Former Cubs infielder Addison Russell to play in KBO League

According to the Yonhap News Agency, the Kiwoom Heroes signed former Cubs shortstop Addison Russell for the remainder of the season.

The Heroes compete in South Korea's KBO League.

Released by the Cubs after the 2019 season, Russell is filling Kiwoom's foreign position spot vacated by Taylor Motter after agreeing to a $530,00 salary for the rest of the year.

Russell was an all-star in 2016, helping the Cubs win the World Series. He established career highs with 21 home runs and 95 RBI.

In 2018, Russell was suspended for 40 games for violating major-league baseball's domestic abuse policies. He sat out the final 12 games of the season and missed the first 28 games of the 2019 season to complete the suspension.

On Dec. 2 the Cubs cut ties with Russell, making him a free agent.

"We decided to nontender Addison Russell simply because the role we expected him to play for the 2020 Cubs was inconsistent with how he would have been treated in the salary-arbitration process," club president Theo Epstein said in a statement. "In the year since we decided to tender Addison a contract, he has lived up to his promise to put in the important self-improvement work necessary off the field and has shown growth as a person, as a partner, as a parent and as a citizen."

Kiwoom general manager Kim Chi-Hyun told the Yonhap News Agency he talked with Russell's agent, Scott Boras, and decided the 26-year-old infielder is deserving of a second chance.

"If he had engaged in physical abuse he would have been banned for 80 games, but he served only 40 games," Chi-hyun said. "Obviously, what he did was wrong, but we felt it wasn't bad enough that he should no longer play baseball."