Shohei Ohtani will wear the uniform from next season. He signed a 10-year, 700 million-dollar contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is the largest contract in the history of professional sports.
Ohtani’s debut game will take place in Korea. The Dodgers and San Diego Padres will play the 2024 Major League game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul for two days from March 20 to 21, 2024. The Seoul Series is the first Major League game to be held in Korea and the first Major League game to be held outside of North America since Tokyo, Japan in 2019.
The Dodgers’ opponent team San Diego recently traded Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees. Two outfielders escaped at a time. They had to fill the vacancy.
The Athletic, a U.S. media outlet, said on the 11th (Korea time), “San Diego has a long interest in Lee Jung-hoo, who played home games for seven seasons at Gocheok. There are two vacancies in the outfield and they have various advantages,” adding, “But league officials said it is not true that San Diego and Lee Jung-hoo have agreed to a contract.” 온라인카지노
Lee has played in the KBO League for seven seasons. He played in 840 games and recorded 1,181 hits, 65 homers, 515 RBIs, 581 runs scored, and a batting average of 0.340 OPS of 0.898. He ranks first in the overall batting average of 3,000 at-bats or more in the KBO League. In the 2022 season, he had his best year with 193 hits, 23 homers, 113 RBIs, 85 runs scored, and a batting average of 0.349 with an on-base percentage of 0.421. He won five titles (batting percentage, hitting, RBI, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage) and won the MVP award.
Although he did not play much this season due to an ankle injury, he had 105 hits, six homers, 45 RBIs, 50 runs and a batting average of 0.318 OPS 0.861 in 86 games.
The Athletic chose Koreans as the best friend of Lee Jung-hoo when he moved to the San Diego Padres. “San Diego infielder Kim Ha-sung is Lee’s best friend. He played for the Kiwoom Heroes together and won the Gold Glove this season,” the media said. “Park Chan-ho is also an advisor to the San Diego Padres. He is best friends with Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki. Three years ago, Park Chan-ho helped Kim sign a contract with the San Diego Padres.”
However, San Diego has its financial problems as well. Prior to this season, the team spent a lot of money on Darvish Yu, including an extension contract, and Xander Bogaerts as a free agent. It even took out a loan. Eventually, he sent the contract through trade as he expected that he would not be able to catch Soto who qualifies as an FA a year later, and increased his available salary.
Through trade with the Yankees, San Diego recruited Michael King, Jani Brito, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vazquez, and Kyle Higashioka. He strengthened his catcher position and made the pitcher’s depth thick. Nevertheless, The Athletic said, “San Diego is still looking for a pitching staff. It has at least one starting pitcher and several relief pitchers.” He added, “If I sign Lee Jung-hoo, I will likely spend a significant portion of my funds.”
However, San Diego sent Soto, a powerful left-handed hitter. He needs to fill his vacancy. The media said, “If we don’t sign Lee, we need to be creative in the trade market. The only left-handed hitters on the 40-man San Diego roster are Jake Cronenworth, Matt Carpenter, Brett Sullivan, and Tukupita Marcano,” adding, “Left-handed hitters in the FA market are poor. They won’t try to recruit Cody Bellinger.”
In the end, it is believed that Lee will be the right player. “So Lee may be the best fit for San Diego. In the near future, it will be decided whether San Diego is willing to meet Lee’s demands, but team officials have weighed the potential benefits as well,” said The Athletic.