie at $198,000 from the Toronto Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse.
Scobie, 27, has appeared in seven games for Syracuse this year, including three starts, and has a 1-2 record with a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings pitched. Kia officials said they liked Scobie’s control on breaking pitches.
Etherton, an ex-major league starter, last with the Kansas City Royals, started six games for the Tigers, going 2-2 with a 4.22 earned run average.
Kim Sung-han, former Tigers manager and now color commentator for cable station MBC-ESPN, said Etherton didn’t have a definitive pitch to get batters out.
“He throws fastballs quite often, but he doesn’t have either great velocity or command,” Kim said. “And what’s worse is he can’t throw breaking pitches for strikes, either.”
Finally, the Samsung Lions, the two-time defending champs struggling in seventh place, dumped right-handed starter Kris Wilson in favor of southpaw starter Brian Mazone on Saturday.
Mazone, 30, had been with the Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton Wilkes-Barre. In 2006, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound American led the International League in ERA with 2.03, and also had a 13-3 record in 20 starts.
Despite a 3.79 ERA, the 30-year-old Wilson, a one-time New York Yankee, had only gone 1-6 in seven starts, striking out just nine in 38 innings. His last start was Friday against the Hyundai Unicorns. He pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up three earned runs in Samsung’s 6-2 loss.
The Lions scored just one run in three of Wilson’s six losses, and were shutout 1-0 by the Doosan Bears on April 7.
Kim, the TV commentator, has broadcast two of Wilson’s starts this year. Kim was “surprised” that Wilson had been let go. “Wilson wasn’t a fireballer by any means, but he’s had pretty good command of all of his pitches,” he said.
Last year, former New York Mets’ pitcher Manny Aybar, then with the LG Twins, became the first foreigner to be released on May 16, but he hadn’t pitched for LG due to an elbow injury. It wasn’t until June that teams began replacing struggling import players.
Why the quick change this year? Kim suggested that teams are becoming more impatient with the foreign players, most of whom have major league experience.
“Clubs bring veterans in and want to see good results quickly,” the analyst said.
“Teams don’t want to wait to see how the future will unfold, like they would with younger players. So when foreigners struggle, it’s time for teams to get rid of them and bring new faces. That’s the reality.”
In the past, replacing foreigners in mid-season yielded mixed results. The Tigers acquired pitcher Seth Greisinger in July 2005, and he won six games in the second half.
In 2006, Greisinger, who was a first-round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in 1996, went 14-12 with a 3.02 ERA to help the Tigers reach the postseason. He is now pitching for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japan.
On the other hand, the Giants last year cut struggling infielder and ex-Los Angeles Dodger Brian Myrow in July, and signed John Gall, formerly with the Cardinals. Despite 12 home runs in 70 games, Myrow was only hitting .231. Gall wasn’t much better, hitting .243 in 43 games with no home runs.
The Giants did not re-sign Gall last winter.
There is also an administrative motivation for clubs to replace foreign players early in the season when they feel the incumbents getting the job done. Under league rules, foreign players acquired after Aug. 15 cannot play in the postseason.
Thus, when they have an opportunity to sign a player of their liking, teams tend to move quickly ― the earlier the foreign players arrive here, the more time they have to adjust to the new league before the stretch drive.
There are two foreigners allowed per team in the eight-team league.
By Yoo Jee-ho Staff Writer [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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