Cleveland Indians: Jeff Manship Headed to South Korea

Former Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Jeff Manship has opted to spend the 2017 season in South Korea with the NC Dinos of the KBO League.

After being a fixture in the Cleveland Indians’ bullpen for the past two seasons, Jeff Manship is heading to South Korea, as reported by Jon Heyman over the weekend.

The Indians had the chance to tender Manship a contract back in December, but opted to move on after an average year from the reliever.

After a 2015 season in which Manship finished with an ERA of 0.92 in 32 appearances, 2016 saw him finish with an ERA of 3.12 in 53 appearances. This came in only four more innings of work.

Manship also only appeared in three of the Indians’ 15 postseason games in 2016, as Andrew Miller, Cody Allen, and Bryan Shaw took up most of the workload out of the bullpen.

2016 was not an awful year for the right-handed reliever, but he did nothing that made re-signing him a priority. And apparently, the season was enough for every MLB team to pass on offering him a deal he was comfortable with.

Dan Otero now assumes the role as the main reliever outside the main three, which was a role Manship could have won in 2016. Zach McAllister also figures to be a familiar face out of the bullpen in 2017.

Manship has been on an MLB team in every season since his debut in 2009 with the Minnesota Twins, but has mainly been used out of the bullpen. His fresh start in Korea may allow him to return to being a starter, which is what he did before making it to the big leagues.

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He was never a star for the Indians, but fans should only have fond memories of Manship and wish him well as he starts his new career abroad.