Korean outfield star Hyun-soo Kim has received “multiple offers” from Major League teams, his agents in Korea tell Daniel Kim of KBS Sports (Twitter link). Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency also hears from a source that the soon-to-be 28-year-old Kim has “concrete offers” from MLB. While neither reporter lists specific teams, a second source tells Yoo that the Athletics are taking a long look at Kim, as their regional scout in Korea compiled a “glowing report” on Kim, who is nicknamed the “Hitting Machine” in Korea. The Braves have also scouted Kim extensively, according to Yoo, though their outfield situation may not have much room if Hector Olivera is permanently slotted into left field.
Kim is an unrestricted free agent, having completed nine full seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization despite his relatively young age. After debuting and receiving a single plate appearance as an 18-year-old with the KBO’s Doosan Bears, Kim established himself as a regular just 19 years of age, hitting .273/.335/.398 with five homers and five steals in 99 games.
From that point forth, Kim has batted above .300 in all but one season — he hit .291 in 2012 — and posted outstanding on-base percentage marks while showing some power. The left-handed hitter has authored a .318/.406/.488 hitter as a professional in Korea and is coming off his best season: a .326/.438/.541 batting line with a career-high 28 home runs. Kim struck out just 63 times in 630 plate appearances in 2015 (10 percent) against an impressive 101 walks. That should come as no surprise, considering Kim has walked more often than he’s struck out in six of his nine seasons and has 597 walks to 501 strikeouts over the life his tenure in the KBO. Yoo describes Kim’s defense in left field as “solid,” noting that he also showed a bit of versatility by filling in at first base a few times in 2015.
Kim’s Korean agent, Esther Lee, will travel to the United States for next week’s Winter Meetings in Nashville. He is co-represented by the Wasserman Media Group, writes Yoo, who will of course have agents at the meetings as well. In addition to Oakland, some clubs that could be in the market for a left-handed bat in left field include the Angels, Royals, Reds. Orioles, Indians and Giants, though that list is simply speculation on my behalf.
Seems like the kind of player Douquette would target.
Was gonna say, this has Orioles written all over it. That or the A’s.
Duquette had people scouting in Korea before it was fashionable. This guy looks like a good fit.
The Indians should take a chance on him. They need outfield help and Kim should be on the cheaper side. Worth the risk imo.
The Mariners are wide open at 1B; better add them to the “interested” list.
But that isn’t his position…
Baseball Reference lists Hyeon-soo Kim as a leftfielder and first baseman:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=kim—004hye
“Filled in” is the key part of the sentence above.
I just want to hear that the Reds are at least in on this guy. High contact OBP OF is exactly what they need.
I don’t even really care if they get outbid. I just want to know they’re at least trying to do something
Not really a “radical rebuild” kind of play. He is 28.
Retooling. And teams should always build for next season, rebuild or not.
28 is “relatively” young for his kind of production, and considering what he’ll likely sign for (looking at Kang and Park as recent examples) will be cheap.
It would add new, productive talent instead of the usual “sign some washed up or never was over the hill free agent to a minor league deal and hope to catch lightning in a bottle” kind of move the Reds always take
We can’t really compare his potential contract to those of Park and Kang though… Both guys were posted and could only negotiate with the team that posted their fee. When you open it up to have teams competing with each other for their services, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets double of that which Kang and Park signed for (at least double, because they were both bargains compared to MLB FAs)
Sign Kim. Trade Fuld. Trade Lawrie. Trade Butler. Sign Carter. Crisp can DH the six games he’s healthy.
Trade Butler to whom for instance?
Who wants Butler with that contract?
Come on Cleveland. Get in there. I wanna see you guys do something already.
Certainly LHH OBP-focused left fielder is a potential interest of AJ Preller as well.
That’s what I was going to say. Seems like an option the Padres would be in on.
This would fill many needs for the Padres…
I’d like to see him in left field in GABP. See if he can do something . The team needs some offense, to say the least. You’d think a team with Votto, Phillips, Bruce, and now Frazier wouldn’t have thst problem, but every year they do, especially in the clutch. I dint get it. With that talent ? Hopefully, Mesoraco can come back healthy. That would help also.
I’ve been wanting this guy since I saw the first report on him. He’d be a perfect fit for the Angels. I would rather have Heyward but I’m not sure Angels will spend as much for him since I thought we would have already makes a splash.