Korean outfielder Ah-seop Son did not draw any bids after being posted recently by KBO’s Lotte Giants, Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News reports on Twitter. That means that Lotte will retain his rights, though Yoo tweets that Son could also end up joining a Japanese club.
The news comes as something of a surprise, as it had seemed that the 27-year-old would draw some interest. MLB teams have shown an increased willingness to pay for Korean talent, and Son offers a high-contact, high-OBP bat at a prime age. Over the last five years, he’s averaged a robust .333/.409/.476 slash in the hitter-friendly KBO.
While his situation is interesting in its own right, there are other factors at play here as well. Lotte controls Son for the 2017 season as well as this one, meaning the team might not have been as willing to let him go. He’ll also be eligible for posting again next winter.
Meanwhile, it’s now or never for the team to cash in on another key player: third baseman Jae-gyun Hwang. Because the KBO rule book only allows clubs to take one bid per offseason, only one of those two players — both of whom requested to be posted — could end up moving to North American this year.
Today’s news, then, clears the way for Hwang to test the waters. Lotte is reportedly prepared to do just that. While there’s some disagreement as to which player stands the better chance at a successful transition to the majors, with Hwang’s huge 2015 season standing out somewhat against his overall track record, there appears to be less supply available on the hot corner market.
That does indeed come as a surprise. What could possibly have turned teams off?
Probably only because MLB teams see Hwang as having the higher potential for this coming season, but if not then yes very surprising.
Yeah there is a clue in the description above, but it’s not made totally clear. Because Son and Hwang are on the same team, and the team cannot post both simultaneously, and because Son has another year of control but Hwang doesn’t, there was huge incentive for the team not to accept a bid. That way, they can post Hwang this year and Son next. Teams must have known this and realize they’d have to bid very high to get the player.
Right. It isn’t unreasonable to wonder whether teams felt that Son simply wasn’t going to be available for a reasonable price. I don’t know that to be the case, but it’s a fair question to ask.
Will be interesting to see what happens with Hwang and, perhaps, Son next winter.
Why not just post Hwang?
They can still post Hwang because they’re not going to sell Son anymore. I’m guessing they sold Son first just to see if there was anyone willing to give them a big enough offer.
apparently – and no one really knows if or how this is playing into the whole thing – but, during this past season, son asked the team if he could skip a road trip to stay with his father in the hospital, and the team was like, no. and then his dad died while he was on the road trip. and the entire korean public was like, you guys are jerks. (i would have been like that too, if i had known about it.)
so there may be a PR factor where they don’t want to be seen as jerking son around even more by, say, passing him over for posting.
but they ALSO might be lowkey hoping nobody actually bids on him so they can post hwang. OR, if they really are jerks, even sending out back-channel signals to MLB teams not to bid on him. who knows? certainly not me.
I am shocked the Dodgers did not purchase the KBO yet
If I could up vote this with the MLBTR iPhone app I would do so right now.
I generally don’t vote on comments, but I’ll throw an up vote in for you.
Up vote
Now Ah-Seop Son knows what my love life is like.
Sounds like a personal problem.
Is this one of those famous fables?
Umm what?
More of a short story.
With the OF market stacked, no wonder & with the 3B market soo bleak makes sense. Honestly I didn’t see this happening..just because of draft picks being hot commodities. How bout Kenta Medea?
Draft picks have absolutely nothing to do with international players getting posted.