The South Korean outfielder was posted by the Kiwoom Heroes this offseason
At last, the San Francisco Giants have signed a well-known free agent. Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ has confirmed that the Giants and South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee have reached an agreement on a six-year contract worth $113 million. Jon Heyman of the New York Post claims that there is an opt-out provision in the deal after four years. The signing has not yet been verified by the team.
One of the best players in league history, Lee, 25, played for the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes for the last seven seasons. Throughout his career, he had a batting line of.340,.407, and.491, 65 home runs, 69 stolen bases, and a higher walk rate than strikeout rate. This previous season, Lee played in 86 games and hit.318/.406/.455 before suffering an ankle injury that ended his season in August.
Thanks to a career-high 23 home runs and a.349/.421/.575 line in 2022, Lee was voted the KBO MVP. He has exceptional ancestry as well. The league’s single-season stolen base record (84 in 124 games in 1994) is still held by Lee’s father, Jong Beom, a previous KBO MVP. Jung Hoo made history as the first player to enter the KBO directly out of high school, bypassing the minors.
Lee is currently the fifteenth best free agent available for this winter, according to CBS Sports.What we wrote at the time is as follows:
In July, Lee suffered a fractured ankle that ended his season and made it difficult for him to reapply to MLB scouts. He is thought of as a quality fielder and runner who has shown respectable bat-to-ball ability. Based on information acquired by CBS Sports, Lee’s contact percentage this season was 91%, including a 97% contact rate against fastballs. Since he is not a major league hitter (23 of his 65 career home runs came in 2022), it is up to him to fully recuperate in order to make an impact both on the basepaths and in the field. Teams are constantly worried about how KBO hitters will perform when facing MLB pitchers. Lee’s old teammate Ha-Seong Kim’s recent triumph ought to give them some comfort.
Power is not really Lee’s forte, which is fortunate given that Oracle Park is among the league’s weakest home run venues. Lee’s style of play, which involves hitting line drives all over the field, is ideal for large ballparks. Given his contact and on-base abilities, Lee possesses a skill set characteristic of a leadoff hitter, while often hitting in the middle of the lineup in KBO.
With the caveat that San Francisco heavily employs platoons, new manger Bob Melvin’s lineup could look something like this now that Lee has been signed:
- CF Jung Hoo Lee, LHB
- 2B Thairo Estrada, RHB
- 1B LaMonte Wade Jr., LHB
- DH WIlmer Flores, RHB
- RF Mike Yastrzemski, LHB or Mitch Haniger, RHB
- 3B J.D. Davis, RHB
- LF Michael Conforto, RHB or Austin Slater, RHB
- C Patrick Bailey, SHB
- SS Marco Luciano, RHB
In recent years, the Giants have had numerous unsuccessful attempts to sign high-profile free agents, including Aaron Judge last summer and Shohei Ohtani this offseason. Last winter, they did agree to a $350 million, 13-year contract with Carlos Correa, but the agreement fell through due to an issue with Correa’s ankle.
Lee was acquired by San Francisco at a premium. Hyun-Jin Ryu’s record for a player making the transition from the KBO is broken by the deal. In December 2012, Ryu signed a six-year, $36 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a rival team in the NL West. Kim was signed by the San Diego Padres to a $28 million, four-year contract two years ago.
The Giants are required to pay a transfer fee to the Heroes based on Lee’s whole contract worth as part of MLB’s posting system arrangement. The posting charge is determined as follows:
Less than $25 million contracts: Twenty percent of the amount agreed upon
$25 million to $50 million contract value: $5 million plus 17.5% of $25 million or more
Agreement valued at over $50 million: $15% of the amount over $50 million plus $9.275 million
The Giants will pay $131.725 million for their new center fielder after deducting a $18.725 million posting fee from the $113 million contract. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a righty from Japan, is also a target for the Giants and might sign a deal worth more than $300 million. Yamamoto is said to have met with them over the weekend and is anticipated to make a choice in the next ten to fourteen days.