Duquette on Yoon's release and game update

SARASOTA, Fla. - Executive vice president Dan Duquette said pitcher Suk-min Yoon's camp contacted the Orioles about a month ago with a request to release him from the remainder of his contract.

The Orioles obliged today, and in return, Yoon released the Orioles from any further financial obligation. The club saved $4.3 million, according to an industry source.

"He was one of the top pitchers in Korea before he came here, and he wanted the opportunity to go there and pitch," Duquette said. "We accommodated him and he signed a four-year contract with Kia and he released us from the financial obligations that we had to him as part of the agreement, and we released him from his contract so that he could sign with Kia. So it ended up being a good deal for him, and the club realizes a savings from the salaries due to him this year and next year.

"We thought that Suk-min Yoon could develop into a decent pitcher here, but it didn't work out."

The Orioles are getting a solid return for their investment in Wei-Yin Chen, but they came up empty with Yoon and Tsuyoshi Wada.

"Some of them are going to work, some of them aren't going to work," Duquette said. "The good part of this is that this didn't work, but we were able to correct the mistake, if you will, and we have that money available to invest in other players."

Yoon was working out in Sarasota last month before relocating to Los Angeles. He's on a flight tonight to Korea.

"His former team, I think, really wanted him back," Duquette said. "Kia was the team he played with before and he was a franchise player for Kia before he signed with the Orioles."

As for tonight's game, Miguel Gonzalez tossed two scoreless innings with one hit allowed and two strikeouts. He fanned Chris Dickerson to strand Danny Valencia, both former Orioles, and end the second inning.

Manny Machado led off the bottom of the first with a single and Adam Jones walked with one out, but Blue Jays left-hander Daniel Norris struck out Delmon Young and Chris Davis.