After a tearful goodbye, it’s back to reality

After a tearful goodbye, it’s back to reality. Where does Casey Kelly go from here after hinting at a possible extension?

The LG Twins have parted ways with Kelly. On Tuesday, LG officially announced the signing of new foreign pitcher Eliezer Hernandez and announced the parting of ways with Kelly. Kelly, a “filial foreign pitcher” who has played for LG for nearly six seasons since the 2019 season, is leaving the team. Kelly said goodbye to his LG teammates and opposing Doosan Bears players on Tuesday, shortly after the game against the Jamsil Doosan Bears was declared a rainout, and held a brief farewell ceremony in front of the fans. We’ll never see Kelly in the LG stripes again.

Now it’s back to the practicalities. LG decided to file a waiver request with the KBO on Nov. 21 to claim him off waivers. The waiver process will last a week. If any other team in the KBO wants to sign him, they will have one week to make an offer, and if more than one team wants him, they will be prioritized in reverse order of performance. If no team expresses interest after clearing waivers, he will be eligible for free agency.

For now, Kelly will not be retiring.

Born in 1989, Kelly is 35 years old, which is not a young age for a pitcher, but he is still competitive. While LG, in need of an ace, released him because he wasn’t performing up to expectations, it’s not like he’s currently performing terribly. He’s 5-8 with a 4.51 ERA in 19 games this season, including a nine-inning, one-hit shutout against the Samsungs just over a month ago on June 25th. In 19 games, he has 11 quality starts (six or more innings and three or fewer earned runs).

When asked about his future plans after the farewell ceremony, Kelly said, “I’m still healthy and I can get better. I’ll have this week and next week to think about it, and I think I have a lot of options. I don’t know if I’m going to come back to the U.S. or go to Taiwan, 파워볼실시간 but I’m going to look at my options. I still want to throw on the mound, I still want to play baseball, and I think I will still play baseball somewhere in the future (after leaving LG).”

It’s unlikely that another KBO team will sign Kelly anytime soon.

It’s already late July. It too late for other teams to consider trading for a foreign player. If LG were to sign Kelly at this point, it would be a risky move for one of their rivals, who are in desperate need of results. “We haven’t had any specific discussions about him yet,” said a representative from Team A, but he was careful to say, ‘His RPM (revolutions per minute) has been dropping lately, so I don’t think we’re going to be very aggressive,’ while another representative from Team B said, ”If LG had released him sooner, we might have looked at it, but it’s not likely at this point.”

Given Kelly’s recent decline in command and his age, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to move to another team in the KBO this season. The environment may not be conducive to another stint in the minors. Taiwan could be a realistic alternative. As Kelly mentioned in his interview, Taiwan has seen its fair share of foreign players in the KBO in recent years. Recently, Angel Sanchez, formerly of the SK Wyverns, joined the Zhongxin Brothers, while Daniel Mengden, Tyler Eppler, Mario Sanchez, and others have excelled in Taiwan.

And if Kelly stays healthy and injury-free, and gets his pitches back up to par, there could be more opportunities for him in the future. As was the case with Eric Yokishi, who recently tried out for the Doosan Bears, there could always come a time when a team needs a veteran pitcher with a proven track record in Korea. There’s a good chance we’ll see Kelly in the KBO again.

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