St. Louis Cardinals: No matter the usage, Kim was a great signing

With their first signing of the offseason, the St. Louis Cardinals brought in Kwang-Hyun Kim from the KBO. Why was this such a great signing?

It may not have been Gerrit Cole, it may not have been Hyun-Jin Ryu, and it may not have been a big bat, but the St. Louis Cardinals have finally made their first acquisition of the offseason in KBO star, Kwang-Hyun Kim.

Yesterday, it was leaked that Kim was in St. Louis for a physical which tipped fans off that a deal was close. Not a full two hours after the leaked physical, a deal was announced between the team and Kim.

The deal is for just two years and is worth $8M meaning the Cardinals will pay $1.6M additionally as the 20% posting fee to pluck Kim out of the KBO.

The team’s immediate press conference allowed the media to familiarize themselves with Kim who said, “A lot of Korean baseball fans like the St. Louis Cardinals because they are the best team in the National League. When I was a young boy and starting baseball, someday I wanted to be a St. Louis Cardinal.” (credit: Rick Hummel, St. Louis Post Dispatch).

It seems that Kim has already gotten most fans to like him but the biggest question is about what he will provide on the field.

Last year, Kim put up a 2.51 ERA over 31 games with 180 strikeouts in the KBO in his 12th season. His experience is a good thing in this instance even with some injury history but overall in his career, he has a 3.27 ERA.

According to John Mozeliak’s comments during the presser, the most attractive thing about Kim was his willingness to do whatever the team needs him to do in terms of start or relieve. Along with the question of how his stats will translate to the MLB, the next biggest question is his role.

The Cardinals do have five starters at the moment in Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas, Carlos Martinez, and Adam Wainwright. This group has the chance to be great and a top staff in the league IF they can all stay healthy. The whole reason the team signed Kim was to provide a safety option for if/when one of the five gets hurt or if Waino can’t repeat 2019 or if Martinez ends up being better in the bullpen.

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Kim’s ceiling is kind of unknown as some scouts think he’s got Patrick Corbin’s slider and could be a #3 starter while others think he shouldn’t have any consideration for a starters role above being a fifth starter. What Kim does bring the Cardinals is something they love and covet: cheap flexibility.

Kim has a lot of miles, or should I say kilometers, on his arm and at 31 years old with some injury history, there’s a risk there that he himself could injure himself or his stuff could not translate. The Cardinals did a fantastic job mitigating these risks by signing him for so cheap over just two years.

The Cardinals’ last international signee, Miles Mikolas, signed for two years and $15.5M and we all know how well that turned out. Mikolas was younger then but Kim has the ceiling to put up Mikolas-esque numbers.

Remember though, nobody knew what to expect with Mikolas and he had a very rough spring and a tough first month before he exploded and ended up being the ace of the team in 2018. Nobody should have too high of expectations for Kim until we see what he does in the spring.

At the end of the day, the Cardinals were able to pluck a top arm from the KBO for less than $10M. I would guess that the plan today is to let Kim start in the spring and let him show his stuff then move him to the bullpen once the season starts if everyone else stays healthy.

If Kim comes out in the spring and lights the world on fire, the team will adjust. They have the starting rotation flexibility to do so which is a good thing.

With his signing, the only thing that has yet to be announced is the corresponding roster move. Before the signing, the Cardinals had a full 40-man roster which means that to make the deal official, they need to release or trade someone. This could be the end of Brett Cecil’s tenure or a minor league trade could be very imminent.

The important thing is that Kim brings flexibility and potential to either forify the bullpen or the starting rotation at a fraction of the price and therefore a fraction of the risk of other free agents who may not have been flexible to do anything other than start games. John Mozeliak did a fantastic job with this signing and it’ll be exciting to see what the spring brings for “KK.”