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Kwang-Hyun Kim

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.

Quick Hits: Hahn, Street, Kim, Breslow, Mets

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White Sox GM Rick Hahn expects his team to mentioned in a flood of trade rumors this offseason, though he doesn’t mind since this winter, some of them will be true.  “We aren’t going to be precluded from any single player because of running up against the limits of our payroll.  And in terms of the rumors, we’ve always operated under the standpoint that we’re going to be involved in any premium player that’s available, whether it’s via free agency or via trade,” Hahn told reporters, including CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes.  “In years past some of those free-agent fits may have been a little less realistic because of what their market was going to bear out to be versus what we were able to pay. This year I understand why we’re associated with some of the more higher-profile free agent types.”

Here’s some more news from around the game as the GM Meetings roll on…

  • The Angels haven’t “yet” had any extension talks with closer Huston Street, Halos GM Jerry Dipoto tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link).  Street’s current contract is up at the end of the 2015 season.
  • An unidentified MLB team has posted the highest bid for Korean left-hander Kwang-hyun Kim, Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency reports.  A follow-up report from Naver Sports (Korean language link, hat tip to Sung-Min Kim for the partial translation), suggests that SK Wyverns, the southpaw’s club, is delaying the official announcement since they aren’t happy that the winning bid was so low.  As MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo speculates, this could mean that SK Wyverns will reject the bid and Kim won’t be made available.
  • Reliever Craig Breslow is “getting plenty of interest,” ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes tweets.  The lefty struggled to a 5.96 ERA over 54 1/3 IP in 2014, though Edes notes that teams are seeing last season “as an outlier” given how well Breslow has otherwise pitched in his career.
  • The Mets “feel a sense of urgency” to compete, a team official tells Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, which is partially why the Mets moved quickly to sign Cuddyer.  Martino feels the team will need to add more than just Cuddyer, though a smaller addition is much likelier than a blockbuster for the likes of Giancarlo Stanton or Troy Tulowitzki.
  • Also from Martino, he wonders if Yasmany Tomas would accept a three-year contract that would allow him to hit free agency prior to his age-27 season.
  • An anonymous GM, an anonymous agent and CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman predict the contracts for 50 of the offseason’s top free agents.  They’re only picking contract values, not the actual teams, so Heyman’s game is like an inverted version of the annual MLBTR Free Agent Prediction Contest.

International Notes: Baldoquin, Kim, Kang

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It’s tough to know what to make of Cuban shortstop Roberto Baldoquin, who recently agreed to terms with the Angels, Ben Badler of Baseball America writes (subscription-only). Baldoquin didn’t hit well in Cuba and wasn’t even playing regularly, Badler notes. Baldoquin did, however, make a good impression on some teams. He could stick at shortstop or move to second base, and he has ironed out some issues with his swing and might end up having doubles power. Badler notes, however, that Baldoquin “isn’t considered a premium hitter.” Here are more notes on international agreements and potential acquisitions.

  • Speaking of Baldoquin, his deal has not yet been finalized, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. Baldoquin is currently working out in the Dominican Republic, which has yet to issue him a visa that would allow him to travel to the US to take a physical. Fletcher also notes that including the tax for exceeding their international bonus allotment, the Angels will pay about $15MM total for Baldoquin. That total indicates the Angels have much more faith in Baldoquin than many scouts do.
  • FOX Sports’ C.J. Nitkowski takes a close look at two Korean players, Kwang-hyun Kim and Jung-ho Kang, who are looking to make the transition to MLB. Nitkowski played with both of them when he was pitching in Korea. The lefty Kim profiles as a reliever or a back-of-the-rotation starter, Nitkowski writes, noting that Kim’s changeup and curveball need improvement. Kang put up huge power numbers in Korea, but against lesser competition. It’s also unclear whether he can stick at shortstop.

Korean Pitcher Kwang-hyun Kim Posted Today

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Korean lefty Kwang-hyun Kim was posted today by his KBO club, SK Wyverns, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com (via Twitter). The posting was expected, though its timing was unknown.

Since Kim is coming from the KBO, rather than Japan’s NPB, he will be subject to the old posting rules rather than the modified MLB-NPB process put in place at last year. As former MLBTR writer Ben Nicholson-Smith explained back in November of 2012, with regard to Hyun-jin Ryu, MLB clubs will participate in a blind bidding process. The KBO club will then have the chance to decide whether the high offer is enough to let the player go. If so, the KBO team allows the player to negotiate with the high-bidding MLB club.

If a deal is reached within the allotted 30-day window, the KBO team receives the posting sum; if not, no money changes hands and the player stays with the Korean club. MLB teams have four days to submit their bid from the date of posting, meaning that bids must be in by this coming Saturday.

Left-hander Kwang-Hyun Kim To Be Posted

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SK Wyverns of the Korean Baseball Organization have announced that they will post left-hander Kwang-Hyun Kim this offseason, according to a report from the Yonhap news agency (tip of the cap to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net for passing the news along).  Kim initially expressed interest in pitching in North America prior to the 2014 season, and he now has the necessary seven seasons of KBO service time to qualify for posting.

Kim, 26, posted a 3.42 ERA over 28 starts this season, finishing in the top five in ERA, wins and strikeouts amongst the league’s pitchers.  It was a rebound year for Kim, who went through some injury issues from 2011-13 following an impressive start to his KBO career, as he was named the league’s MVP in 2008.  The southpaw pitched for South Korea in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and fared poorly, allowing nine runs in only 3 1/3 innings of work.  Kurtz has compiled a YouTube playlist of some Kim highlights for a better look at the lefty’s pitching style.

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