The San Diego Padres have reached an agreement with reliever Woo Suk Go for two years. The deal is only worth $4.5 million according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The deal will also include an option for 2026 per Dennis Lin of the Athletic.
Go becomes the second foreign-born relief pitcher that the Padres have signed this offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander has thrown parts of seven years in the KBO. In the past five years, he has turned four seasons with sub-4.00 ERA, Including three seasons where he allowed less than 2.5 runs per nine innings.
Scouting reports state that he’ll most likely be a middle relief type pitcher in the MLB. According to Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs his arsenal includes a mid-90s fastball and low-90s cutter while occasionally mixing in a curveball.
Heading into the 2024 season, the Padres bullpen features Yuki Matsui and Robert Suarez in the high-leverage situations. Especially after they’ve lost Nick Martinez, Josh Hader and Luis Garcia to free agency. The Padres can now add Woo Suk Go ahead of Matsui and Suarez. There’s a chance that he could compete for the closer job as well. Go has recorded 139 saves since 2019. With one season over 40 and three seasons with 30+ saves.
The walk rate is a bit of a concern. In four of his seven seasons, Go has walked more than 10% of his opposing batters. Last season, that number jumped to 11.6% which contributed to his 3.68 ERA. Still he should be a solid addition to the Padres bullpen as they hope to still compete in the NL West.
Under the MLB-KBO posting agreement, the Padres will owe the LG Twins a total of $900K. The deal is not much of a risk for the Padres, they’re getting him on a cheap deal.
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