South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-Soo has signed a seven-year contract worth $US130 million ($A147 million) with Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers.
The 31-year-old Asian star signed the largest free agent deal in Rangers history, surpassed only by the team's 10-year deal worth $US252 million ($A284 million) to Alex Rodriguez in December of 2000.
Choo's average annual salary of $US18.5 million ($A21 million) ranks eighth among all major league outfielders.
He will be paid $US14 million ($A16 million) for two years, $US21 million ($A24 million) for the two years after that and $US20 million ($A22 million) in each of the deal's last three years.
Choo has averaged .288 over nine North American seasons with Seattle, Cleveland and Cincinnati with 104 home runs and 427 runs batted in.
Last season for the Cincinnati Reds, Choo was the leadoff hitter and batted .285 with 21 homers, 54 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases as well being among the top five players in the league with 107 runs scored and a career-best .423 on-base percentage.
The Reds offered him only a one-year deal worth $14.1 million, which he rejected in favour of free agency.
Instead, Choo signed the third-best free agent deal of the off-season, trailing only second baseman Robinson Cano's 10-year contract for $US240 million ($A270 million) with Seattle and the seven-year deal for $US153 million ($A173 million) that the New York Yankees gave outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.
