The U.S. “The Athletic” said on the 11th (Korea time) that the San Diego Padres, considered a strong destination for Lee Jung-hoo, have long been interested in Lee Jung-hoo, but a contract is not imminent. A week has passed since the posting began on the 5th, but there has been no concrete progress yet.
“According to sources, Lee Jung-hoo’s contract with the San Diego Padres has not been finalized. The San Diego Padres, which traded Soto and center fielder Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees, secured the pitching staff depth by lowering its projected pay roll to 156 million U.S. dollars. However, due to the departure of Grisham as well as Soto, the outfielders need two pitchers, and are seeking at least one starting pitcher and several relief pitchers. “If Lee signs a contract, he will spend a large portion of the remaining funds,” he said. “It is difficult to spend a lot of money on Lee due to the reduction of pay roll.”
The Athletic said, “Otani is one of the courters that San Francisco can show interest in Lee Jung-hoo as he moves to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He could probably spend more money than San Diego,” hinting at the possibility of going to San Francisco, where he has ammunition stockpiles. 메이저 토토사이트
San Francisco has yet to recruit a large-sized player, which it had hoped for in this offseason. He jumped into the race to recruit Ohtani, but ended up wasting water. The Soto trade also failed. According to the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday, San Francisco also started efforts to recruit Soto through a trade. It was one of the 10 teams that inquired about the Soto trade with San Diego, but failed to make the three finalists. San Diego did not want to send Soto to San Francisco, the same National League West team, and was excluded from the trade partner early on.
Just by jumping into the race to recruit Soto, one can see how willing San Francisco is to strengthen its outfield. Cody Bellinger and Lee Jung-hoo are considered “two-top” left-handed outfielders in a market where batters lack FA compared to the past. Bellinger wants a large contract worth more than $250 million, and it is inevitable to compete with several teams.
In this regard, there is a possibility that the San Francisco Giants will focus more on Lee Jung-hoo. Lee’s strength is that he is not as expensive as Bellinger and is still only 25 years old. With agent Scott Boras on his back, Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox) could sign a five-year, 90 million-dollar contract a year ago.
“Some industry insiders say it would not be surprising to sign a contract that is close to Yoshida, as Lee’s agent Boras said,” The Athletic said. “Lee, who is five years younger than Yoshida, is a faster runner and a stronger defender. In San Diego, Lee appears to have above-average skills as a center fielder in the big league.”
If San Francisco’s desperation for missing Ohtani and Soto turns to Lee Jung-hoo, it will be possible to sign a bigger-than-expected contract. Prior to Ohtani, San Francisco has been shunned by mega-FAs such as Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies) and Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) over the past few years. They have been linked to recruitment candidates every time, but failed, hurting the team’s image. San Francisco, which has advanced to the fall baseball league only once in the past seven years, is now becoming a team that Big Name players do not like, although it lacks money. Lee Jung-hoo is not a big name in the U.S., but he is a star in Korea, and if he joins the team for a big money, it could help revamp the team’s image.