The South Korean baseball club Kia Tigers signed two foreign pitchers Thursday, newly acquiring Mario Sanchez and reuniting with Thomas Pannone.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club signed Sanchez, the Venezuelan right-hander, for US$280,000 for the rest of the season, and the move comes two days after releasing slumping starter, Adonis Medina.
Sanchez, 28, comes over from Taiwan, where he'd been pitching for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).
He was leading the CPBL with a 1.44 ERA and was tied for the lead with eight wins before deciding to take his talent to South Korea.
In the U.S. minors, Sanchez had a 44-33 record and a 3.94 ERA in 210 appearances.
Later Thursday, the Tigers said they brought back Pannone for $350,000 and cut ties with their Opening Day starter, Shaun Anderson.
Pannone first pitched for the Tigers as a midseason replacement for Ronnie Williams last year. In 14 starts, Pannone went 3-4 with a 2.72 ERA.
After the Tigers decided not to re-sign Pannone in the winter, the former major leaguer returned to the United States. He made one relief appearance for the Milwaukee Brewers this year, and logged 11 games, including nine starts, for the Brewers' Triple-A affiliate in Nashville, where he posted a 2.70 ERA and a 3-1 record.
Pannone, 29, was to arrive in South Korea on Thursday and undergo a physical Friday.
Anderson went 4-7 with a 3.76 ERA in 14 starts and spent 10 days in the minors starting in late May after pitching to a 7.71 ERA in four starts that month.
KBO teams can each carry up to three foreign players and no more than two pitchers. Teams can only replace two of their three foreign players in a season.
Source: Yonhap News Agency