In Korea, any game featuring a Korean player is televised. Back in the day this meant I could watch a lot of Marlins and then Dodgers games featuring Choi Hee-seop, plus starts by Seo Jae-weong, Kim Byung-hyun, and Baek Cha-sung. There was even a brief time when Choo Shin-soo was playing a bit for the Indians. On some days there would be four or five games on. Not bad.
Now I subscribe to MLB.com every year and I can watch any game any time, and good thing, as last year the Korean player pool dwindled to Kim Byung-hyun making irregular starts for the Marlins, getting dealt to the D-Backs for a start or two, and then coming back to the Marlins.
At any rate it looks like Korean baseball fans will be treated to a lot of Pirates games as Kim has signed on with Pittsburg as a reliever. This is a very good move for Kim as he will be back in the bullpen where he belongs. He’ll be playing on a terrible team, but I team that is seemingly headed in the right direction under new GM Neal Huntington.
Right handed batters went .242/.341 with six HRs vs. Kim last season. Lefties went .316/.443 with 14 HRs. Hmm, sounds like a situational guy to me. It’s too bad it’s taken Kim this long to figure out he’s not a starter. I bet he’ll have a good year. The Pirates have a very good young closer in Matt Capps, and Kim will bridge the gap nicely if they use him in the 7th/8th innings. If the plan is to put him long-relief, then I’m not so crazy about the idea.
15 responses so far ↓
1 brent // Feb 21, 2008 at 10:30 am
The dwindling amount of MLB Korean players must be why the KBO is considering lowering the number of foreign players a team can have. I think each team may only have 2 players (usually “power” hitters or starting pitchers). Will they go down to only one player or just go for the full nationalistic effect and send every waygoogin packing. They are also thinking about scrapping free agency (no one can afford to pay the equal of the free agent player’s salary to the other team. When living in this country, you can choose to accept things as they are or not. The KBO will keep on running just fine within Korea; however, things like this will absolutely cripple it from growing a foot beyond the country’s border, and that is probably fine with the organization, too.
2 Simon Currie // Feb 21, 2008 at 11:12 am
Pretty similar situation in Japan regarding game broadcasts. The heavy tilt on the AL East meant that Japanese MLB fans were forced to watch mostly AL East teams (with a regular rotation of Mariners games thrown in).
This season brings hope that MLB fans in Japan will finally get to see some regular NL games with both Kuroda and Fukudome going to that league (Kaz Matsui lost his star status in Japan after his NYM stint).
Can the KBO scrap FA just like that? I guess the KBO PA is even weaker than the NPB PA.
And KBO reducing the number of foreigners on the roster is going somewhat in the opposite direction as NPB where teams can hoarde imports, but can’t use them in a game all at once (some must be sent to the farm team).
3 Simon Currie // Feb 21, 2008 at 11:13 am
Oh yeah, and does Kim still insist on wanting to be a starter? The prestigiousness of being a starter as compared to a reliever is slowly dwindling in Japan, as there have been some great Japanese closers.
4 Korea Beat // Feb 21, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Good thing for me that Hideki Matsui will always be a Yankee. Games on every day.
5 Shinsano // Feb 21, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I actually think Korean fans could care less if they have foreign players or not. I care, but who am I? I bet they won’t do it though. The free agency thing they may adjust though. The fact that Kim Dong-ju didn’t sign with another team said a lot. No team could afford to take the hit.
I think Kim would probably still like to be a starter, but the only offer he got was a minor league deal with the Giants. He’ll probably have a great year in the pen for the Pirates and then use the leverage to try and be a starter again.
I really don’t get that idea. He was a pretty decent reliever.
6 Shinsano // Feb 21, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I actually think Korean fans could care less if they have foreign players or not. I care, but who am I? I bet they won’t do it though. The free agency thing they may adjust though. The fact that Kim Dong-ju didn’t sign with another team said a lot. No team could afford to take the hit and he’s one of the best hitters in the league.
I think Kim would probably still like to be a starter, but the only offer he got was a minor league deal with the Giants. He’ll probably have a great year in the pen for the Pirates and then use the leverage to try and be a starter again.
I really don’t get that idea. He was a pretty decent reliever.
7 Brian // Feb 22, 2008 at 1:02 am
Last year was the first Japanese player for the Bucs, this year it’s the first Korean. I wonder how long it will take before a Pittsburgh columnist refers to dog eating.
Well, at least he comes cheap. But these are the kinds of moves Pirates fans hate. They’ll be starting on their 16th consecutive losing season, and the new ownership has been committed to building for the future . . . signing these rinky-dink veteran free agents just infuriates fans who would rather see “young talent” (read: minor-league caliber players) or “big name free agents” (read: Matt Morris or whomever else they’re dumb enough to sign). The Pirates beat writer addresses the signing:
“The other point regarding Kim, again from what I gather, is that he falls into that whole different-arm-slot, different-type-of-pitcher bullpen the Pirates have been saying all along that they want to have. If not seven fantastic, accomplished pitchers, they reason, then they at least can mix and match against certain types of hitters and keep opponents off balance in late innings.
But sure, looking at Kim’s numbers from last year, one would not see this as any transformational signing.”
Anyway, my dad is a sports fan and will go to Bucs’ games a few times a year. My uncles are bigger fans, and for all the bellyaching they do, they still go to about 10 games a year. Being overseas I’ve missed the last few “family reunion” outings to the stadium, but I have no idea how people justify spending money to watch that team. The park is gorgeous, I’ll grant . . . but it’s revolting for a franchise that’s been around since 1887 to be one of the most inept clubs in major sports. Actually, most people probably wouldn’t list “Pirates” as the most inept team in sports, because most people have probably forgotten the Pirates even exist.
We just need to sign more pre-steroid home run kings.
8 Brian // Feb 22, 2008 at 1:05 am
And as you said, I’m sure they’ll try to get his numbers up as much as possible and flip him at the trade deadline . . . for either an overpriced player or a noname AA player. Seems to be how things are done in the Burgh.
9 Shinsano // Feb 22, 2008 at 4:03 am
It’s a shame, I’ve heard that stadium is one of the league’s best and Pittsburg is, in some ways, a great city and a good baseball community.
The new general manager seems to be kind of savvy — he may be able to turn it around a little.
10 hwang // Mar 25, 2008 at 7:29 pm
bk is a piece of crap. my father brought him from korea to the US and then he pulled a koosh on jerry mcguire on him.
11 Shinsano // Mar 25, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Well, by all accounts BK’s American adventure is just about over. He’s had a terrible spring and the Pirates are just about as last stop as they come. I read he’s unlikely to make the team.
12 Brian // Mar 26, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Looks like Kim will be gone.
http://post-gazette.com/pg/08086/867911-63.stm
I dunno if that makes a lot of sense. He has really sucked this preseason, but they’re the Pirates. Everyone sucks, all the time. I’ve seen it explained as a salary move (one that will only save them about 500 K). Seems like even if he has a bad year (on a bad team) they could still trade him for something come the deadline.
I wonder if he’ll sign with Gwangju, his hometown? Hee-seop Choi is there, as is another former Major Leaguer and Jose Lima. I don’t think Kim has a chance to stick in the big leagues this year, after getting cut by the worst team.
13 Joel // Mar 26, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Didn’t the Giants almost sign Kim this offseason? That could be one last possible destination.
14 Shinsano // Mar 26, 2008 at 10:04 pm
The Giants offered him a minor league deal and he wouldn’t take it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did go back to Korea. Thing is, his ego strikes me as one that’s pretty substantial. You see that thing in the Post-Gazette about him not going to his last chance game? Saying he was sick. Shameful.
With Kim not on a major league roster that officially leaves the first Korean major leaguer as the last. If Park Chan-ho is cut (and I’d say there’s a 75% chance he will be cut) there will be zero Koreans playing at the major league level. Amazing.
15 Shinsano // Mar 26, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Oh, and if Kim does play in the KBO I would guess he’d go back to Gwangju like Choi did. He should do it, that’s going to be a good team.
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