If you've pay paying attention to the WBC, you'll notice that Korea is going nuclear (I couldn't resist) on their opponents. Dontrelle Willis sucked again yesterday when the U.S. got beat down yesterday. The star for Korea has been Seung-yeop Lee who has 5 homers in the tournament right now. So would he be a good fit for the M's?
In 2003, Mike Thompson thought so at the old P-I blog. That year, Lee visited the M's, Dodgers, and Angels. He set the Asian single-season home run record with 56 in 2003, and signed with the Chibe Lotte Marines in Japan without an offer from an American club. Right now, he plays for the Yomiuri Giants and could sign with an MLB team as a free agent for 2007.
But, I looked up his numbers. They're not spectacular. He's got some serious pop, that AVG and OBP are pretty weak. Apparantly he was available this year too, but the Giants swooped in. Here's my question, and I know I don't know enough about Lee or the situation, but wouldn't he have made a little more sense than Carl Everett? He would have come much cheaper, he's younger, might like dinosaurs, and it's always cool to bring in foreign stars.
Just thinking out loud here.
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There were probably numerous options which might have worked out better than Everett... of course Jurassic Carl should be considered innocent of sucking until he actually does suck. His bat might pleasantly surprise us.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone for Lee. Thanks for the link to his stat line! Looks like he's a mostly-1B sometimes-OF whose OPS was .827 for the two seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Word on the street is that Lee wants to play for the Yankees and no one else. Yomiuri is only a stepping stone for him to achieve this goal, and mainly why he gave the one-finger salute to Lotte. Lee also kicked off all the teams in 2003 because no one guaranteed him an MLB contract/starting position. I don't think he'll fair better, since he's shown that he's a 2-outcome hitter in the NPB on the wrong side of 30.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't like him. Big prima donna type too. Also, unless you noticed from the stat line, Bobby Valentine platooned him a lot. So I'd take his line more in the light of a Tony Clark/Russ Branyan type.
Interesting thoughts icex. Thanks for the insights.
ReplyDeleteI'd take Russ Branyan over Carl Everett. I'm not talking about making him an everyday player because I don't think Everett should be either.
Prima donna playing for the Yankees? No....
ReplyDeleteLee Seung-Yeop was AWESOME last year no matter how you cut it. He really kicked butt for Lotte. Perhaps it might help to look at the overall season stats for the Japan Champion Chiba Lotte Marines to get some idea of how awesome Lee was. Second on the team in OPS only to Saburo Ohmura, led the team in home runs, brought a huge Korean cheering section to the park... I'm probably biased because I'm a Lotte fan, but still.
ReplyDeleteThe contract dispute was because he felt he deserved a raise, and Lotte wasn't offering him one. I really don't blame him for walking, but I'm sort of pissed off that he'll probably be the bane of the existence of every team I root for from now on.
You may want to read what Bobby Valentine had to say about the situation, too.
Dammit I knew I put his name backwards on the post. I need to change that.
ReplyDeleteHeh, there's not really a "backwards". Over here, "Seung-Yeop Lee" is fine, in Japan, it was usually written the other way. (His player cheer song basically had his name sound like "ee-soon-yo", as in "ee-soon-yo, homu-ran!") Either way, we know who you mean.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Lee did well, but Lotte was a big time team effort. No one over his 30 HRs and 82 RBIs is a big indication that it was a full-team press, kinda like the '01 M's.
ReplyDeleteThe Japan Series was brutal because Lotte simply dropped Hanshin with a blizzard of hits.
That said, Lee's performance is impressive in the WBC, but it's a short series and his season stats in Japan are far more important to consider.
And Russ Branyan isn't really a comparison, because he's a 3-outcome player with the walk. Lee's numbers are more akin to Raul Mondesi. Even comes with the 'tude. :-D
This is sorta along the lines of the WBC but doesn’t watching the WBC and specifically the Korean team remind you a bit of the 2001 mariners? I mean they play solid fundamentals day in and day out, as the rizz would say. It truly has been a joy to see some good baseball and not a team waiting around for that one swing of the bat.
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