Update: SK just announced the signing of Kenny Ray, who in 2007 was a Omaha Royal, and this year was playing in Mexico.
In 2006 Ray threw 67 2/3 innings with the Atlanta Braves. His ERA was 4.52 and he saved five games.
Looks like a good adition to the Wyvrens bullpen. He’s also from Georgia, so maybe he and Kenny Rayborn (Mississippi) will get palsy.
I just had this funny image of some SK handlers totally overdoring it — recalling Rayborn from the minors, bringing him into the SK locker room and presenting Ray to him. Some poor team cook ordered to make a Southern spread — hotlinks and cornbread. Maybe playing some Skynard on a little boom box.
Update: Kia has named its new foreigner — Pitcher Felix Diaz, who was most recently in the Nationals organization, but was originally signed as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic by the San Francisco Giants in 1998. He also played in Japan during the 2006 season.
Diaz has been nursing an inflamed elbow, but is reportedly ok. In 2004 he threw 49.1 innings for the Chicago White Sox, posting a very uncool 11.31 H/9 to go along with a 2-5, 6.75 ERA. Ironically Wilson Valdez, the man Diaz is replacing in Gwangju, was a member of that same White Sox team. I’m sure there’s some very bad blood over this.
This is a bad year to be a foreign player in Korea. Today comes the announcement that Jason Scobie has now been given the boot from Woori. Scobie was 2-5 with a 6.95 ERA for Woori, a team with a fairly decent young pitching staff.
To be honest, I got the feeling Scobie was kind of a last ditch idea for a team that needed a foreign player quicklike. Scobie wasn’t all that good for Kia in 2007 — his sub-four ERA was something of a misnomer as his K/BB ratio was 58/62. If I had had to predict who would be the first foreigner to get the boot this year it would have been Scobie. I guess in that regard sticking around for as long as he did has to be considered something of a success.
More surprising is the news that Kenny Rayborn has been sent to the minors by SK. I have to say I’m pretty perplexed by this move. Rayborn is just 1-1 with a 4.11 ERA. He’s been a little sluggish, I suppose — his walks are slightly up and his Ks down, but it is the end of May afterall. My guess is that Manager Kim Sung-kun wants to get Rayborn pumped up and primed to lead the pitching staff into the playoffs. But let’s be honnest – Kim wouldn’t send a Korean pitcher with a 4.11 ERA to the minors.
Doosan Bears:
Matt Randel (P, Doosan)
Gary Rath (P, La New Bears)
Justin Lehr (P, Reds)
Hanwha Eagles:
Doug Clark (OF, Giants)
Brad Thomas (P, Twins)
Kia Tigers:
Jose Lima (P, Saraparos de Saltillo-Mex.)
Wilson Valdez (IF, Dodgers)
Felix Diaz (P, Nationals)
Woori Heroes:
Cliff Braumbaugh (OF, Hyundai)
Jason Scobie (P, Kia)
Lotte Giants:
Karim Garcia (OF, Sultanes de Monterrey)
Marty McLeary (P, Pirates)
Samsung Lions:
Jacob Cruz (OF, Hanwha)
Wes Obermueller (P, Marlins)
Tom Shearn (P, Reds)
SK Wyvrens:
Kenny Rayborn (P, SK)
Darwin Cubillan(P, Hanshin Tigers)
Ken Ray (P, Royals)
LG Twins:
Jamey Brown(P, Samsung)
Chris Oxspring (P, Brewers/LG)
Roberto Petagine (OF, Mexico)
33 responses so far ↓
1 DannP // Jan 15, 2008 at 9:36 am
I once saw Karim Garcia with the Dodgers and I swear he hit the hardest, longest home run I’ve ever seen in my life. I have no idea what kind of shape he’s in now, but it seems to me he could do pretty well in the Korean league.
2 Lee // Jan 17, 2008 at 8:36 am
Jose Lima in Korea??? The over/under on his leaving the country has got to be June 1. He’s about to get a serious wake up call in adjusting.
3 Carlos // Jan 22, 2008 at 8:35 am
Hi DannP, Karim is in good shape, he is champion with Sultanes de Monterrey, ended the season as 4th. in average, 12th in home runs, and I agree with you, he has tremendous power he didn’t hit a lot of homers, but the ones I saw were giants.
He played the All Star game at mid-season and was elected All Star in postseason too.
On 2005 season he sets a record in japanese baseball: 6 home runs in 48 hours.
4 Korea Beat // Apr 17, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Thanks for this article, I sometimes use it to make sure of how a player’s name is spelled. Very handy.
5 Korea Beat // Apr 22, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Who is 제이슨 스코비? He plays for Woori.
6 Shinsano // Apr 22, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Jason Scobie. He played for Kia last year. I keep forgetting to add him to the list.
7 Westbaystars // Apr 22, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Could you post all of the foreign names along with their Hangul? My automated transliterater had Scobie named “Seu Ko-bi.” It’d be nice to track down the rest of my foreign player name errors.
8 JH Yoo // May 14, 2008 at 10:22 am
Rath and Cubillian are gone. Teams haven’t found their replacements.
9 Dan // May 14, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Rath left for a family emergency and won’t be returning. Jee-ho has more of the details.
10 Jeeho // May 14, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Rath’s wife had some health issues while giving birth to their twins. Rath asked for a leave to attend to his family and just told the team he wouldn’t play baseball this year. The Bears said they respected his decision.
Nothing against Korean players, but I am not sure too many Korean guys would actually give up on an entire season over the health of their wives or kids.
You see MLB managers miss games for their kids’ high school graduation; not gonna happen here. I think it should happen more…
11 Shinsano // May 14, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Yeah that was a big issue with ex-NPB foreigner Randy Bass, who flew home to be with an ailing loved one (wife?). The team didn’t understand and he was vilified in the media.
It’s actually pretty nice of Doosan to be understanding of the whole thing.
12 John Brooks // May 27, 2008 at 3:15 am
It’s interesting to see Petagine turn up in Korea. Petagine has always been able to mash the ball and continued to do in Mexico, batting .372/.488/.605 with 6 HRs and 27 RBI.
Though, I’ve heard time and time again that Petagine didn’t mesh well with the culture in Japan, despite putting up big numbers, and his wife who is around decades older than him (60 to be exact now) criticized the Yomiuri Giants for not playing Petagine, which led to his release. I’m just wondering how well Petagine will fit in or not fit in with the culture in Korea.
13 Shinsano // May 27, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’ll keep an eye on it. The reporters have had a good time mentioning his wife in stories….not really poking fun, but they’re definately enjoying mentioning it.
14 Ken // May 28, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Surprised that Shearn was let go. He isn’t terrible as far as sixth starters go, and with Fogg, Belisle and Bailey struggling and the need to keep Cueto and Volquez’s innnings down I thought they’d let Shearn make a few spot starts throughout the year. Or even keep him in long relief.
15 Shinsano // May 28, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Ken-
I’m a little surprised too. He struck me as an innings eater kind of guy. If he adjusts to the culture he might have a good run over here.
Happy Jay Bruce Debut Day.
16 Westbaystars // May 29, 2008 at 11:09 am
I’m unable to find two of the above players on the KBO site.
Justin Lehr - DOO: Does not contain anyone born on August 3, 1977
Tom Shearn - SAM: Does not contain anyone born on August 28, 1977
Is the KBO site just late in updating?
17 Shinsano // May 29, 2008 at 11:29 am
They just signed last week Westbay-san. Neither have played yet.
18 Westbaystars // May 29, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Thank you. I feel better for not being able to find them.
19 baekgom84 // Jun 1, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Do you think that the release of one foreign player from a team might have an adverse effect on the other foreign player? I imagine it would get quite lonely for some of those foreign players, even if they have their family here, and the presence of another foreign player would at least give them someone to relate to.
Last year I got the impression that Rayborn and Romano from SK got along quite well; I often saw them chatting together when neither of them was playing. Since the release of Romano, Rayborn hasn’t quite been the same, and when Cubillian left he’s really gone off the rails.
Every team has dynamics right? i.e. the presence or absence of player/s can have a positive or negative effect on the rest of the team. I wonder if the foreign player rosters have mini-dynamics of their own.
20 Shinsano // Jun 1, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I think that’s a good point and I’ve wondered about that myself. If I was over here working with one other foreigner, and they were suddenly dispatched for doing a bad job I think I’d have some strong feelings about it.
That said, I bet these guys all know going in that Korean teams are quick to dump foreign players. It might not be much of a shock–except in a case like Rayborn’s. It would be interesting to see Rayborn’s split stats when Romano was his teammate, and then when Cubillian was, and then when he was by his lonesome.
But it’s also my guess that Korean teams don’t take this into account much.
21 Quality of Foreign Baseball Players in Korea Increasing : Korea Beat // Jun 5, 2008 at 12:39 pm
[…] For an up-to-date list of foreign players in Korean baseball see the East Wind-up Chronicle. […]
22 Matt // Jun 5, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Awesome. I was at Felix Diaz first ever MLB start. My dad and I paid $650 for club level seats to a Sox/Cubs game at The Cell and he was the starter. He did pick up the W.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA200406260.shtml
23 Shinsano // Jun 5, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Looks like you saw a Corey Patterson HR.
Wish he’d come to Asia.
24 DannP // Jun 6, 2008 at 11:16 am
Wow, this guy isn’t half bad. I’ve seen him many a time as a Brave.
Although they say Bobby Cox get the maximum out of his players. His max wasnt bad but not great.
25 Gary Garland // Jun 10, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Jason Botts was just picked up by Nippon Ham, which, in turn, put Mitch Jones on waivers.
Also, Wilson Valdez was signed by Yakult, kinda surprising since he didn’t hit this season with Kia.
26 Shinsano // Jun 10, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I saw that as well. Here’s the story in Korean….
http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=079&article_id=0001968312&date=20080609&page=7
It’d be funny if he ended up doing well for the Swallows. Much like Lim, who was also left for dead by a Korean team.
Jason Botts could be great for the Fighters.
27 jae // Jun 20, 2008 at 9:30 am
where do you find their american names?? when i go click on a player it says their korean name, and i can read korean, but how do i know their first name and the english spelling of their last name? thanks!
28 Pilar Garcia // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:13 am
Hi!
I really enjoyed reading all this information, my brother is currently playing in korea and has loved the people and the culture.
It is great to find a site where I can read all that is going on with the players and the games.
Where can I see the daily results of the play offs?
29 Shinsano // Sep 23, 2008 at 6:47 am
I’ll try to update the playoffs as they happen. I recommend looking here for updates as the games happen…it’s in Korean, but I think you can figure out what’s going on:
http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball
The scores will be on the left hand column, down a bit from the top.
30 Pilar Garcia // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hello Shinsano,
You are very kind for the information I will check it, thanks again!
31 Pilar Garcia // Sep 25, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Hello!
Can anybody tell me if karim garcia already hit Home run 30? How is the team doing? and his average? Thanks a million!
32 Shinsano // Sep 25, 2008 at 3:36 pm
He did Pilar. He has 30 now and is tied with Kim Tae-kyun for first in the league. His average is up to .283.
You might also want to look at: http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/
He usually updates games almost every day. Lotte has lost five in a row now. They need some Ga-r-a cia
That’s how the Lotte fans sing his name.
33 Pilar Garcia // Sep 26, 2008 at 1:14 am
I am so happy!!
These are great news. I heard the fans singing, when there was the olympics break he came home and we watched together the videos of the games and of the fans, he is really happy there, he says people are great and kind and very friendly.
Thank you for the up date, its hard for me to talk with my brother because of time difference, and he can’t always answer the mails fast enough.
Once again than you!
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