Japanese media have highlighted Lee Jung-hoo, who successfully entered the Major League by signing a mega contract with the San Francisco Giants. Lee’s career and family relationship are also covered in detail.
“Multiple U.S. media reported that “Korea’s Ichiro” Lee Jung-hoo signed a six-year contract with the San Francisco Giants for a total of 111.3 million dollars (about 149 billion won),” Japanese sports media “Sports Hochi” reported. “Lee Jung-hoo’s father is Lee Jong-beom, who played for the Chunichi Dragons in the past.”
Journalists covering the U.S. Major League transfer market, including John Heyman of The New York Post and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, quoted sources as saying on the 13th (Korea time) that Lee Jung-hoo agreed to a contract with San Francisco.
Lee Jung-hoo is known to have included an opt-out clause in his contract that allows him to break his contract by agreement with the club after the 2027 season if he plays for San Francisco for four years.
San Francisco’s general manager Pete Putteller visited Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in October to watch Lee Jung-hoo in person, and Lee Jung-hoo was a big investment.
The size of Lee’s contract was much higher than expected. U.S. media including “MLB Trade Rumors” predicted that Lee would sign a five-year contract worth 50 million U.S. dollars, but the actual contract was far more than doubled.
“CBS Sports” predicted in November that “Lee Jung-hoo will sign a contract worth a total of $90 million (about 118 billion won) for six years and have the right to exercise the opt-out in four years,” but it did not expect to surpass $100 million at all.
Japanese media also seem surprised. Notably, he compared right-handed outfielder Yoshida Masataka who has been playing for the Boston Red Sox since this season to Lee Jung-hoo. Masataka Yoshida posted a batting average of 0.327 884, 467 RBIs and an OPS of 0.960, in 762 games, before signing a four-year contract worth 90 million U.S. dollars with the Boston Red Sox after the 2022 season ends.
In the case of Lee Jung-hoo, he entered the Major League with a cumulative record of 0.340 1181 hits, 65 homers and 515 RBIs in 884 KBO league games. However, Yoshida was born in 1993 and Lee Jung-hoo was born in 1998, and Lee Jung-hoo was 5 years younger than Lee Jung-hoo, and Lee Jung-hoo is considered to be superior in outfield defense.
Except for left field, Yoshida cannot play center field and right field. In contrast, Lee already reserved the starting center field position for San Francisco for the 2024 season. It can be said that Lee’s value in terms of age and defense surpassed Yoshida. 안전 토토사이트
“Lee Jung-hoo has surpassed .300 for seven consecutive years in the KBO League and became the batting champion twice,” Sports Hochi said. “He has the nickname of ‘Korea’s Ichiro’,” he said. “He played for Korea in the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, the 2012 Tokyo Olympics, and the World Baseball Classic in March this year.”
“Nikkan Sports” also said, “Lee Jung-hoo applied for the posting system earlier this month and was able to negotiate with big league clubs by mid-January next year,” adding, “In addition to the San Francisco Giants, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and the San Diego Padres were considered potential transfer candidates.”
“Lee Jung-hoo signed a super-large contract with the San Francisco Giants with higher contract terms than Masataka Yoshida,” “Sponichi Annex” said. “Lee Jung-hoo, an outfielder, was born in Nagoya in 1998 when his father Lee Jong-beom was playing for Chunichi in the Japanese professional baseball league.”
“Last year, Masataka Yoshida signed a five-year contract with the Boston Red Sox for a total of 90 million dollars. It was the highest amount among fielders who transferred from the Japanese professional baseball league,” he said. “Lee Jung-hoo won a huge contract, which is more than an annual salary.”
Lee Jung-hoo’s KBO League One team, the Kiwoom Heroes, also hit the jackpot. As Lee signed a mega deal worth 113 million dollars, he will receive 18.825 million dollars from San Francisco.
It is the fourth time that Kiwoom has advanced to the Major League through the posting system. After the end of the 2014 season, Kang Jung-ho moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates with a transfer fee of 5 million U.S. dollars, and Park Byung-ho moved to the Minnesota Twins with a posting fee of 12.85 million dollars after the end of the 2015 season.
Kim Ha-sung also signed a four-year contract worth a total of $28 million (W36.3 billion) with the San Diego Padres through the posting system after the 2020 season. Kiwoom earned $5.52 million (W7.2 billion) in posting money.
Prior to July 12, 2018, the posting system allowed the team that bet the highest bid among major league clubs wishing to recruit players who applied for posting to have the sole right to negotiate. Negotiations were possible only when the player’s original club accepted the posting amount.
In this way, Ryu signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the end of the 2012 season, becoming the first player to directly move to the Major League from the KBO League. The Dodgers invested 25.73 million U.S. dollars to recruit Ryu.
Kang Jung-ho and Park Byung-ho, who were members of Kiwoom, also negotiated with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins in this way, respectively, and gave Kiwoom huge profits.
In the case of Kim Ha-sung, he signed with the San Diego Padres after revising the posting contract agreement between the KBO and the Major League Baseball Secretariat in 2018. The revised posting method allows KBO to freely negotiate with 30 big league clubs for 30 days after the Major League Secretariat announced the players to be posted if the KBO applies for posting by the Major League Secretariat.
The transfer fee that a player’s original club receives depends on the size of the contract. If the amount is less than 25 million dollars, the transfer fee is 20 percent of the contract amount. If it is between 25 million dollars and 50 million dollars, the transfer fee is 17.5 percent of the amount exceeding 25 million dollars, and 5 million dollars, or 20 percent of the 25 million dollar base, is combined.
