Korean Team Signs Former MLB Player to Million-Dollar Deal
The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed right-hander Yonny Chirinos, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Jiheon Pae. It had previously been reported by XSportsNews reporter Kim Geun-han and relayed by Kurtz. The righty will earn $1M in 2025, in the form of a $200K signing bonus and $800K salary.
Chirinos, 31, once seemed like a potential rotation building block for the Rays. Over the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he tossed 223 innings, allowing 3.71 earned runs per nine. He struck out 21% of batters faced, walked just 5.9% of opponents and kept the ball on the ground at a 43.5% clip.
But elbow troubles became the story for a few years and he hasn’t been able to get back on track since. He only made three major league appearances in 2020, requiring Tommy John surgery in August of that year. He missed the entire 2021 campaign while recovering. While trying to get back from that procedure, he was further delayed by an elbow fracture. He wasn’t activated off the IL until September 2022, over two years after going under the knife, making two appearances at the end of that season.
He’s been back on the mound for the past two years but hasn’t been able to get back to his previous level of performance. He has a 5.63 ERA in 115 innings over the two most recent big league seasons, with his strikeout rate at just 15.3% in that time. He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Marlins going into 2024 and was only on their roster for about a month from the middle of June to the middle of July.
Had Chirinos stayed in North America, he surely would have been limited to another minor league deal somewhere. Even if he made it back onto a major league roster in 2025, he likely would have been limited to a salary somewhere around the $760K league minimum.
By heading overseas, he has unlocked a bit more money and presumably a bit more job security. If he can make the most of his opportunity with the Twins, perhaps he can take another crack at North American ball down the line.
