Padres Sign Sung-Mun Song
December 22nd: The Padres officially announced their signing of Song today. The deal is actually a four-year pact worth $15MM, as per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, with the fourth year existing as a player option for Song. There is also a $7MM mutual option for the 2030 season with a $1M buyout. Song will get a $2.5MM salary in 2026, $3MM in 2027, $3.5MM in 2028, and (if he doesn’t opt out) $4MM in 2029. The Padres will also pay Song a $1MM signing bonus broken up into a $500K installment in January, and then the other $500K coming in January 2027.
Song would also receive a $1MM bonus for winning NL Rookie of the Year honors, and there is a salary escalator if he achieves a top-five finish in MVP voting. The Heroes will receive a $3MM posting fee from the Padres, representing the standard 20% posting fee attached to any contract worth $25MM or less for a KBO League player.
December 19th: The Padres are in agreement with infielder Sung Mun Song on a contract, according to a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. According to Francys Romero of BeisbolFR, it’s a three-year deal that guarantees Song around $13MM.
Song, 29, has broken out in a big way over his last two seasons playing for the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes. After typically being a slightly below average hitter by that league’s standards in the early years of his career, Song exploded with a .340/.408/.518 (143 wRC+) slash line across 602 plate appearances during the 2024 season. He flashed 20/20 potential at the plate and walked at a career-high 10.6% clip while primarily playing third base for the Heroes. He followed up on that season with an even better year in 2025, as he slashed .315/.387/.530 (151 wRC+) with 26 homers, 25 steals, and 37 doubles in 646 trips to the plate.
Those dominant back-to-back campaigns in the KBO league were enough to convince Song to try his hand in the majors, and the Heroes made Song’s goal a reality when they posted him for MLB clubs last month. That opened a 30-day window (set to close on the 21st of December) for Song to negotiate with MLB clubs. Song has typically been viewed by scouts as a step below MLB Gold Glove winner Ha-Seong Kim, the best South Korean player to make the jump to the majors in recent years, and there’s been some debate about whether he’s more of a utility player or a proper starter at the big league level.
Song’s reported price tag is certainly affordable enough for the Padres to stomach in the event he’s more of a bench piece than a regular. A multi-year pact that pays Song less than $5MM annually figures to be quite affordable for San Diego; Jose Iglesias earned $3MM last year after being added to San Diego’s roster on a minor league deal to fill out the club’s bench mix. Song figures to fill a similar role this year to the one Iglesias held last season, chipping in around the infield and serving as a pinch-hitter.
While Song has primarily played third base throughout his career in the KBO league, that position is manned by Manny Machado in San Diego. Perhaps the Padres will look to get Machado occasional DH reps headed into his age-33 campaign, but aside from those occasional fill-in days Song figures to spend most of his time at first and second base, both of which are positions he logged significant time at in South Korea. Jake Cronenworth is currently slated to serve as San Diego’s second baseman next year, though his name has popped up in trade talks this winter. First base meanwhile, is unsettled after the departure of Luis Arraez. Gavin Sheets has some experience at the position but may be better suited for DH duties. As a result, first base could be Song’s best shot at regular reps, though it’s possible a trade of Cronenworth or the addition of a more traditional first base option like Paul Goldschmidt or Rhys Hoskins changes things.
The signing of Song comes just one day after the club agreed to reunite with right-hander Michael King on a three-year, opt-out laden contract. According to RosterResource, the Padres project for a payroll just under $217MM in 2026, with a payroll of nearly $258MM for luxury tax purposes. That’s before the addition of Song to the payroll, which at the currently reported numbers would push the team’s payroll up to around $221MM and around $262MM for luxury tax purposes. That would put them just barely below the second, $264MM luxury tax threshold for 2026.
If the Padres don’t want to go over that line, they would need to subtract salary from the roster to make virtually any more additions to the roster. That’s far from impossible, as rumors have percolated around not only Cronenworth but also players like right-hander Nick Pivetta and Ramon Laureano. A trade of Pivetta would save $20.5MM in 2026 and $13.75MM for luxury tax purposes. Cronenworth being dealt would save roughly $12.3MM in 2026 and $11.5MM for luxury tax purposes. Laureano wouldn’t save nearly as much money, as he’s due just $6.5MM next season on the final year of his contract.
Of course, it’s also possible the Padres simply stand pat from here, though doing so without adding another bat to the first base/DH mix would certainly be risky. Perhaps an addition on the trade market that comes with a lower financial cost could make some sense if San Diego neither wants to exceed the second luxury tax threshold nor trade salary to make room in the budget. Players like Triston Casas of the Red Sox and Mark Vientos of the Mets could potentially be available this winter and remain under affordable team control.
KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Post Infielder Sung-mun Song
The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization have agreed to post infielder Sung-mun Song, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The KBO posting window is 30 days (unlike the 45-day period for players coming over from Japan’s NPB). MLB teams will officially be able to negotiate with Song, whom Yoo adds has hired ISE Baseball to represent him, on Saturday morning. He’ll need to sign by 5:00 pm Eastern on December 21 or remain with the Heroes.
Song, 29, is a left-handed hitter who has played all nine seasons of his career with that club. He posted a sub-.700 OPS every year between 2021-23 but has taken a leap forward at the plate over the past two years. Song hit .340/.409/.518 last year and is coming off an equally impressive ’25 campaign. He popped a career-best 26 home runs with a .315/.387/.530 slash across 646 plate appearances.
Among 30 KBO hitters with 500+ trips to the dish, Song finished sixth in both average and on-base percentage and was third in slugging. He also finished third in home runs (albeit well behind former MLB first baseman Lewin Díaz’s league-best 50 longballs). Song walked at a 10.5% rate while striking out 14.9% of the time. The strikeout rate would be excellent against big league pitching but is only a little better than average in Korea, where the velocity is lower and hitters put far more balls in play.
Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs gave Song a 45 FV grade, which is commensurate with a mid-level prospect from the typical organization’s top 30 list. Longenhagen credited him with plus power to the pull side and a plus arm at third base, where he has spent most of his KBO career. He’s a good athlete who stole 25 bases this year and has gone 46-48 in stolen base attempts over the past two seasons.
The biggest question is his pure hitting ability. Longenhagen writes that Song has shown a bit of a propensity to chase outside the strike zone and has an uphill swing path that can leave him vulnerable to pitches up in the zone, especially those on the outer half. Readers are encouraged to check out FanGraphs’ full scouting report for more details. Will Sammon and Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic wrote earlier this month that evaluators with whom they spoke viewed Song more as a utility player than a regular.
Song has some defensive flexibility, but an inability to play shortstop limits his value as a utility piece. He’s primarily a corner infielder who also has almost 1300 innings at second base. The Angels need a third baseman and are looking for a left-handed bat to balance a righty-heavy lineup. The Astros also want to bring in a lefty-hitting infielder, though they’d need to feel comfortable playing Song regularly at second base unless they trade one of Isaac Paredes or Christian Walker. The A’s are in the second and third base markets, while the Mariners could be as well depending on whether they re-sign their own free agents. The White Sox, Pirates, Marlins, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Tigers and Royals (with Maikel Garcia capable of playing second) could all be in the mix for a third baseman.
A signing team would owe a posting fee to the Heroes on top of whatever is guaranteed to Song. That’s proportional to the contract value: 20% of the first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% thereafter. It’d be surprising if Song tops $25MM, so the likeliest outcome is that the release fee will be 20% of the guarantee.
Song is the only KBO player known to be on the posting radar this offseason. First baseman Baek-Ho Kang was reportedly considering an MLB move, but he signed a four-year contract with the KBO’s Hanwha Eagles this week. While Cody Ponce is expected to return to MLB after a dominant KBO season, he’ll do so as a free agent rather than via the posting system. There are three much higher-profile NPB players making the jump via the posting system: Tatsuya Imai, Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto. Japanese righty Kona Takahashi is also being posted but will command a far lower contract than the other three.
Sung-Mun Song Hoping To Be Posted For MLB Teams
KBO infielder Sung-Mun Song could be available for MLB teams this winter. A few weeks ago, he told Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News Agency that he will ask the Kiwoom Heroes to post him after the current season. Yoo notes that MLB teams began scouting him last year. Yoo also published another piece for Yonhap this week wherein Mark Pieper of ISE Baseball, Song’s agency, spoke about the player’s desire to make the move this winter.
Song, 29, is characterized by Yoo as a late bloomer. It’s noted that he didn’t become an everyday player until 2019. He then had his career sidetracked by his military service, which led to him missing the entire 2020 season and part of 2021 as well.
He has since seen a huge uptick in his performance in recent years. Over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he had a combined .253/.311/.366 line and a 85 wRC+. Since the start of 2024, he has a .330/.402/.528 batting line, production which translates to a 146 wRC+. He hit 19 home runs last year and is already up to 24 this season. He also stole 22 bases last year and is at 21 so far in 2025. Defensively, he is primarily a third baseman but has also spend significant time at second and first base.
Song and his representatives feel he is ready for a move to North America. The Heroes don’t have to post him and have actually signed him to a six-year extension, but Yoo notes they have also said they will support him if he wants to make the move to Major League Baseball. Assuming they do eventually post him at some point this winter, that will open up a 30-day posting window where Song can negotiate will all 30 MLB clubs.
If he signs with one of them, the Heroes will be entitled to a posting fee, the size of which would depend upon the specifics of his MLB deal. The fee will be calculated as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. Additional earnings, such as performance bonuses/incentives or salaries on option years fall under that purview once they are unlocked or exercised.
His market will naturally be dependent on whether or not clubs think he can have success in North American ball. His most recent results are impressive but the track record of success is still fairly short. As a point of comparison, Ha-Seong Kim hit 19 home runs in 2019 and then 30 in 2020, his final two KBO seasons. He had a combined .307/.393/.507 line and 142 wRC+ over those two seasons. That’s fairly similar to Song’s two recent campaigns but Kim also slashed .290/.364/.488 for a 112 wRC+ over the 2015-2018 campaigns. He therefore had a longer track record of decent production and also provided more defensive value as a plus shortstop. Yoo notes that Kim, who also played for the Heroes, had a conversation with Song and convinced him to try the leap to MLB.
Kim secured a four-year, $28MM deal from the Padres ahead of the 2021 season. Arguably, he was a better player at that time compared to Song now, though a few years of inflation could work in Song’s favor. This winter’s third base market will likely be headlined by Alex Bregman, assuming he opts out of his deal with the Red Sox, and Eugenio Suárez. At second, Gleyber Torres should be the main attraction. Teams looking for help at first base will likely be looking at Pete Alonso, who can opt out of his Mets deal, as well as Luis Arráez, Josh Naylor, Rhys Hoskins, Ryan O’Hearn and others.
Song will be more affordable than many of the guys in that group, even with the posting fee, though he will also come with the natural uncertainty surrounding a player with no previous major league experience.
Photo courtesy of Evan Habeeb, Imagn Images