MLB trade rumors and news: Cardinals sign Kwang-hyun Kim to two-year deal

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• The Cardinals have experienced quite a bit of success finding players in East Asia since the turn of the century, with So Taguchi, Seung-hwan Oh, and Miles Mikolas among the players they’ve brought stateside. They’ll hope to find similar success with their latest move, as they’ve signed 31-year-old lefty Kwang-hyun Kim to a two-year, $8 million deal. Kim posted a 3.27 career ERA over 12 seasons with SK Wyverns of the KBO.
• Avisail Garcia had himself quite the year with Rays last season as he posted a near .800 OPS. He is now betting on himself again to get an even bigger deal down the line, signing a two-year deal with the Brewers worth around $20 million. It sounds like the plan is that he wanted a shorter deal so that he can hit the market sooner rather than later and land an even bigger deal. One has to appreciate the confidence here.
• The Reds are making moves this offseason to try to take advantage of an NL Central that does not have a clear frontrunner. The already signed Mike Moustakas and now they have added Wade Miley to an already strong pitching staff on a two-year, $15 million deal.
• Just a few years ago, this would have been a much bigger signing as Sergio Romo was one the better relievers in baseball. However, at 37 years old, Romo still did quite well for himself as he got a deal with the Twins for one year and $5 million with a club option that could net him as much as $10 million.
• Madison Bumgarner and the Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to five year, $85M deal. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic notes that the Giants’ new and controversial manager, coconut oil-loving Gabe Kapler, hadn’t even spoken to MadBum as of the Winter Meetings, a telltale sign that the World Series champion wouldn’t be back in San Francisco. Now this opens up a whole new marketing for the Diamondbacks, who are incredibly self serving. They could very well deal Robbie Ray at a higher cost than before do to the sheer amount of pitchers who’ve gone off the market in the past week. Genius? Perhaps. Oh, and did I mention that $15M of that is in deferred payments? Evil genius.
• Rather than go for the splashy moves that they did last offseason, the Mets have been far more measured this offseason. Case in point: to help shore up their rotation, the team signed Rick Porcello, known innings eater, to a one-year, $10 million deal. Again, not earth shattering, but his addition does soften the loss of Zack Wheeler to free agency a little bit.
• Yoenis Cespedes has agreed to a heavily restructured contract with Mets. This comes after the Mets attempted to withhold salary from him and potentially void his contract as a whole. Cespedes missed most of the 2019 season after fracturing his ankle on his farm...a few months after having a double ankle surgery that made him miss the latter half of 2018. It seems the negotiations ended without too much carnage, as the Mets have toned down their “I’ll turn this contract around” drama and Cespedes has agreed that maybe he shouldn’t have been taking his horse down Cespedes Ranch Road while two of his vital joints were still vulnerable. He’ll be getting a contract makeover that includes a serious pay cut. Moral of the story? Don’t fall into holes.
• Anthony Rendon was the best position player among the free agent class this offseason. The “was” is an important word there as the Angels were able to close a deal with him worth $245 million over the next seven seasons. If the Angels get a bit more pitching, they could make a lot of noise next season and beyond.
• Josh Lindblom has twice taken his talents overseas to play baseball. Over the last couple of seasons, he had fashioned himself into one of the best pitchers in Korea and now, he can now enjoy the fruit of that labor in the majors. The Brewers inked Lindblom to a three-year deal worth at least $9.125 million with incentives that could net him significantly more cash. Never give up on your dreams, kids.
• Our Andersen Pickard is examining the players selected in this year’s Rule 5 draft. Don’t think the Rule 5 draft is important? (Or don’t know what it is?) Consider this: Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, and Shane Victorino were all Rule 5 draft picks, so yes, it does matter.
• Not much about Tanner Roark’s last couple of seasons really jumps off the page and makes you think that he is a guy that should be making eight figures a year. However, that is exactly what he got as he signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the Blue Jays.
• This offseason’s biggest free agent found a new home during the Winter Meetings, as Gerrit Cole agreed to a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees. Cole’s contract is the largest ever for a pitcher — breaking the record that Stephen Strasburg set just over a day earlier — and the second-largest overall in MLB history, trailing only the $330 million deal Bryce Harper signed last offseason.
• Didi Gregorius decided to bet on himself (albeit in a rather lucrative fashion), agreeing to a one-year, $14 million contract with the Phillies. Sir Didi will look to re-establish himself as one of the better shortstops in the majors after a down 2019 season that was partially wiped out by his recovery from Tommy John surgery, and he’ll reunite with his former manager Joe Girardi.
• After successfully flipping reclamation project Drew Pomeranz at the trade deadline last season, the Giants found themselves another starter to try to rehab and perhaps flip in 2020, signing Kevin Gausman to a one-year deal worth $9 million plus up to $1 million in incentives. While Gausman struggled in 2019, he has a big arm and his peripheral numbers were actually pretty good, so he’s at least worth taking a gamble on.
• The Gausman deal wasn’t the only interesting thing the Giants did at the Winter Meetings, as they also acquired veteran infielder Zack Cozart and, more significantly, 2019 Angels first-rounder Will Wilson from the Halos in exchange for cash considerations. By taking on the remaining $12.67 million on Cozart’s deal, the Giants effectively buy themselves the No. 15 pick in this year’s draft, and it’s perhaps still possible that they’ll also be able to get some value out of the former All-Star after two down seasons in Anaheim.
• Some pretty big news here regarding how MLB’s drug policy will be changing: MLB will now provide treatment for opioids and other drugs instead of punishment. Minor leaguers, God willing there are still any left, will also no longer be tested for marijuana. One small step for man, one giant leap for keeping baseball players safe and sticking to what matters: helping someone get through a potential drug problem rather than blindly harming them.
• Stephen Strasburg was one of the bigger fish in the free agent pond this offseason. While there was a lot of speculation that he could end up somewhere else, the Nationals opened their wallets to keep him in DC with an astonishing seven year, $245 million deal.
• Did... did the Mets do something right? New York is bringing back Brad Brach (say that ten times fast) on a one year, $850,000 deal. Spending time with two different clubs last season, the 33-year-old found the most success in Queens, posting a 3.68 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP while striking out 15 over 14.2 innings — a stark contrast to the 6.13 ERA over 42 innings with the Cubs earlier in the season. The Mets’ bullpen is in desperate need of resurrection, and with a contract that is almost entirely incentive based, Brach is a decent foundation to try to revamp that on.
• The Phillies helped to set what appears to be a pretty expensive starting pitching market this offseason, signing Zack Wheeler to a five-year, $118 million deal.
• The Braves have stayed active throughout this offseason, and that continued when they signed veteran Cole Hamels to a one year, $18 million deal. There is not really such a thing as a bad one-year deal, and Hamels definitely has a pedigree that seems worth taking a chance on, but $18 million for a guy that is pretty clearly on the decline does carry some risk.
• The Wilpons have long been punching bags for how they have chosen to run the New York Mets from their financial dealings to the personnel moves that have been made over the years (and with good reason). Some sort of change seems to be coming as they are setting things up to give up their stake as majority owners to Steve Cohen within the next five years.
• The Angels made a deal in an attempt to get their pitching staff into semi-competitive shape, trading for the Orioles’ Dylan Bundy. Bundy might not be a super sexy name these days, but if he can provide some decent innings and Shohei Ohtani can stay healthy on the mound, there is a chance for significant improvement.
• The Reds, to the surprise of basically everyone, locked up Mike Moustakas with a four year, $64 million deal. Moustakas will play second base for the Reds as he finally got the deal he was looking for the previous couple of offseasons.
• If you care about baseball at all in any capacity, then you need to read this: MLB’s plan to eliminate 42 minor league baseball teams, explained.