As the Major League Baseball offseason sputters along, the Philadelphia Phillies have yet to make any additions to the roster for the 2025 season. While we're in a holding pattern here, over in Korea the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) have been busy filling their foreign player roster.
Former Phillie Jake Cave signs one-year, $1 million contract with the Doosan Bears of the KBO
Former Phillies outfielder Jake Cave has signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Bears, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net. The deal includes a $200K signing bonus and an $800K salary. The move comes just a week after another former Phillie, Cole Irvin, inked a one-year deal with Doosan.
Per Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News Agency, $1 million is the maximum contract allowed for all first-year foreign players in the KBO.
Doosan announced they have signed Jake Cave ($200K signing bonus, $800K salary) https://t.co/vaqoOK9ub0
— Dan Kurtz (@MyKBO) November 26, 2024
Cave, 31, spent the 2023 season in Philadelphia after being claimed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. He split time between the major league team and Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In 65 games for the Phillies, he hit .212 with a .620 OPS, five home runs and 21 RBI. He had no problem with Triple-A pitching in his 59 games with the IronPigs, batting .346 with a 1.113 OPS, 16 homers and 49 RBI.
Primarily an outfielder, Cave also appeared in 17 games at first base for the Phillies.
After Cave spent the 2023-24 offseason preparing to be a bench utility player, the Phillies traded Cave to the Colorado Rockies late in spring training before the 2024 season. In 123 games for the Rockies, Cave hit .251 with a .686 OPS. He was outrighted after the season and chose to head to free agency.
Originally a sixth-round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 2011, Cave has a career .236 batting average and .692 OPS with 45 home runs and 176 RBI in 523 MLB games. He had his best showing in the majors in his 91-game debut season in 2018 with the Minnesota Twins when he hit .265 with a .786 OPS, 13 home runs and 45 RBI.
"Cave is an MLB-level outfielder with the advantage of fast bat speed that comes from strong wrist strength," a Doosan Bears official said. "He also has the outfield defense ability to cover Jamsil Stadium and a sense of base-running."
We wish Cave all the best in Korea. We'll see how his season in the KBO pans out and if he returns to MLB in 2026.