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Kwang-Hyun Kim

SK Wyverns Posts Lefty Kwang-hyun Kim

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TODAY: Kim’s official posting period begins tomorrow morning and ends at 4pm CT on January 5, as per Yoo’s latest report.  The delay in Kim’s posting was due to some extra medical documentation that the KBO had to submit to Major League Baseball.

NOV. 28: The KBO has officially asked MLB to post Kim, Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News tweets. After MLB notifies its clubs, Kim’s 30-day negotiating window will open at 8 a.m. ET the next day.

NOV. 22, 5:32pm: Kim is getting hits from several MLB teams, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The Mets, Royals, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Cubs are all said to have shown some level of interest in the southpaw. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be seen as a rotation or bullpen candidate and what kind of salary terms teams will be amenable to offering.

1:38am: The SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization will post left-hander Kwang-hyun Kim, according to Naver Sports (via Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Kim has already made it known that he’d like to pursue a major league opportunity in 2020.

Under the rules of the agreement between MLB and the KBO, Kim will be free to negotiate with all 30 big league clubs upon his posting. The release fee the Wyverns would receive if Kim were to sign with a major league team would depend on the value of his contract.

This will be the second posting for Kim, who was available to major league teams back in 2014 but was unable to reach an agreement with the Padres after they won the bidding for him for $2MM. The Padres are reportedly among several teams who have shown much more recent interest in Kim, a longtime star in his homeland.

The 30-year-old Kim has pitched his entire career with the Wyverns since debuting in the KBO at the age of 18 in 2007, though he did miss all of 2017 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Kim has bounced back well from that procedure, however, and owns a sparkling 3.27 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 1,673 2/3 innings in what has typically been a hitter-friendly league. He logged an even better 2.51 ERA and recorded 8.5 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 across 190 1/3 frames in 2019.

Kim’s repertoire includes a low- to mid-90s, a major league-caliber slider, a curveball and a forkball, as Sung Min Kim of the KBO’s Lotte Giants tweeted in August. Although Kim boasts a well-rounded pitch mix, it’s unclear how aggressively MLB teams will pursue him. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote in their Top 50 free agent rankings that Kim’s slider is a “nasty, tilt-a-whirl” offering but that the rest of his pitches are average at best, calling him more of a fifth starter or swingman.

Teams will surely have their own ideas about how to coax some improvements out of the lefty, be it via a move to the bullpen or some alterations to his pitch selection and location. For now, though, he’ll at least add a bit more intrigue to a southpaw pitching market led by fellow Korea native Hyun-Jin Ryu, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels and Dallas Keuchel on the starting side and Drew Pomeranz on the relief side.

Padres Likely To Pursue Kwang-Hyun Kim

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The Padres are planning to take another run at signing lefty Kwang-Hyun Kim now that he’s been posted by the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. San Diego won the bidding on Kim when he was posted under the previous blind-bid system back in 2014, and the organization again has its sights set on the now-31-year-old southpaw.

Perhaps of even greater note is that Acee suggests the organization doesn’t intend to pursue either Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg — despite previous reports linking them to the latter — due to that duo’s expected price tag. MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell wrote yesterday that the Padres are “more optimistic” about their in-house options than the rest of the industry, adding that a pursuit of one of the top names is unlikely and that there’s been “no recent movement” to add to the rotation. Acee notes that Kim now stands out as the likeliest rotation addition for the Friars.

At present, sophomore Chris Paddack projects to front a Padres rotation that’ll also include Dinelson Lamet, Garrett Richards (in his first full year back from 2018 Tommy John surgery), recent trade acquisition Zach Davies and Joey Lucchesi. Others such as Adrian Morejon, Cal Quantrill, Michel Baez, Nick Margevicius and Ronald Bolanos represent 40-man alternatives, and uber-prospect MacKenzie Gore is likely ticketed for Double-A to open the 2020 season, thus placing him within arm’s reach of a promotion.

That pitching depth is indeed enviable, but the Padres’ payroll likely plays as much a role — if not a greater role — in their apparent aversion to inking additional free-agent pitchers. San Diego’s acquisitions of Davies and Jurickson Profar put them in line for a 2020 payroll in the $144MM range, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. That number crushes their previous high-water mark, and even tacking on a mid-range starting pitcher would push the Padres beyond the $150MM mark both in terms of actual 2020 payroll and luxury-tax considerations.

The Padres have reportedly been seeking trade partners for Wil Myers for more than a year but, to this point, have unsurprisingly struggled to find a taker. Myers, who’ll turn 29 next week, is still owed a massive $61MM over the next three seasons under the now-regrettable extension he signed back in Jan. 2017, and the glut of first base/corner outfield options available elsewhere in trade or in free agency make him all the more cumbersome an asset to market in trade talks. The remaining six years and $99MM on Eric Hosmer’s eight-year contract isn’t doing the payroll any favors, either.

None of that is to say that Kim, who could be an affordable rotation option, is unworthy of an earnest pursuit. Kim has established himself as one of the best and most consistent pitchers in the hitter-friendly Korea Baseball Organization over the past decade and is fresh off a pair of sub-3.00 ERA seasons in his return from 2017 Tommy John surgery. Notably, the KBO has provided teams with extensive documentation on Kim’s health at MLB’s request, Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency reported recently.

Over his past 326 1/3 innings since surgery, Kim has pitched to a 2.70 ERA with 310 strikeouts against just 68 walks — demonstrating the best control of his career. He’s walked just 5.1 percent of the hitters he’s faced in that span against a 23.1 percent strikeout rate. Certainly, there’s cause for intrigue and reason to believe that he could be a viable mid-rotation upgrade at a lesser price than remaining second- and third-tier options on the domestic market.

Kim has been formally posted for Major League teams, who have until Jan. 5 to negotiate a contract with the former KBO MVP. Any team is free to sign him for any amount under the new posting system, but the Wyverns would be entitled to a release fee that is dependent on the size of the contract he inks. The Wyverns would receive a sum equal to 20 percent of the first $25MM in guarantees plus 17.5 percent of the next $25MM and 15 percent of any money spent beyond that level. A contract pushing beyond that $50MM mark (or even the $25MM plateau) hasn’t been expected, although the market for Kim is only just taking shape. What seems clear is that the Padres intend to be squarely in the mix as they seek to bolster their starting staff with an eye toward emerging from a lengthy rebuild.

Latest On Kwang-hyun Kim

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KBO left-hander Kwang-hyun Kim is expected to be posted by his parent club, the SK Wyverns, this offseason, and early indications are that he’ll be something of a hot commodity. Several MLB scouts are quoted in praise of Kim’s abilities in a Saturday article from Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News Agency, with several expressing optimism toward Kim’s chances of securing a rotation job (link). According to Jee-ho, Kim said Friday that he’d like to negotiate with teams that will give him an opportunity to start.

Three MLB scouts were quoted on the condition of anonymity in the above-linked piece, with the first evaluator opining that there will be “more than enough” teams willing to offer Kim a rotation spot (this scout also voiced a preference for Kim over Josh Lindblom, another star KBO pitcher expected to come stateside this offseason). A second scout described Kim’s slider and curve as “filthy” while placing a slightly above-average grade on the 31-year-old’s fastball. “If Kim is willing to settle for a relief role, he’ll certainly get a big league job,” said yet a third scout. “He could be a starter on a middling team.”

Kim’s own stated preference toward starting should help determine his ultimate destination. Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic relayed that the Mets, Royals, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Cubs were among teams showing early interest. All of those teams could use another good arm on hand (who couldn’t?), but the Dodgers, in particular, don’t stand out as a team in dire need of starting depth. The club’s young pitching, to say nothing of veterans like Clayton Kershaw and Kenta Maeda, would seem to leave their rotation well spoken for, but it’s amusing to ponder if LA could allow Hyun-Jin Ryu, another former left-handed star of the KBO, to walk while securing Kim as a speculative starting replacement.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, certainly profile as a recently middle-of-the-pack team that has shown a willingness to gamble on the ability of a pitcher to translate their success to American soil. It was just last offseason that GM Mike Hazen signed pitcher Merrill Kelly to a two-year, $5.5MM guaranteed contract with consecutive club options valued at $4.25MM and $5.25MM. Like Kim, Kelly isn’t a particularly hard thrower, with a fastball sitting around 92 mph, but he was still able to parlay a four-year run of KBO success into a multi-year contract followed by a generally acceptable 2019 rookie year (4.42 ERA across 32 starts). The ’Backs can’t be described as an especially pitching-needy team, but recent rumors around the name of lefty Robbie Ray could foreshadow an upcoming job opening in the Arizona rotation.

Kim threw to a  2.51 ERA in 191.1 innings with the Wyverns in 2019, continuing a career that, aside from a 2017 Tommy John procedure, has largely been immaculate. Since debuting in 2007 at the age of 18, the left-hander owns a 3.27 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 1,673 2/3 career innings. Though Kim was unable to come to an accord with the Padres after his posting in 2014, it’s beginning to appear that his continued success, combined with a particularly pitching-hungry free-agent market, could soon lead to his long-awaited MLB debut.

Quick Hits: Red Sox, Bloom, KBO, Kim, Reds

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With the offseason now firmly underway, let’s survey the baseball landscape with a few brief Saturday notes…

  • For Red Sox fans eager to gain an inkling as to how their team’s front office might behave under new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, it might be worth reading Jen McCaffrey’s latest work for The Athletic, in which she uses Tampa Bay’s moves in 2019 as a blueprint for how Bloom might operate in Boston. The Rays, of course, overcame one of baseball’s smallest payrolls and took the Astros to five games in the ALDS, while the Red Sox missed out on the postseason entirely despite a comparatively astronomical payroll. Boston can expect Bloom to deploy many of the same strategies that brought success to Tampa, though he’ll of course have a greater bank of resources at his disposal. One might liken Bloom to the Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman, another former Rays exec who inherited a big-market budget when he was hired to spearhead the Dodgers’ baseball operations.
  • A flurry of teams sent scouts to watch Kwang-hyun Kim of the KBO’s SK Wyverns, according to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO. Scouts from more than ten teams—including the Padres, Twins, and Dodgers, among others—were recently spotted at one of Kim’s games. Though he hasn’t yet been posted, Kim has expressed his desire to play in the Majors in 2020, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who also reports that his club is “weighing its options” regarding Kim’s posting. A 31-year-old lefty, Kim logged a 2.51 ERA in 190 1/3 innings of work in the 2019 KBO season, striking out 180 batters while walking just 38. He’s had previous opportunities to play stateside, most notably in 2014 when he and the Padres failed to agree on a contract. He could slot in as a mid-tier free agent option for clubs unwilling to pony up the money necessary to pursue the top options on the market.
  • The Reds have hired a new assistant pitching coordinator, with Eric Jagers announcing on Twitter that he’ll join the Reds staff after a year in the Phillies organization. With the Phillies, Jagers worked in the minor league player development department, filling a new position in the organization as a pitch strategist. He broke into the MLB coaching scene after cutting his teeth as Driveline Baseball’s pitching coordinator. Notably, with the Reds he’ll work alongside another Driveline alum, Kyle Boddy, who founded the company and parlayed its success into a position as the Reds’ pitching coordinator. The addition of Jagers continues the organizational overhaul of its pitching infrastructure, which began with the team’s hiring of Derek Johnson, who coached the club to the National League’s fourth-lowest ERA in 2019.

International Notes: Otani, KBO, Bass, Wieland

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Though Japanese star Shohei Otani is generating a lot of discussion in MLB circles after his incredible two-way campaign in the NPB, he’s not a realistic candidate to come over this winter, as J.J. Cooper of Baseball America explains. For one thing, his Japanese club — the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters — has no incentive to make him available, since they are capped at a $20MM transfer fee that they’d be sure to have available in future years. And Otani himself has good reason to wait, because at just 22 years of age he’d be subject to MLB’s current international bonus rules. While that could change if the CBA is modified, as things stand his signing would be subject to a 100% tax on the amount by which a bonus exceeds a team’s signing pools. Given his anticipated value, that would represent an enormous hit to his earning capacity. Plus, ten teams — the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Royals and Blue Jays — wouldn’t even realistically be able to pursue him, since they are banned from giving out more than $300K to international players in this signing period. Otani pitched 140 innings with a 1.86 ERA, 11.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in NPB this season and also batted .322/.416/.588 with 22 homers in 382 plate appearances as a DH. In previous years, he’s also played in the outfield on days when he is not pitching.

More notes on the international scene…

  • Major League Baseball has tendered a pair of status checks on Korean left-handers Kwang-hyun Kim and Woo-chan Cha, according to Jee-ho Yoo if Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The Korea Baseball Organization informed MLB that both Kim and Cha are unrestricted free agents and free to sign with any domestic or international team. As Yoo notes, the agreement between MLB and KBO stipulates that MLB teams interested in signing Korean players must go through the status check via league offices before pursuing a KBO free agent. We’ve touched on both lefties here, and both could be viable options for big league clubs in a thin market for pitching. Of the scouts I’ve spoken to regarding Korean free agents, Kim draws stronger reviews, and some believe Cha may be better suited for ’pen work. Kim, 28, posted his third straight season with a sub-4.00 ERA this past year — no small feat in the hitter-friendly KBO. The SK Wyverns hurler worked to a 3.80 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 137 innings but missed some time with a midseason elbow issue. The 29-year-old Cha, meanwhile, had a 4.38 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in 141 2/3 innings.
  • Also via Yoo’s piece, left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang isn’t yet sure whether he’ll pursue opportunities in Major League Baseball for a second time. The 28-year-old southpaw was posted two winters ago and drew interest from the Twins and Rangers, but his Korean team, the Kia Tigers, didn’t accept the top bid for his services (presumably deeming it too low to part with their top pitcher). Yang has a 3.02 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in his past 373 KBO innings, though he was significantly better in 2015 than in 2016.
  • Former Padres/Astros/Rangers righty Anthony Bass announced on Twitter this week that after spending a season in Japan, he’s eyeing a return to the Majors. Bass, 29, posted a 3.65 ERA with a 71-to-47 K/BB ratio in 103 2/3 innings as a teammate of Otani with the Fighters en route to an NPB Championship this past season. In 278 1/3 innings at the big league level, Bass has a 4.40 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate. Bass made 14 starts against 23 relief appearances in Japan and has also started 18 big league games and 87 minor league games, so he could try to pitch himself as a rotation option in a market that is devoid of quality starters.
  • Right-hander Joe Wieland, who has appeared in the Majors with the Padres, Dodgers and Mariners, signed a one-year deal with Japan’s DeNa Yokohama BayStars last week, the team announced (Japanese link via Sanspo). Wieland will take home $825K, per the Sanspo report. Wieland appeared in one game with Seattle last year and has a 6.32 ERA in 52 2/3 Major League innings overall. The former fourth-round pick had Tommy John surgery back in 2012 early in his Padres career and was never able to fully recover and establish himself in the Majors. He’ll head to Japan for his age-27 campaign with the opportunity to earn significantly more than he would’ve were to have spent the bulk of the 2017 campaign in Triple-A once again.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Episode 11

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This week on the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast, Ryan Sadowski of Global Sporting Integration joins host Jeff Todd to offer his insight on the Korea Baseball Organization, powerful infielder Jung-ho Kang, reliever Seung-hwan Oh, first baseman Byung-ho Park, and much more.  Sadowski is a former MLB and KBO pitcher who now works for a company helping baseball players transition to and from Asia.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.

The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.

Padres Don’t Reach Agreement With Kwang-Hyun Kim

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The Padres and left-hander Kwang-Hyun Kim were unable to reach agreement on a contract by today’s deadline of 4pm CT, according to a tweet from the Global Sporting Information firm.  The Padres will be refunded the $2MM they posted to win the right to negotiate with Kim, and the lefty will return to SK Wyverns, his Korean Baseball Organization team.  Kim is eligible to be posted again next offseason.

Under the MLB/KBO posting rules, San Diego had 30 days to work out a deal with Kim after the team posted the highest bid.  It seemed as if progress was being made as recently as yesterday, as Padres GM A.J. Preller said he met with Melvin Roman (Kim’s agent) and the left-hander had already taken a physical.  The two sides “just couldn’t agree on [a] contract dollar amount,” Preller told Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link).

NL West Notes: Kemp, Kim, Giants, Arruebarrena

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Before dealing Matt Kemp to one division rival, they were in deep talks with another about a deal, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). The Diamondbacks rejected L.A.’s request for center fielder A.J. Pollock but was willing to ship top pitching prospect Archie Bradley to add Kemp. Of course, we do not know the details of those discussions, including especially the amount of Kemp’s salary that would have been covered.

Here’s the latest from the National League West:

  • The Padres are unlikely as things stand to reach agreement with Kwang-hyun Kim before today’s deadline, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. With a 2pm PST expiration, we could learn more on that situation soon.
  • The Giants intend to add a starter sooner rather than later and do not intend to participate in a drawn-out bidding process, AGM Bobby Evans told reporters including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link).
  • In addition to checking in with Asdrubal Cabrera, the Giants have inquired with Jed Lowrie about his interest in spending time at second or third, also per Evans. (Via Shea, on Twitter.) Lowrie apparently indicated that would be a possibility. The team could theoretically add a player at second and move Joe Panik to third, Evans also told the scribes, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft (via Twitter).
  • The Dodgers will be open to moving shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena after the Jimmy Rollins deal is finalized, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. The 24-year-old is owed $16MM over the next four years.

SK Wyverns Accept Padres’ Bid For Kwang-Hyun Kim

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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.

Padres Notes: Pitching, Kim, Quentin

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Here’s the latest from San Diego…

  • The Padres are listening to trade offers for Ian Kennedy, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter links).  The team would look for hitting in return, though you’d suspect the asking prices would vary given the levels of team control — Kennedy is a free agent after the 2015 season, Cashner after 2016 and Ross after 2017.  Rosenthal speculates that the Braves, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Indians, Rangers and Royals could fit as possible trade partners for San Diego.
  • If the Padres are dealing some of their starters, then the addition of Kwang-Hyun Kim is a way to add depth, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  The Padres posted the high bid for Kim’s services and have just under a month to negotiate a contract with the Korean left-hander.
  • Carlos Quentin is open to waiving his no-trade clause to be dealt to an AL team, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  Quentin has a long history of knee injuries and playing in the American League would allow him to get some rest in a DH role.

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