Samsung said in a press release late on Thursday that it has signed a new foreign pitcher named Reyes. Reyes will be wearing a Samsung uniform for a total of 800,000 dollars, including a down payment of 100,000 dollars, an annual salary of 500,000 dollars, and an option of 200,000 dollars.
Born in 1996, 27-year-old Dominican Reyes is 193 centimeters tall and weighs 115 kilograms. He has displayed strength against left-handed hitters. He is seen as a competitive pitcher in the KBO League, where the number of left-handed sluggers has increased recently.
Reyes played in the Major League Baseball until 2023. He played more as a bullpen in the big leagues, but mostly as a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. Reyes has experience playing in nine games (three starts) in the Major League as a member of the New York Mets, and played 91 ⅔ innings in 20 games (18 starts) in the minor league. 토토사이트 추천
Reyes throws fastballs with an average speed of 147 kilometers and a maximum speed of 150 kilometers, and various breaking balls such as sliders, changeups, and cutters, and he also boasts quality pitching capability that is optimized for robot refereeing. In particular, Reyes has excellent WHIP and BB/9, which are typical records that show a pitcher’s stability. Reyes has a stable game management ability with WHIP (per innings allowed) of 1.13 in the minor league, and BB/9 (the number of walks allowed in nine innings allowed) has shown stable ball control with 1.6.
Samsung, which acquired Reyes, failed to renew contract with Buchanan, a foreign pitcher with a stronghold. “As Buchanan, who has been the mound for the Samsung Lions for the past four years, rejected the club’s final proposal while considering entering the Major League recently, negotiations over renewing contract with Buchanan unfortunately broke down,” the Samsung club said, explaining why it failed to renew contract with Buchanan.
Samsung tried to keep Buchanan, who had been its ace player, in company. However, the deal failed to move forward and remained in place. Buchanan was a tricky player at the negotiating table, but his contract did not move forward as much as this time. When Buchanan renewed his contract, the year did not pass. They all came true within December.
However, it was different this time. Samsung promised Buchanan the best treatment. It was because it judged that the pitcher was capable of performing well. Buchanan had double-digit wins for four consecutive seasons since his first visit to Korea in 2020. He played in 113 career games and pitched 699 ⅔ innings, 54 wins, 28 losses and 3.02 ERA.
The 2023 season was also his best. Buchanan played 188 innings in 30 games. He also had 12-8 losses with an ERA of 2.54. He posted 21 quality starts (pitching six innings of less than three earned runs). He played his part as a starting pitcher every time he took the mound. Buchanan showed off his skills by ranking third with multiple wins, second with the most innings, and tied for second with the most quality start.
Samsung said Buchanan is not a few in his mid-30s, but it is considered competitive enough. It offered the best treatment in the KBO league. It called the maximum amount Samsung could offer from the beginning. It also promised a multi-year contract. Samsung previously paid David McKinnon and Conor Seabold $1 million each, so it can offer Buchanan up to $2.4 million. This is possible if the cap on foreign salary cap is exhausted.
When he signed a multi-year contract, he was able to bat up to 4.9 million dollars. However, his contract with foreign players could suffer a setback in his contract. Samsung also tried to satisfy Buchanan’s taste in the system as much as possible. However, Buchanan wanted more than that.
Buchanan has been protesting against foreign player contracts since two years ago. He argued that players who have consistently verified their performance should be offered multi-year contracts. “I don’t know why the KBO League doesn’t try to sign multi-year contracts to foreign players. If you’re competing for a championship, you should grab a team when there’s a good pitcher. I don’t understand why you’re offering a single-year contract for the second year after the first season. Foreign players deserve multi-year contracts as well,” he once said.
Samsung also needed Buchanan, but it couldn’t wait forever. In the end, Samsung recruited Reyes, not Buchanan, to fill the remaining foreign players. All three foreign players who played last year were replaced by Samsung. Samsung had suffered from atrocities against foreign players, but it was different in 2022. All three foreign players played well. There were three foreign players, including Buchanan, right-handed pitcher Albert Suarez, and outfielder Jose Pirella. Suarez pitched 173 ⅔ innings in 30 games during the 2022 season, winning 6-8 with a 2.49 ERA. He didn’t accumulate many wins due to bad luck, but he did his best. However, he had to leave the team in 2023 due to injury.
Pirella also gave a boost to Samsung by playing without sparing his body. In his 420 KBO league games, Pirella, who joined the team for the first time in 2021, had 73 homers, 30 steals, 286 RBIs, 509 runs scored, a batting average of 0.305 on-base percentage, 0.370 on-base percentage, and a slugging percentage of 0.496. However, in the 2023 season, he had only 16 homers, 80 RBIs and 66 runs, a batting average of 0.285 on-base percentage, and a slugging percentage of 0.339 on-base percentage, while Samsung, which needed a stronger foreign hitter, chose to part ways with Pirella.
Now, we have to count on Reyes, Seabold, and McKinnon. Both pitchers and pitchers have no choice but to rely on foreign players. Domestic starting pitchers do not have adequate resources except Won Tae-in and Baek Jung-hyun. They could not find the fifth starting pitcher until the end of the 2023 season, and manager Park Jin-man had a hard time managing pitchers. If Reyes and Seabold fail to serve as one-two punch, the Samsung mound will have difficulties again this year. McKinnon should also play the central batter role. Foreign farming is important enough to determine a season. Samsung has had a definite constant of Buchanan, Suarez, and Pirella, but none of them next year. Samsung’s performance is expected to change depending on how well the new three foreign players perform.