SEOUL– The South Korean baseball club Samsung Lions announced Tuesday they’ve signed former major league pitcher Albert Suarez.
The 32-year-old from Venezuela agreed to a one-year deal worth up to US$1 million, the maximum amount allowed for first-year foreign players in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). He will earn $700,000 in guaranteed salary, $100,000 in signing bonus and up to $200,000 in incentives.
The right-hander signed with the Tampa Bay Rays as a free agent in 2006 but made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants in 2016. In 40 career big league appearances across the 2016-2017 seasons, including 12 starts, Suarez went 3-8 with a 4.51 ERA.
Suarez has spent the past three seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japans’ Nippon Professional Baseball, and had a 10-8 record with a 3.00 ERA in 40 appearances. The Swallows won the 2021 Japan Series last month, with Suarez pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in a title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Orix Buffaloes.
KBO clubs are permitted a maximum three foreign players each, with no more than two pitchers. The Lions finished the season with David Buchanan and Mike Montgomery in their rotation, but decided last week not to bring back Montgomery, who went 2-5 with a 5.37 ERA in 11 starts and was suspended for 20 games by the KBO in September after hurling a rosin bag at an umpire during a game.
Source: Yonhap News Agency