SEOUL– The defending Korean Series champions KT Wiz said Wednesday they have cut ties with starting pitcher William Cuevas, making him the first foreign player to be released in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this year.
The Wiz added that they will replace Cuevas with former major league left-hander Wes Benjamin and will pay the American US$331,000 for the rest of the season.
Cuevas had pitched for the Wiz since 2019 and was an integral part of their first-ever championship run in 2021.
Pitching on just two days’ rest, Cuevas twirled seven shutout innings in the first-place tiebreaker game against the Samsung Lions last October, as the Wiz secured the best record in the regular season and earned a bye to the Korean Series.
In the Korean Series, Cuevas threw 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the Doosan Bears in the Wiz’s 4-2 victory in Game 1. The Wiz went on to sweep the Bears in four games.
But an elbow injury sidelined him after just two starts this year in April, and the Wiz decided to go in another direction, instead of waiting for the right-hander to recover.
In 82 games in the KBO, Cuevas posted a 33-23 record with a 3.89 ERA.
The Wiz’s general manager, Na Do-hyun, said the club wanted more certainty with the pitching staff in the immediate future, as they try to shake off a sluggish start to this season that has left them in eighth place at 17-21.
“Cuevas has been a consistent pitcher for us since 2019 and helped us win the championship. But his injury layoff grew longer and longer, leading to more uncertainty,” Na said. “We signed Benjamin to bolster our rotation.”
Benjamin, 28, was drafted in the 48th round by the New York Yankees in 2011 out of high school but chose to attend the University of Kansas. In 2014, the Rangers picked Benjamin in the fifth round.
Benjamin made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2020. In 21 career big league appearances, including three starts, Benjamin went 2-3 with a 6.80 ERA.
He signed with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent in February this year and appeared in three spring training games for them before being sent to Triple-A. In seven minor league starts this year, Benjamin went 2-0 with a 3.82 ERA.
The Wiz said Benjamin has good command of his fastball and can effectively mix in curveballs, sliders and changeups.
They added that Benjamin is expected to join his new team in early June.
Source: Yonhap News Agency