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Minnesota Twins win bidding for pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong

November 22, 2014

Yang Hyun-jong (NEWSis)

(Yonhap) — The Minnesota Twins have won the bidding for Korean left-hander Yang Hyeon-jong, but his Korean club Kia Tigers are less than thrilled with the undisclosed figure.

Multiple industry sources offered a wide range of estimates, with some saying the figure could be in the neighborhood of $1.5 million and others saying the Twins might have offered as little as $700,000. They all agreed that Yang appears to have attracted a smaller bid than SK Wyverns’ left-hander Kim Kwang-hyun, the first KBO player to be posted this offseason, who drew $2 million from the San Diego Padres.

The KBO first informed the Tigers of the result of the MLB-wide silent auction on Saturday, without disclosing the amount of the highest bid or the winner of the bidding. The Tigers have four business days in which to accept the bid, and they’re said to be disappointed with the size of the bid.

If the Tigers do accept, the Twins will have 30 days to negotiate with the 26-year-old pitcher. If they don’t, Yang will be off the MLB market and can’t be posted again until Nov. 1, 2015.

For his career, Yang has gone 62-42 with a 4.33 ERA, along with 748 strikeouts and 455 walks in 866 2/3 innings.

A third player from the KBO, Nexen Heroes’ shortstop Kang Jung-ho, has said he will likely ask his current team to post him by mid-December.