Texas Rangers have highest bid on Hyeon-jong Yang

The Texas Rangers are in need to a starting pitcher and it appears they are making a solid attempt to plug one of the holes in the rotation.  Last night it was reported they won the blind bid for 26 years old Korean LHP Hyeon-jong Yang.

The Rangers will have a 30-day window for exclusive negotiations with Hyeon-jong Yang.  The deal will also depend on if the Kia Tigers accept the bid to allow Yang to leave the organization for the $1.5 million posting fee.

There should be some details be the end of the week.  The Korea Baseball Organization informed MLB that the Kia Tigers will share their decision no later than Friday 4 PM EST.

Yang has reported been wanting to join a major league team and is pushing for the Tigers to accept the bid to allow him to pursue his dream.  Last year Yang won the inaugural Choi Dong-won Award, which is the equivalent of the Cy Young.  Last season he had a record of 16-8 with an ERA of 4.25 over 28 starts.  

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This is good news for the Rangers, because currently they only have Yu Darvish and Derek Holland in the starting rotation.  They’ll likely re-sign RHP Colby Lewis to a 2-3 year deal and could have Nick Martinez or Nick Tepesch rejoin the rotation.  They do still have Matt Harrison and Martin Perez coming back next season.  Harrison is a complete wild card and seems very unlikely he’ll every pitch again.   The Rangers won’t likely have Perez back until after the All-star break.