Roughly three months after signing outfielder Hyun Soo Kim, the Orioles are already having some buyer’s remorse on the deal. The Orioles have internally discussed buying out Kim in a deal that would rid them of some of money owed to the player while allowing him to potentially return to the Korean Baseball Organization, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes.
Late last year, the Orioles inked Kim to a two-year pact worth $7MM. That deal, as it turned out, had a pair of unique quirks. First, Kim’s deal allows him to become a free agent upon completion rather than entering the arbitration process. The contract also prohibits the Orioles from sending him to the minor leagues without his consent. At the time of the deal, the Orioles probably didn’t think much of that second clause, but it has become quite relevant as Kim struggles in spring training.
Roughly one year ago, the Orioles and pitcher Suk-min Yoon tore up their three-year, $5.575MM deal, allowing him to return to the Kia Tigers of the KBO on a record-breaking four-year, $8.2MM pact. When asked by Rosenthal over the weekend if he would consider such a move, Orioles general manager Dan Duquette said “I don’t know if we’re there yet.”
When the O’s signed Kim, they hoped that the KBO sensation would step in as their everyday left fielder. However, Kim does not appear to be major league ready and Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard has been excelling in recent weeks. Rickard is raking in spring and also offers solid defense, leading many within the club to favor him as the choice in left field, though one O’s official expressed concern that the team is putting too much stock into spring training performances. Despite Rickard’s promise and Kim’s struggles, however, Duquette noted that he is not ready to give up on the 28-year-old Korean.
“These transitions, they take a while,” Duquette said. “You’ve got the language. You’ve got the culture. The baseball is a little different. There are better pitchers here.”
I’m glad my sox didn’t pick him up! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
I’m glad there are some people with class. Sox fans excluded of course. How is that Sandoval deal working out for you? Better to blow only $7 million or less pending a buyout I suppose.
ESPN did a story last month about the top 25 worst contracts in MLB right now and the Sox had 3 of them. Sandoval, Ramirez and Castillo.
Surprised Porcello isn’t on that
No. 26?
and the red sox had a top 5 offence last season without ramirez, sandoval and castillo.
And the Red Sox came in last place with that alleged top 5 offense that was greatly helped by the band box ballpark they play in along the other offensive friendly ballparks in the AL east. According to Fangraphs the Sox were 17th in offensive WAR last season. And the discussion was about bad contracts. And your “without” makes no sense since they were with the team.
Yea you could of paid Custillo 70 million instead
bigpapi4life? LOL
STOP. Seriously stop. One Sox fan to another, stop it.
STOP. Just stop. One Sox fan to another just stop it.
Korean and Japanese league stats do not translate to MLB – how many times does this need to happen before MLB teams make the connection? These guys coming over are talented fellows, but the assumption they are stars-in-waiting seems endlessly misleading. Poor scouting and a bad idea from day one.
They aren’t all stars in the making, but you make it sound like it never works out. Jung Ho Kang made the jump from the KBO just last year.
I’m pretty sure if anyone thought he was a star he would have got more then 7 mil and 2 years
You’ll forgive me if I do not back off my stance in the face of your overwhelming evidence of one player to the contrary. The Os sought out the player to be their starting LF and, with a week yet to go in Spring Training, it’s apparent he is unfit for said duty. If that’s not bad scouting, I don’t know what is. The contract was applicable to entry level dollars, irrelevant. Badly misjudging talent? Relevant.
No one said he’d be a star-in-waiting, he got a 2/7 deal fer crying out loud.
Really concerning the O’s would take stock in ST stats and dump him without giving him a couple months in the bigs to see if he could adjust. That takes time.
How do you make a two-year investment based on eight years of data, then want to toss it after a couple months ST. Major league fastballs have much more velocity(percieved and real velocity) and movement than he has regularly seen, so let him get up to speed and make the necessary adjustments baseball wise and culture wise(which I know is difficult for a team to be patient and compete at the same time, maybe something Baltimore should have considered before signing or giving him the “no minors” in the deal). Pitchers are routinely ahead of the hitters in early ST, and this guy has had more walks than Ks in six of his eight full time KBO seasons, with decent power and average. Not saying it will translate but two months doesn’t seem enough to see… Neither party helped themselves with the contract they signed, hopefully a couple months from now this will be a silly conversation.
I think the internal discussion is real but I don’t think they are they really considering just canceling the deal. It’s more a discussion of what to do. My guess is they offer him an incentive to start at AAA probably with an opt out date
If you are a team with your sights set on competing, it’s never a good sign that you are looking to buy out your presumed starting LF before playing a game and want to replace him with a division rivals 10th best OF option.
What makes you think Rickard was their 10th best option? Because he wasn’t in the major leagues? I’m assuming you haven’t watched him play and are just reading articles, he looks a awful lot better then who the Rays had out there last year.
Well the Rays didn’t think he was good enough to protect by putting on their 40-man roster. Outfielders the Rays currently have on their 40-man roster include: (1) Corey Dickerson (2) Kevin Kiermaier (3) Steven Souza (4) Desmond Jennings (5) Brandon Guyer (6) Mikie Mahtook (7) Taylor Motter (8) Dayron Varona (9) Jaff Decker (10) Johnny Field. So, if he were still on the Rays, the team might very well see him as their 11th best outfield option. The Rays could have taken a 40-man roster spot from Mahtook, Motter, Varona, Decker, or Field and exposed one of them to the Rule 5 draft or waivers, but the Rays chose to protect those players over Rickard. I like Rickard, and I think he may make a perfectly competent 4th OFer. I don’t think he’s a starter for a contending team, though, despite a great performance in the spring.
I read that the O’s were looking at David Murphy, should the Red Sox cut him. Could that be the division rival’s 10th OF?
I think he was talking about David Murphy, but I could be wrong.
I agree that Kim should have much more time to adjust, especially because he’s already making successful adjustments.
However, Joey Rickard is RAKING, and may well earn the starting LF job outright.
If you’re a Tampa fan, sorry bout Joey and Goeddel….
If the Pirates and its Fans had a choice based on ST and the first month of the season last year… Kang would have been cut as well. I mean I hate to say it but it’s like any day worker using a dell laptop for 15 years and then switched to a Mac and told to be as productive in the next week. Takes a little time to adapt!!
This is bullcrap, it’s still too damn early (not to mention it’s still preseason), and the O’s are already discussing this? Let him stay, give him time to adjust. A similar situation like this happened to Kang last year in spring training, he struggled in that preseason, not to mention early in the regular season too… But he ended up 3rd in the NL ROY race in that 2015 year. There is potential in Kim, and I know he will succeed in his first rookie year like what Kang did. I’ve seen Kim a lot during his playing days with Doosan via MBC and SBS, he is still adjusting there in the US… The O’s needs to be patient on this one, and let him stay.
Wonder if the Markakis talks will attempt to be opened again?
They might be having the talks, but he’ll likely stay on the 32 man roster. Given some time to adjust Kim might surprise many. Things are different in season at the big parks (with proper lighting etc) than ST. Thankfully Rickard is looking solid for the LF spot and Trumbo for RF. Kim started looking decent over the past week and half so there might be hope. It’s not a bad contract to eat if necessary too.
Whats a 32-man roster?
They might be down to 32 people and 8 more to go to get to 25.
I think sending him back to Korea after just watching him play for two months is absolutely ridiculous. If the Orioles keeps doing this with the international players, who would want to sign with them in the future?
Kim also started off 0-21, and has gone 8-23 since (.348) since. It may simply be, as Duquette said, a matter of just having to adapt. To me, it doesn’t make sense not to see what they have in Kim, and let him get a chance.
When it comes to FA’s, the Orioles seem to have split personalities.
A player doesn’t just turn to turd out of nowhere, even considering the velocity difference between KBO and MLB. There is always an adjustment period, and the fact that Duquette doesn’t recognize this and wilts to pressure from Showalter (who already had a preemptive bias due to the Yoon incident) is just another reason why the Orioles won’t do anything for a while. Their lineup is good, but maybe they should focus on their pathetic pitching a bit more and cut the pitchers who have been throwing up golf balls this spring. I’d actually put money on my Padres ending up with a better record than the Orioles this year.