Former Phillies first baseman/outfielder has fallen from grace this offseason and after being traded to the Dodgers, they sold his contract to South Korea.
It was clear Darin Ruf was no longer part of the Phillies‘ plans once Tommy Joseph emerged, and that was only cemented when he was traded to Los Angeles earlier this offseason.
Now Ruf will travel even farther west from Philadelphia all the way to South Korea as the Dodgers released Ruf Saturday and he then signed with the Samsung Lions of South Korea. The news was broken by Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency even before Ruf’s release was announced.
ICYMI: Samsung Lions announced that they have signed Darin Ruf for $1.1 million https://t.co/XKzMtYcf3I pic.twitter.com/KmSW8tKFyo
— Dan Kurtz (@MyKBO) February 17, 2017
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According to Yoo, Ruf is set to make $1.1 million this season. That is nearly double his salary from 2016 when he made $527,000. Ruf was arbitration-eligible this offseason due to his Super Two status, but that doesn’t quite matter anymore.
The move is also connected to Philadelphia in that it may free up room for Chase Utley to re-join Los Angeles’s 40-man roster.
Dodgers position players report to spring training on Monday, and they needed to clear room for recent signees Utley and Franklin Gutierrez.
As pointed out by Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ruf is not the only former Phil headed overseas this offseason. Jimmy Paredes, Elvis Araujo, David Buchanan, Frank Herrmann, and Phil Klein all signed with Japanese clubs.
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At the start of the 2016 season, Ruf and Ryan Howard platooned at the first base position. However, with both struggling, the team promoted the surging Joseph from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to fill Ruf’s role. He slowly but surely nudged Howard out and now Joseph is the team’s starting first baseman entering this season.
With his status in Philadelphia falling fast, Ruf was traded to the Dodgers this offseason along with Darnell Sweeney in exchange for Howie Kendrick.
Over five partial major-league seasons, Ruf posted a .240/.314/.433 line in 286 games.
He racked up 71 extra-base hits, 35 home runs, and 96 RBI in 833 plate appearances. He spent significant time at first base and in left field, but he also saw time in right and even played one inning at third in 2014.
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Ruf couldn’t quite make it in the MLB, but he may very well find his second wind in the Korean Baseball Organization and could very well make his way back to the U.S. at some point in the future.