Yankees Scouting Korean Pitcher Seung Hwan Oh

The New York Yankees are said to be interested in and scouting Korean right handed pitcher Seung Hwan Oh, my say that three times fast. Oh is a South Korean pitcher and is available through the posting system, not as a true free agent, even though he is in his age 31 season. Oh's team from the last nine years, the Samsung Lions, will be posting easily the best closer in Korean baseball outside of two injury riddled seasons in 2009 and 2010. Oh sports a fastball in the 94-96 MPH range and has a nasty splitter that is said to "disappear." Oh put up a 1.74 ERA with 54 strike outs and 10 walks in 51 2/3 innings.

Only two Asian born relief pitchers have ever gone through the posting system and required bonuses exceeding $100,000. Akinori Otsuka in 2003 and Shinji Mori in 2005 were the relievers back then so it would presumably take more than a couple million bucks just to talk with Oh. With the Yankees losing Mariano Rivera this season to retirement this is a pretty intriguing, and cheap, option. Asian relievers, unlike their starting pitchers, actually have a decent track record so this is something we should look at closely.