Ha-seong Kim to the Padres

[TURBO]

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that Ha-seong Kim's with the padres is for four years and $28 million with incentives that can make the contract worth $32 million.

 

A report from Naver Media says that there is also a fifth year mutual option. Kim has until New Year's Day to sign the deal, so this should get done shortly. The 25-year-old was a star in the KBO in 2020 with 30 homers and 23 stolen bases before being posted by the Kiwoom Heroes earlier in December. Kim is expected to start at second base for the Padres to begin the 2021 season, and offers a speed/power combination that will make him intriguing in all formats this summer.

 

RELATED: San Diego Padres

SOURCE: Jon Heyman on Twitter

Dec 31, 2020, 5:28 PM ET

 

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Padres signed INF Ha-seong Kim to a four-year, $28 million contract with a mutual option for 2025.

 

There are incentives that can push the contract to $32 million, and the option is for $7 million in 2025. Kim's contract had to be signed before Saturday because of the international posting rules. The infielder was one of the best players in the KBO, and hit 30 homers with 23 steals while posting a .307 average for the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2020 campaign. He should be an everyday player for the Padres, and if he gets a chance to hit at the top of the order, there's a lot of quality bats behind him to drive him in. The question will be where he plays defensively, but it's likely that he'll get a chance to be the starting second baseman with Fernando Tatis Jr. locked in as the starter at short.

 

Dec 31, 2020, 7:19 PM ET

[pacopete4]

It will be a challenge, but having Yelich on this team likely means that we will be witnessing relevant baseball for the next decade, just like we have for most of the length of Braun's deal.

 

While this could happen, I don't think it is a given. They could very well tear down everything around Yelich and not be competitive. Heck, we are close to that right now. If it weren't for the outlook of this division, we could be looking at a very poor upcoming season. And that could change at any given time a couple of the division foes make a move. We are not a good baseball team as currently constructed. Yelich and his contract have nothing to do with that right now but they may in future seasons.

[Thurston Fluff]

Well considering we already had him on a team friendly deal from his age 26-30 seasons, the extension is really for his age 31-36/37 seasons. I'm happy to have him on the team long term, but this deal has the potential to look really bad in hindsight...

 

The later years of the deal likely will, but that's the price of doing business in today's MLB. Small market teams typically trade off guys like Yelich entering their prime earning years, basically serving as farm systems for the Dodgers and Yankees of the world. Personally I'm sick of that philosophy, so I'm glad that the Brewers took another path on Yelich. It will be a challenge, but having Yelich on this team likely means that we will be witnessing relevant baseball for the next decade, just like we have for most of the length of Braun's deal.

 

The Rays have done that for years. They seem to be more than just a AAAA team used to stock the Yankees shelves. The Yelich signing is good from the fan perspective because we love him. it isn't good from the fans perspective because that contact may be why we don't have winning baseball four years from now. To maintain a winning organization we have to maintain one philosophy not jump from one to the other based on a player's popularity with the fanbase. Yelich gave us a bit of a hometown discount which may be why they did it and why it may work out. I hope it does. Having our cake and eating it too would be nice. I'm not so sure it can be done. If it can't then the choice is pay the fan favorite or have a winning team for the next decade plus. I prefer we go with the latter.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Well considering we already had him on a team friendly deal from his age 26-30 seasons, the extension is really for his age 31-36/37 seasons. I'm happy to have him on the team long term, but this deal has the potential to look really bad in hindsight...

 

The later years of the deal likely will, but that's the price of doing business in today's MLB. Small market teams typically trade off guys like Yelich entering their prime earning years, basically serving as farm systems for the Dodgers and Yankees of the world. Personally I'm sick of that philosophy, so I'm glad that the Brewers took another path on Yelich. It will be a challenge, but having Yelich on this team likely means that we will be witnessing relevant baseball for the next decade, just like we have for most of the length of Braun's deal.

 

The Rays have done that for years. They seem to be more than just a AAAA team used to stock the Yankees shelves. The Yelich signing is good from the fan perspective because we love him. it isn't good from the fans perspective because that contact may be why we don't have winning baseball four years from now. To maintain a winning organization we have to maintain one philosophy not jump from one to the other based on a player's popularity with the fanbase. Yelich gave us a bit of a hometown discount which may be why they did it and why it may work out. I hope it does. Having our cake and eating it too would be nice. I'm not so sure it can be done. If it can't then the choice is pay the fan favorite or have a winning team for the next decade plus. I prefer we go with the latter.

 

Yeah, the Rays are the gold standard, but they have also been able to develop a ton of All Stars, and identify future All Stars and acquire them via trade. The Brewers, on the other hand, have not been able to do that. So saying that there is a choice between paying a fan favorite or having a winning team for the next decade isn't exactly accurate. I'll take my chances, given this team's development history, building around Yelich, rather than building around the Turangs and Garrett Mitchells of the world. Because reallocating Yelich's money doesn't necessarily mean they are going to be able to replicate his production.

[CheezWizHed]

Strange the team is willing to hand out the next big albatross contract for a guy in his 30s like we learned nothing from Braun or the endless similar deals across baseball, but when it comes to FA we have to nickel and dime our way to a roster these days. Hard to watch.

 

Christian Yelich turned 29 three weeks ago. I understand what you are trying to say, but if you are going to rip into the team's front office, probably best to at least be accurate.

 

So to clarify, we want to sign the best players, but not give big contracts to 30+ players? Do we realize that there are few 27yo free agents? Most of them are 30+....

 

And for the record, I thought Braun's deal actually worked out pretty decently. Not perfectly, but he was serviceable to the end (when healthy). There are certainly worse contracts at the tail end of player's careers.

[jerichoholicninja]

As for Kim, what kind of ceiling are we looking at here? The track record for hitters coming over from Asian leagues is very spotty. At the top you have Matsui who was a beast in the US. Ichiro was either great or just really good depending on how you feel about his game. Aoki did some good things for us and other teams but was really all around average. Jung-ho Kim probably had the most success coming from the Korean league but then fell flat on his face after two seasons, off the field stuff notwithstanding. Even Thames coming back to the states had value but wasn't really a dependable gamechanger because of his horrible splits and lack of defense. I'd love to take a shot at one of these guys from foreign leagues but I can't see the risk worth the investment. You're looking at minimal ceiling with a bottomless floor and a high potential of total failure.

[Thurston Fluff]

 

Yeah, the Rays are the gold standard, but they have also been able to develop a ton of All Stars, and identify future All Stars and acquire them via trade. The Brewers, on the other hand, have not been able to do that. So saying that there is a choice between paying a fan favorite or having a winning team for the next decade isn't exactly accurate. I'll take my chances, given this team's development history, building around Yelich, rather than building around the Turangs and Garrett Mitchells of the world. Because reallocating Yelich's money doesn't necessarily mean they are going to be able to replicate his production.

 

I honestly don't know how many of those players were drafted and developed or acquired via trade years ago so I can't compare our draft and develop process to theirs What I do know is lately we have developed a few stars of our own recently. If we then add more high ceiling prospects via trading guys like Yelich instead of paying them 20% of our available payroll budget our farm will produce more.

[brewcrewdue80]

Here's the thing on Tampa trading skills. It has been a big process that they developed Ace quality SPs, 2s and 3s and have been recycling them the better part of a decade(if not closing in on 2)

Milwaukee is approaching that recycling value pitchers bring. Hader will likely be the first, Woodruff or Burnes to follow. Maybe luck in to a Freddy Peralta #2 type season with his contract that gets a solid return afterwords.

We've lost out now on Wily Peralta, Nelson, Chase Anderson, and Kneble bad seasons or injuries. Did win with Thornburg. We have promising pitching prospect in the system that when you start trading off Hader, etc., ought to add a few more promising arms. And then we can be like TB model of consistency while being a small market.

Tampa's run coincides with having two #1 picks after a #3pick. We've not built from that beginning. 6straight winning seasons, 4 after below .500, now 3 straight above again. We're not going to field 500 plus teams every season. Could use some luck on our side. Aguilar&Shaw in 2019, just about everybody in 2020 forget how to hit. Now look at FAs for 2021 and nearly all seem like "dumpster diving" by those critical of offseason signings. Team should be sitting in a far healthier position, but Garcia, Narvaez, Urias, left no impression to be relied on offensively heading in to 2021. Yelich has folks regretting an extension already. Cain's '19 and opt out, leaves negative regards heading in to '21. Just remember these batting efforts aren't the norms and regression to the the mean should improve the offense by quite a bit. Aguilar and Shaw were both better than 32pts in OPS+ 2020 vs 2019.