Former Reds pitcher Tim Adleman is spending the 2018 season with the Samsung Lions of Korea’s KBO League. Throughout the year, Adleman will write about his experiences in his new league and country for The Athletic.
I’d been told no many times before.
Undrafted as a junior at Georgetown, the Orioles took me in the 24th round in 2010 after my senior year. I was immediately an All-Star in my first pro season in the minors — and then cut after my second after being sent to the bullpen.
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I always thought I was pretty good at throwing a baseball. Everywhere I turned, I was told differently, but I believed.
Even the independent leagues didn’t think I was good enough. After being cut by the Florence Freedom, the manager recommended me to the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association of Independent Baseball. The Saltdogs traded me to the El Paso Diablos, and the next year El Paso traded me to the New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League.
From there, I signed with the Reds and was a 26-year-old playing in High-Class A Bakersfield with at least one teammate who wasn’t old enough to legally drink yet. From there I went to Pensacola, then to Louisville and on May 1, 2016, to the big leagues.
I struck out six and allowed just two runs in six innings in my debut (the team won, but I received a no-decision) and started 13 games for the Reds in 2016. The next year began with another no, as the Reds told me I’d be starting the season back in Triple-A Louisville. Again, I made it up to the big leagues and threw more innings than any other pitcher on the roster (122 1/3).
And again, on the Monday before Thanksgiving this past year, I was told no again.
This time it came with complications. My agent, Kevin Hubbard, called me to tell me that despite my presence on the 40-man roster, the Reds didn’t think I was part of the competition for the team in 2018. Instead, they’d found me another place to pitch — and it wasn’t Louisville.
Kevin said there was an opportunity for me to sign with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. Korea. I’d finally made it to the big leagues and now they wanted me to go to Korea?
Not only that, they wanted a decision by Saturday.
There’d been some talk about going to Korea or Japan before this year, but I never really considered it. As much thought as I had given it was that I’d be interested in Japan, but not Korea.
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I’m a big-league pitcher. No matter what others thought before, I felt I belonged in the big leagues. Every time the Reds called for me to pitch last year, I answered. I started and I was a reliever. I was in the minors and the majors. No matter what happened, I answered the call and took the ball.
I started 13 games for the Reds in 2016 and 20 in 2017 and came out of the bullpen 10 times. I was always willing and able. Throwing the most innings of anyone on the team had to have some value. I knew my second half of the season wasn’t great (0-5 with a 7.28 ERA), but I thought I’d shown that I could help the team.
The team thought differently. The Reds, still in their rebuilding phase, have a ton of talented young arms. Those guys would get the first chance — and the second, third and fourth — over me.
My feelings were hurt, my pride wounded.
But then there was the case of a million dollars. Or, more precisely, $1.05 million and a $100,000 signing bonus. That’s what the Lions were offering.
At best, I’d make the major-league minimum with the Reds this year, $545,000. That’s no small amount of money. But I’d only make that if I were in the big leagues all year. The Reds didn’t anticipate that happening. For every day I missed, that money would keep going down.
I have a degree in health care management from Georgetown. A big part of my education was having to make tough decisions and factoring in the financial part of any choice. While my heart focused on what I wanted, my brain took over and made a compelling case.
I turned 30 in November. Although the Reds kept me on the 40-man roster, I wasn’t guaranteed a spot on the 25-man roster — and I wasn’t even guaranteed to make it out of spring training on the 40-man roster. With the Lions, I was guaranteed nearly twice as much money as I would get in the best-case scenario for the 2018 season in the United States.
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The more I thought about it, that slight I felt from the Reds turned to gratitude. They helped find me a place to play, a place to earn not just a living, but help set me up for the rest of my life even though there was nothing in it for them.
Regardless, I’m set up for an adventure.
Sure, there’s a 12-hour flight followed by a 2:45-hour train ride to Daegu, where the Lions are based, but first-class accommodations are a little different than the bus rides in the American Association of Independent Baseball. It was only the last offseason, after the 2016 season, that I’d still picked up shifts at my old job at the Village Market in Wilton, Connecticut, for a little extra money — from the deli to Daegu.
The Lions wanted a decision by the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And it became pretty clear quicker than I would have guessed. Everything fell in place, the contract terms were agreed to, the Lions and Reds agreed to a buyout, and by the Tuesday of the next week I was on a plane to Korea to sign my contract.
After that, things went as normal for an offseason, aside from skipping the shifts in the deli. I’ve worked out, talked on the phone a couple of times to my new teammate, Darin Ruf, and now I’m getting ready to make that flight once again, ready for spring training. This one, though, I’m sure will be a little different.
(Top image: David Kohl/USA TODAY Sports)