:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/28543473/162954345.0.jpg)
Jon Heyman reports that the Orioles and Korean pitcher Suk-min Yoon have agreed on a contract. I'm not going to embed Heyman's tweet about it here because his refusal to use capital letters infuriates me. But here is the link to his story about it.
Britt Ghiroli of MLB.com has confirmed the signing and got some terms:
According to a Major Lg source Os agreed to 3 year 5.75 contract w Yoon pending physical
— Brittany Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) February 13, 2014
Mark gave a good outline of Yoon's stats a few days ago after Yoon tweeted a picture of himself, so he'll forgive me if I just pull from that:
Who is Suk-min Yoon? He won the 2011 MVP award for the KBO while pitching for the Kia Tigers, putting up a 2.45 ERA with a 9.3 K/9 and a 2.3 BB/9 over 175.2 innings. That is good indeed, though it's against a vastly different level of competition.
...
ESPN's Keith Law ranked Yoon as #37 on his top 50 free agents of this offseason, noting that changeup and slider give him potential to end up as a fourth or fifth starter, rather than as a bullpen arm. There is disagreement among teams about whether he should be considered a starter or reliever.
Here is an excerpt of what Law said about Yoon:
In 2013, he dropped to 87-90 mph and had to rely even more on his secondary stuff, only getting his velocity back in relief work. His fastball is true and up in the zone, so it's more likely he ends up in relief here than in a rotation, but I'd at least give him a chance to show he can miss enough bats with the changeup and slider to end up a fourth or fifth fourth starter.
I would rate this as a very solid signing by the Orioles, even if it lacks the splash some of us were hoping for. If he can stick as a #4 starter over three years, the $5.75 million price tag will be a tremendous deal. If he can be a valuable member of the bullpen who makes a start from time to time, that's still a good deal.
So welcome to Birdland, Suk-min Yoon! Please pass your physical. Turns out that tweet of him in an O's hat did mean something after all.
짜잔~~^^ pic.twitter.com/0Jud1odB76
— Yoon_sm-(윤석민) (@bbergong) February 12, 2014
