Samsung Lions sign ex-MLB pitcher Haley

SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Yonhap) — South Korean baseball club Samsung Lions on Tuesday announced their acquisition of former big league pitcher Justin Haley.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team said Haley has agreed to a one-year deal worth US$550,000. He got a $100,000 signing bonus and can make an additional $250,000 in incentives.

Starting this offseason, the KBO put in a salary cap of $1 million on first-year foreign players.

The 27-year-old right-hander has appeared in 14 major league games, including four this year with the Boston Red Sox. He had a 5.61 ERA in those 14 games, without a win-loss record.

In this UPI file photo from June 29, 2018, Justin Haley, then with the Boston Red Sox, throws a pitch against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the seventh inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Yankee Stadium in New York. Haley will pitch for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2019. (Yonhap)

In 154 career minor league games, including 141 starts, Haley has gone 43-54 with a 3.42 ERA.

Haley joins a staff that finished fifth among 10 clubs with a 5.19 ERA in 2018.

KBO teams are allowed to sign up to two foreign players, and the pair that the Lions had in 2018 both struggled. Tim Adleman went 8-12 with a 5.05 ERA, and Lisalverto Bonilla was 7-10 with a 5.30 ERA. Both enjoyed a strong July, but their stretches of effective starts were few and far between.

The Lions said Haley has the makeup of a good starting pitcher, thanks to his ability to command many different pitches and his durability.

“His pitches have good vertical movements, and he’s going to miss a lot of bats,” the team said. “He has an outstanding release point and extension too.”