One of the biggest challenges in managing the San Diego Padres’ 2024 squad is how to deal with Kim Ha-sung, who will become a free agent after this season. There are three main options: signing an extension contract during the season, making a trade during the season, keeping him until the end of the season, and then becoming a free agent after the season. 토토사이트 순위
In fact, the San Diego Padres continued to agonize over the first two of these three scenarios last offseason. The team’s payroll situation was not so good to immediately propose an extension. Currently, the overall cash flow has been blocked by the bankruptcy of its broadcasting authority. For this reason, San Diego suffered from trade after giving up Juan Soto (New York Yankees) last offseason. Against this backdrop, he couldn’t afford to sign an extension with Kim Ha-sung, who is larger in size. There was no guarantee that Kim Ha-sung, whose stock price soared due to his best performance and Gold Glove award last year, would accept the offer.
The San Diego Padres are known to have received trade offers from several teams over Kim Ha-sung, but due to risks and unsatisfactory performance in return, the team eventually entered the season without a trade. Rather, the team returned Kim Ha-sung to his original position as shortstop, showing strong trust.
There was one more variable. It was a scenario that San Diego also didn’t want, but Kim Ha-sung suffered a severe slump this year or couldn’t go to many games due to injury. In this case, Kim Ha-sung had a very slight chance to give up his FA qualification and choose to re-take it. Kim Ha-sung and San Diego have an option clause of $8 million for 2025 in their contract. If San Diego offered the option and Kim Ha-sung accepted it, there was actually a way to have another year left with a short-term contract of $8 million.
However, this possibility has virtually disappeared. This is because Kim Ha-sung is displaying robust performance. Rather, his performance seems to be on the rise in June. Kim Ha-sung played healthily in 71 games this season until Tuesday (Korea Standard Time) and posted a batting average of 0.222, on-base percentage of 0.336, nine homers, 34 RBIs, 14 steals, and an OPS of 0.729. It seems that overall offensive productivity has declined, with his batting average falling from last year, but that is not the case. The adjusted OPS was 108 last year, but this year it is 113, which is higher than last year. The team should also take into account that it achieved the performance as a shortstop. Shortstop is the second most burdensome position after catcher.
In June, Kim showed signs of explosion with a batting average of 0.250, an on-base percentage of 0.367 with two homers, 10 RBIs and an OPS of 0.892 in 12 games. Kim Ha-sung’s performance started to improve in June last year, and the same trend can be expected. Kim Ha-sung’s value is soaring as well. The possibility of being satisfied with 8 million dollars is close to zero, and even if he ruins the season from now on, conditions have been created to earn sufficient value in the market. Kim Ha-sung has already shown a lot of things over the past two to three years. He is 30 next year, which is not that old.
As a result, trade rumors are reigniting. Jim Borden, a columnist for North American sports media The Athletic and a former major league general manager, dealt with the need and required positions of 30 major league clubs this year on the 13th (Korea time). Borden pointed out that Cleveland needs a shortstop to challenge performance beyond winning the district, and of course, Kim Ha-sung could be a candidate. Kim Ha-sung has half a year left until the FA, and if Cleveland finds a short-term alternative, there is actually no better candidate.
Borden selected Toronto’s Beau Bissett and Kim Ha-sung as candidates, predicting that Toronto would still keep the sluggish Beau Bissett this year. On the contrary, regarding Kim Ha-sung, he opened up the possibility, saying, “If San Diego is eliminated from the playoff competition, Kim Ha-sung could be an interesting option.” The competition for the NL West is already under the dominance of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego is in a wild card race, but it is not at a safe stage yet.
Now, it is less and less likely to see Kim Ha-sung in San Diego next year. Even if he remains until the end of the season without being traded, there is a possibility of signing an FA contract of more than $100 million. If so, it is unclear whether Kim Ha-sung will accept this amount even if this amount is on the table in the discussion of an extension contract during the season. This is because there will be sufficient demand if it goes out of the FA market anyway. Kim Ha-sung erased the last variable, and now the ball has passed to San Diego.
