Breaking Polanco's option declined

[Pharmabro]

Actually nice to start the off season with good news. Never have see that Alien looking like freak in an M's uniform again.

So, I know this will be poo-poo'd by many, but here's an interesting idea. What about the international FA market? Lots of teams have signed top FA players from Japan and Korea in the last few years - why not the M's?

Here an interesting dude: Hyeseong Kim from the KBO.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/hyes ... er-report/

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... m---016hye

He's a young (25) left-handed hitter who has some speed on the basepaths. He has a career slash line of .301/.361/.398. The red flag is that he doesn't hit for power, but he's starting to get a little more pop in his bat lately. He's a contact hitter who gets on base (9.8% strikeout rate!) Basically, I can see this guy becoming a Luis Arreaz, and god knows we missed the boat on him.

I don't know what he'll demand in terms of contract, but I have to think it would be cheaper than a lot of FA, and possibly less than your average 2B we could get through trade. Yeah, he may dip as he adjusts to the MLB, but even if we get a 2B who hits for .280 and can swipe 30 bags, we'd have a serious upgrade compared to the last 4 or 5 years of shitshow at second.

An .841 OPS in Korea is probably about a .641 OPS in MLB.

Dae Ho Lee went from a 1.011 OPS in KBO to .740 in MLB. Then went back and had a .925 OPS.

Last year the Giants signed Jung Hoo Lee to a 113M/6-year contract coming off a KBO career of .898 OPS. He had a .641 OPS his 1st year.

[Donn Beach]

Scouting reports generally suggest Kim profiles as a utility player. MLB teams enamored with his glove could view him as a low-end regular at second base