Opting out of the 120 billion won jackpot? Will the KBO League’s ‘superstar’ be able to enter the Major League stage with great brilliance?
On the 9th (Korean time), ‘CBS Sports’, an American sports media outlet, made 10 predictions related to this year’s Major League Baseball offseason. 바카라사이트닷컴
One of the 10 predictions of ‘CBS Sports’ is that ‘San Francisco will finally recruit a star player.
The star player pointed out by ‘CBS Sports’ here was none other than Lee Jeong-hoo (25).
“San Francisco will finally recruit a star player. The main character is Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes center fielder Lee Jeong-hoo,” said CBS Sports.
Like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Lee Jeong-hoo is only 25 years old, so the club will try to buy him in his prime.” I predicted this.
Yamamoto, a Japanese right-handed pitcher who is aiming to advance to the major leagues along with Lee Jeong-hoo, is the same age and was born in 1998.
Is Lee Jeong-hoo really the player San Francisco needs? ‘CBS Sports’ said, “Before suffering an ankle injury last summer
he had a batting average of .318, an on-base percentage of .306, and a slugging percentage of .455 in 86 games.
Last year, he hit 23 home runs with a batting average of .349, an on-base percentage of .421, and a slugging percentage of .575.
He was selected as the regular season MVP with more than twice as many walks (66) as strikeouts (32),” he said.
He also has a talented defense. In the meantime, San Francisco has had difficulty signing star players, and Lee Jung-hoo is helping them.”
He is exactly the player we need.” It was also predicted that his excellent contact ability would be a good match for San Francisco’s home stadium, Oracle Park.
Oracle Park is considered a stadium where it is particularly difficult for left-handed batters to hit a home run.
In fact, San Francisco showed great interest when general manager Pete Putilla visited Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 10th of last month and watched Lee Jeong-hoo’s at-bat in person.
Lee Jeong-hoo overcame his ankle injury and said goodbye to his home fans as he took one at-bat in what could be his final home game of the season.
San Francisco is already not hiding its interest in Lee Jeong-hoo. ‘NBC Sports Bay Area’ reported on the 8th,
Last summer, high-ranking officials from San Francisco visited Korea to see Jeong-hoo Lee, and San Francisco General Manager Putilla also visited Korea to see Jeong-hoo Lee’s final home game of the season.”
Farhan Zaidi, president of San Francisco’s baseball division, also acknowledged interest in Jeong-hoo Lee through ‘NBC Sports Bay Area’, saying
Our club put a lot of effort into Jeong-hoo Lee.
President Zaidi expressed interest in Lee Jung-hoo and even expressed a positive outlook, saying, “We visited there (Korea) several times.
Lee Jung-hoo missed a lot of time in the second half of the season due to injury
but we expect him to return in good health.”
Another positive factor is that San Francisco appointed coach Bob Melvin as the new head coach.
Coach Melvin is the person who hired Kim Ha-seong for the San Diego Padres this year.
In short, he can be said to be a leader who maximized Kim Ha-seong’s strengths.
Kim Ha-seong also took a leap forward as a starting infielder thanks to Coach Melvin’s trust, and showed great improvement in offense this year.
Regarding this, ‘NBC Sports Bay Area’ said, “Coach Melvin is the person who helped Ha-seong Kim make a great contribution to San Diego.
Ha-seong Kim’s success over the past two years is one of the reasons why San Francisco is considering Jeong-hoo Lee as a center field solution.
Everything,” he analyzed. In other words, Coach Melvin’s appointment could be a catalyst for recruiting Lee Jeong-hoo.
Above all, the size of Lee Jung-hoo’s contract predicted by ‘CBS Sports’ is truly unprecedented.
CBS Sports’ predicted, “Lee Jung-hoo will sign a six-year contract with San Francisco worth $90 million (about 118 billion won) and will also be given the right to opt out after four years.”
It is expected that he will receive treatment worth as much as $100 million. $90 million is close to 120 billion won in Korean currency.
This is also consistent with the contract amount that Masataka Yoshida, a Japanese left-handed hitter for the Boston Red Sox, signed with Boston.
Yoshida signed a five-year, $90 million contract with Boston ahead of this season.
Yoshida, who participated as a member of the Japanese national team in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last March, took advantage of Munetaka Murakami’s sluggish performance and took over as the fourth hitter.
Yoshida, who made his major league debut in Boston this year, established himself as a starting outfielder by recording a batting average of .289, an on-base percentage of .338, a slugging percentage of .445, and 15 home runs, 72 RBIs, and 8 stolen bases.
In addition, the media also added that Lee Jung-hoo will be given the right to opt out.
Opt-out refers to the right to declare free agency instead of giving up the remaining salary during the contract period.
Recently, players signing long-term contracts are increasingly including opt-out rights in their contracts.
In addition to Lee Jeong-hoo’s departure to San Francisco, ‘CBS Sports’ predicted that ‘Shohei Ohtani will leave the LA Angels and go to the LA Dodgers’, and also made a specific prediction
saying, ‘Ohtani will sign a 13-year contract with the Dodgers worth 500 million dollars (about 655.8 billion won).
Even the estimated amount was mentioned.
‘The San Diego Padres will trade Juan Soto to the New York Yankees,’ and ‘CBS Sports’ predicted that ‘a package consisting of Yankees right-hander Michael King and top pitching prospect Drew Thorpe will head to San Diego,’ and ‘Yamamoto will join the New York Mets.
He predicted that Yamamoto would sign a contract with the Mets for 8 years and $220 million (about 288.5 billion won).
In addition, ‘CBS Sports’ reported ‘Cody Bellinger will return to the Chicago Cubs’, ‘St. Louis Cardinals will acquire two top starting pitchers through free agent trade’, ‘Joy Votto will head to his hometown team Toronto Blue Jays’, ‘The Baltimore Orioles will spend less than $50 million (approximately 65.6 billion won) on free agent recruitment’, ‘FA starting pitchers Sonny Gray, Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez will re-sign with their original teams’, ‘Houston Astros will sign Brad Ass. He predicted, “We will appoint Coach Murs.”
I wonder whether the meeting between Lee Jung-hoo and San Francisco will become a reality as predicted by this media outlet. As the estimated contract amount of each media outlet is gradually increasing, there is a lot of interest in the size of the contract that Lee Jung-hoo will sign.