The LG Twins have signed left-handed pitcher Andrew Suarez to a minor league contract.
“The Baltimore Orioles signed left-handed pitcher Andrew Suarez to a minor league contract for the 2024 season,” MASN Sports reported on the 31st (Korean time).
Suarez, who signed with the LG Twins for up to $1 million, including a $600,000 signing bonus and $400,000 in transfers, before the 2021 season after playing in San Francisco, was an actual big-league signing.
He lived up to expectations. Despite a late-season injury setback, Suarez made 23 appearances and posted a solid 10-2 record with a 2.18 ERA. She formed a “one-two punch” with Casey Kelly, who still plays for LG today.
After the season, LG tried to re-sign Suarez and Kelly at the same time. They were able to reach an agreement with Kelly, but not Suarez. 안전놀이터 The differences over money were not easily resolved, and Japanese clubs entered the fray.
In the end, Suarez left South Korea for Japan’s Yakult Swallows for $800,000 plus incentives.
His performance in Japan was extremely poor. He made just six first-team appearances in the 2022 season with Yakult, and was released after going winless and posting a 6.23 ERA.
Suarez has since pushed for a return to the major leagues.
He signed with the St. Louis Cardinals before last season, but after 13 games with no wins and a 7.16 ERA, it was hard to see him continuing his big league career. All 13 games were pitched out of the bullpen.
Before coming to Korea, he became a full-time starter in San Francisco in the 2018 season and emerged as a “rising star,” but after playing in Korea and Japan, his career took a turn for the worse. After the 2023 season, Suarez became an unrestricted free agent in St. Louis and began looking for a new team.
He had already failed in Japan, and returning to Korea was not going to be easy. That’s because LG holds Suarez’s holdout rights. In order for him to sign with a KBO team, 파워볼게임 LG would have to waive the holdback, or he would have to sign with them. And given Suarez’s recent form, it’s unclear whether KBO teams would be willing to pay that kind of money.
In the end, Suarez signed a minor league deal with Baltimore in hopes of getting an extension. He’ll be playing in the minors for the Orioles with the hopes of earning a big league call-up in the future.