“I Was Serious About SD After This,“ Kim Haesung And His 'Korean Tablesetter' Dream, SF Called Him Too Hard And He Folded.
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The Padres made a fairly attractive offer to the star Korean outfielder, but they couldn't match San Francisco's terms,' The Athletic's Dennis Lin reported on Nov. 19, 'a pattern that was bound to emerge in the Padres' salary-cutting this winter.
Lee signed a six-year, $113 million contract with San Francisco and was introduced at Oracle Park on Nov. 16.
The exact amount San Diego offered is not known, but it's safe to assume it was slightly more than half of San Francisco's offer. Local media outlets were predicting a price tag of $50-60 million. No one was predicting more than $70 million. It's likely that San Diego would have offered around that level. If so, they weren't really competing with San Francisco.
San Diego has reportedly settled on less than $200 million for next year's payroll. That's more than $50 million down from this year's $255 million. The recent trade of Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in exchange for Trent Grisham, four prospects and veteran catcher Kyle Higashioka is part of that trimming.
If San Diego had matched San Francisco's offer, Lee would likely have accepted. In that case, we could have seen a Korean duo of Lee Jung-hoo and Kim Ha-seong as table setters. 토토
However, Lee was too popular in the market to compete with big-market clubs like San Francisco, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Chicago Cubs, who all made aggressive bets. Still, it's significant that San Diego showed sincerity to Lee with a limited budget.
Local media have been following Lee's every move since he arrived in the U.S. Lee attended a home game between the NBA's Golden State Warriors and the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 17. During the third quarter, when the subtitle "Giants outfielder Lee Jung-hoo" appeared on the scoreboard, Lee stood up to greet the cheering fans.
Expectations for Lee are also growing.
In an article titled "10 Potential Selections to Make the 2024 All-MLB Team," MLB.com ranked Lee third, behind Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis.
'It remains to be seen how well Lee will do in the majors, but the Giants made a six-year, $113 million investment in him,' wrote reporter Manny Landhawa. 'Despite striking out nearly 60 percent of the time in the KBO and having relatively little power, he has a very high contact rate, and he has the speed and baseball pedigree to live up to his nickname, the Grandson of the Wind. He can hit the ball in all directions, which should be an advantage in the spacious Oracle Park.
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