SAN FRANCISCO – It appears that Brett Pill finally will get a shot to play everyday -- even if it's on another continent.
The Giants have an arrangement to sell Pill's contract to the Kia Tigers of the Korean Professional League, a source told CSN Bay Area. A deal hasn’t been finalized because Pill and the Korean club haven’t agreed on a salary. If Pill doesn’t find favorable terms, he has interest from other clubs in Japan and Korea, sources said.
Wherever Pill ends up, he’s likely to earn double the major league minimum of $500,000. And the Giants receive cash – something on the order of $500,000, which is more than double the traditional sum – while also freeing up a spot on the 40-man roster for Michael Morse.
Morse's signing more or less made Pill redundant on the roster. Both are right-handed power hitters who can play left field and first base.
Pill, 29, hit .273/.279/.404 over parts of three seasons with the Giants, including a memorable debut in 2011 when he became the first Giant since Will Clark to homer in his first big league at-bat.
Then he homered in his second game, too.
Pill also hit a game-winning home run off the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw in 2012.
The Giants had hoped Pill's swing, which is relatively simple to maintain, would make him ideal as a bat off the bench. But he was just 2 for 23 as a pinch hitter next season.
He's in line to get more at-bats now -- and some frequent-flier miles, too.