SK Wyverns Accept Padres’ Bid For Kwang-Hyun Kim

DECEMBER 10, 6:16am: The Padres met with Kim’s agent yesterday, MLB.com’s Corey Brock tweets. Kim has already taken a physical, and as their 30-day negotiating window prepares to close, the Padres hope to have Kim under contract soon.

NOVEMBER 11, 11:51pm: The Wyverns will accept the Padres’ bid for Kim, who now has a 30-day window to negotiate a contract with the Padres, according to a report from Naver Sports (Korean link; hat tip to Sung-Min Kim on Twitter). Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net tweets that Kim is being represented by veteran MLB agent Melvin Roman.

The Yonhap News Agency has a full English report on Kim’s posting, noting that he features a fastball which sits around 93 mph and a sharp slider. However, Kim relies primarily on those two pitches and would like to develop a more effective changeup if he jumps to the Majors. Kim thanked the Wyverns for the opportunity and issued the following statement:

“Now that I’ve been given a chance to try to reach the majors, which has been my lifelong dream, I’ll try to make the best of the situation and prove myself on the biggest stage. I will go back to the drawing board and prepare the best I can.”

9:19am: The Padres have posted the highest bid for Korean lefty Kwang-hyun Kim, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, at $2MM.  He notes that Kim’s team, SK Wyverns, might not accept since they were reportedly seeking $10MM.

The 26-year-old Kim is considered the country’s ace, wrote C.J. Nitkowski for Just A Bit Outside.  However, Nitkowski feels Kim might be best-suited bullpen work in MLB.  In a new article, Nitkowski writes that he expects intense conversations between Kim and SK, with the pitcher pushing hard to be let go.

Kim pitched to a 3.33 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 167 2/3 innings this season in the notoriously hitter-friendly environment that is the Korea Baseball Organization. Though he’s struggled with health in recent years, Kim has a lifetime 3.28 ERA in more than 1000 innings in KBO.