Former Seattle Mariners players Guillermo Heredia and Roenis Elias are headed back to South Korea for the 2024 season. They have re-upped in the KBO.
Per Jeeho Yoo on "X"
#KBO signings : a lot to unpack, as 3 clubs announced foreign player signings & re-signings today.
SSG Landers bringing back LHP Roenis Elias ($1 mil), OF Guillermo Heredia ($1.5 mil)
Lotte Giants re-signing LHP Charlie Barnes ($1.35 mil), acquiring OF Victor Reyes ($950K)
Finally, Kiwoom Heroes signing LHP Enmanuel De Jesus ($800K).
KBO teams can sign up to 3 foreign players, no more than 2 pitchers. With very few exceptions, teams have always carried 2 pitchers and 1 position player.
The max. salary for all first-year foreign players is $1 mil.
Heredia, 32, has played seven years in the big leagues including three with the Mariners, two with the Braves and parts of one each with the Mets, Rays and Pirates.
He is a lifetime .231 hitter with 27 home runs and a .310 on-base percentage. He debuted with Seattle in 2016 and played more than 120 games for the M's in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
As for Elias, the 35-year-old has lived quite the baseball life. He's played parts of seven seasons in the big leagues including five with the Mariners, two with the Red Sox and one with the Nationals. He's had three separate stints with Seattle, pitching there from 2014-2015, then again in 2018, then again in 2022. He has served as both a starter and a reliever, going 22-24 with a 3.96 ERA in his big league career.
Elias also pitched for Team Cuba in the most recent edition of the World Baseball Classic.
If either player has a strong 2024, they could find themselves back stateside in 2025.
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