#kbo

#kbo

Irvin makes his return to North American ball after spending the 2025 season in Seoul with the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. Over 28 starts and 144 2/3 innings with the Bears, Irvin posted a 4.48 ERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, and 12.2% walk rate. For comparison's sake, Irvin had a 4.54 ERA, 17.1 K% and 5.6 BB% over 593 innings at the Major League level from 2019-24, so the lack of control is a sudden red flag.

The SSG Landers have re-signed a pair of former MLB players for the 2026 KBO season: right-hander Mitch White and outfielder Guillermo Heredia. White joined the Landers last year, while Heredia has been on the team since the 2023 campaign. Dan Kurtz of MyKBO relayed the news in English earlier today. White is represented by Apex Baseball, while Heredia is represented by PRIME.

Flexen, 31, parlayed his first KBO stint into a two-year, $4.75MM contract with the Mariners. That contract included a club/vesting option that Flexen vested at $8MM with a strong performance in 2021-22, when he tossed a combined 317 1/3 innings of 3.66 ERA ball. His 16.5% strikeout rate was well below average, but Flexen showed good command (6.8% walk rate) and did a decent job avoiding hard contact.

Dean earns the largest contract of the group with $1.4MM in guaranteed money ($1.1MM salary, $300K signing bonus) and another $300K available in incentives. Chirinos also got a $300K signing bonus, as well as $900K in guaranteed salary, and up to $200K more in incentives. Tolhurst will receive $800K in salary, a $200K signing bonus, and can get another $200K in incentive bonuses.

The 6'2" lefty-swinging slugger absolutely erupted in the KBO, pummeling opposing pitchers with a .314/.381/.644 batting line (165 wRC+) and 50 round-trippers this past season. Diaz walked in 9.6% of his plate appearances and fanned at only a 15.9% rate. His 158 (!!) runs batted in broke the single-season KBO record, and Diaz took home the KBO equivalent of a Gold Glove for his defense at first base.

Sauer signed with the KT Wiz of the KBO, the team announced Thursday. The Dodgers released the 26-year-old Tuesday, a day after the team celebrated back-to-back World Series championships.

The Blue Jays have signed pitching prospect Seo-jun Moon from South Korea, addressing their previous lack of pitching depth with a $1.5 million signing bonus.

The Samsung Lions have signed right-hander Gerson Garabito, previously released by Texas, amid Denyi Reyes's injury, marking a shift in the team's pitching roster.

The Padres have opted to send pitcher Hart down to Triple-A El Paso, indicating their move to adjust the pitching roster ahead of the game.

McBroom is set to make $75K while he serves as an injury replacement for outfielder Guillermo Heredia, sidelined by an infection for six weeks.