After the tearful farewell, it is now a reality again. Where will Casey Kelly go now, who hinted at the possibility of an extension.
스포츠토토 The LG Twins have parted ways with Kelly. On Tuesday, LG officially announced the recruitment of its new foreign pitcher, Elijah Hernandez, and announced his separation from Kelly. Kelly, a “good son” foreign pitcher who has played for LG for nearly six seasons since the 2019 season, will leave the team like this. Shortly after the game against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on Tuesday was declared a rain-free game, Kelly said goodbye to his teammates and Doosan players, and held a simple farewell ceremony in front of fans. Now, he will no longer be able to see “Jamsil Jesus” wearing an LG Stripe uniform.
Now, he is facing a realistic dilemma again. Where is Kelly’s next destination? LG has decided to apply for a waiver program from the KBO on Monday. Kelly will go through a week-long waiver program. If other teams in the KBO League want to recruit Kelly, they can express their intention to recruit Kelly within a week, and if multiple teams wish, they will be given priority in the order of their performance. If no team chooses to recruit Kelly after going through waivers, they will be eligible as an FA.
For now, Kelly is unlikely to retire. Kelly, who was born in 1989 and is 35 this year, is not a small age as a pitcher, but he still has competitive edge as a player. LG, which needed a solid ace, just released Kelly because it fell short of expectations, and Kelly’s performance is not terribly bad right now. He went 5-8 with a 4.51 ERA in 19 games this season, and on June 25, just a month ago, he pitched nine innings of one-hit shutout against Samsung. Of the 19 games, he has 11 quality starts (more than six innings and less than three earned runs).
Asked about his future plans after the farewell ceremony, Kelly said, “I’m still healthy and I can show better performance. I’ll have time to think about it this week and next week, but I think there will be many options. There is no decision yet on whether to go back to the U.S. or Taiwan, but I’m going to review several options. I still want to throw on the mound and play baseball. I think I’ll continue to play baseball somewhere (even if I leave LG).”
Chances are not high that other teams in the KBO League will recruit Kelly immediately during this season. Already at the end of July, other teams are hesitating to consider changing foreign players. If Kelly is recruited at this point in time, he is one of LG’s rival teams, which is in urgent need of performance, but he poses a risk to doing so. Among other teams that mentioned the possibility of recruiting Kelly, an A team official said, “We have not discussed Kelly in detail yet,” adding, “It seems highly unlikely that the team will take a very active role as RPM (per minute) was declining recently.” Another B team official also said, “We could have reviewed it if LG had released him earlier, but at this point, the possibility is slim.”
Given Kelly’s recent decline in ball power and age, it seems unlikely that he will move to other teams in the KBO League this season. It may not be easy in terms of the environment to continue his challenge in the minor leagues again. If so, Taiwan can be a realistic alternative. As Kelly also mentioned in the interview, many foreign players who have recently gone through the KBO League are playing in Taiwan. Recently, Angel Sanchez, who played for the SK Wyverns in the past, joined the Jungshin Brothers, and Daniel Mengden, Tyler Eppler, and Mario Sanchez are showing outstanding performances on the Taiwanese stage.
In addition, if Kelly maintains his health without injury and raises his ball power again, opportunities for recruitment may open up in the future. As in the case of Eric Jokish, who recently took a tryout test for the Doosan Bears, there may be a time when a veteran pitcher with a strong career is needed that has already been verified on the Korean stage. There is a good chance that Kelly will be seen in the KBO League again.