Dec. 19: The Rangers announced that Asuaje’s rights have been sold to the KBO’s Giants. He’ll soon sign a contract with his new organization — one that will likely afford him upwards of the $1MM maximum that first-year foreign players can earn in the KBO. It’ll be a sizable increase in pay for a player who was no sure bet to stick on a Major League roster all season and would’ve only earned at roughly the $555K league-minimum rate (pro-rated for his time in the big leagues).

Dec. 16: Asuaje is “expected” to become a member of the Lotte Giants when they finalize a buyout from the Rangers, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets.

Dec. 14: Infielder Carlos Asuaje is nearing agreement on a deal that’ll bring him to the Korea Baseball Organization, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal (Twitter link). Terms of the prospective deal are not known.

Presumably, the Rangers are on board with this move. The Texas club paid $50K to claim Asuaje off waivers from the Padres just a few days ago, but it wasn’t entirely clear what role he’d play given the existing slate of roster pieces. Perhaps this move will allow the club to clear a tidy financial profit.

Now 27 years of age, Asuaje has seen action in parts of three MLB campaigns. He’s a cumulative .240/.312/.329 hitter in 586 plate appearances, with significant platoon splits. Asuaje is considered a solid defender at second base, but isn’t an option at short.

Needless to say, that’s not the profile of a regular major league asset, though certainly Asuaje could still carve out a steady role at the game’s highest level. For now, though, he’ll take the bigger payday and steadier work on offer in the KBO.