Contract Details: Jung Hoo Lee signs with the San Francisco Giants for six years, $113 million
I just wrote about how the absence of Shohei Ohtani meant the Giants seized the best opportunity to address their team's massive deficit on offense, which is not getting guys on base. Their team OBP of .312 was the second worst in the National League last year, ahead of only the Rockies (!). The main reason for the low OBP was that they simply didn't score as they were the league's average team in total walks drawn. That, in turn, makes them the perfect team to sign Jung Hoo Lee, the KBO star who hasn't posted an average below .318 in any of his seven seasons in Korea's major league, although he doesn't expect to hit particularly hard in the MLB .
GO DEEPER
Giants and Jung Hoo Lee agree to 6-year deal: source
Lee, who will play next season at age 25, was one of the hardest hitters in the KBO during his time there. In each of his last five seasons in the KBO, he walked more than he hit. His strikeout rate was also among the five lowest in the entire league in each of those years, although he did not qualify in 2023 because he broke his ankle, ending his season after 86 games. This is his approach, favoring contact over power, although it looks like he offers 40-45 grade power rather than lacking the power to improve MLB pitching.
GO DEEPER
The Athletics 2023-24 MLB Top 40 Free Agent Big Board: Dodgers sign Shohei Ohtani
There's some risk here that he'll come out of this approach and try to bulk up to pull the ball out of the park, a change that would sacrifice some batting average, and given Oracle Park's spacious right field, he should at his remain typical approach to putting the ball in play and hope his new home stadium gives him a few extra doubles and triples as the season progresses. I do think the high contact rate will continue as his hand-eye coordination is excellent and he's definitely seen a lot of speed, with the better quality of breaking things being the most likely challenge here. He played center in Korea and I expect him to start there for the Giants, who only have one true center fielder on their roster in Luis Matos (who should get some time in Triple A to get his bat back on track bring), but will probably be overloaded defensively there and is likely to end up in a corner until halfway through this contract.
I'm intrigued by the low AAV for this deal, just $19.2 million, which rates him as an average regular at best. I would be surprised if he didn't reach that mark, despite my skepticism about his lack of power – he could hit 8-12 home runs a year – and the natural misgivings about any left-handed hitter who has shown mild power split, whether overseas or in the minors. In my opinion, he is significantly more likely to be an average or better starter than Masataka Yoshida, whose contract costs the Red Sox $21 million per year (which amortizes the release fee over the five years of the contract) and who in his Rookie season produced just 0.6 fWAR in MLB.
The Giants didn't have a single outfielder worth 2 WAR in 2023, with Mike Yastrzemski leading the group with 1.8 fWAR in 106 games. Lee represents a fairly immediate improvement over whoever he replaces, although the extent depends on whose attacks he ends up taking over. Michael Conforto's season was so disappointing that he didn't opt out of his contract. Therefore, he could be in danger if Mitch Haniger, who was below replacement level at the time he was off the injured list, doesn't bounce back. Haniger and Austin Slater seem like the most likely candidates to lose playing time right now, and a full season with Lee against those two guys would conservatively give the Giants one win in one and a half of additional value.
This solves a major problem for the Giants, although no one alone (not even Ohtani) can solve their OBP problems or make them a league-average offense. Aside from the ongoing need to get more men on base, the Giants still have other areas to address. They still don't have a true shortstop on the roster – I don't think budding Marco Luciano can play shortstop at even an average level in the majors, and his bat is nowhere near ready – and the Giants could probably use another starting pitcher use.
Trade Details: Yankees acquire LHP Victor González and IF Jorbit Vivas for SS Trey Sweeney
Victor González could be a left-to-left weapon for the Yankees. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The Dodgers, who I apparently even have to mention in a column about the Giants, made a small trade with the Yankees earlier this week to clear 40-man roster space, acquiring left-hander Victor González and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas The Yankees traded Bronx for minor league player Trey Sweeney. This is more about roster space than returns, as Sweeney, the Yankees' first-round pick in 2021, likely won't even crack the Dodgers' top-20 prospects this winter; He's a third baseman at best with below-average strength and a strong dislike of breaking things. (Of course, the Dodgers will use their devil magic to get him to hit 27 homers next season.)
GO DEEPER
Dodgers and Yankees trade to free up roster spots for Ohtani and Kelly
González is a good choice for the Yankees, a plus-sinker/average slider type who does well enough against righties to work full innings and should help neutralize lefties in the Yankees' home park, who is very friendly to lefties with power. He threw a few more strikes than before in his major league stint in 2023, and if that continues, he would give the Yankees the true left-on-left guy they were missing in their bullpen.
Vivas is a high-contact hitter who can play second base and handle third base fairly well, but has not yet shown the power to be a starter at either spot. He can run a bit and has probably gone from 35 to 40 and hit 12 home runs for Double-A Tulsa last year, enough that he could play a role as a utility infielder who can handle shorts in an emergency and step in more often second or third place. He doesn't have the luster of first-round status that Sweeney had, but he's more likely to be worth something in the majors and could likely contribute as a bench player this year.
Contract Details: The Royals are signing RHP Seth Lugo to a three-year, $45 million contract, RHP Chris Stratton to a two-year, $8 million contract and LHP Will Smith to a one-year, $5 million contract
Seth Lugo was a fixture on the Padres roster last season. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Royals bolstered their pitching staff in two moves on Tuesday, agreeing to sign starter Seth Lugo to a three-year, $45 million contract and reliever Chris Stratton to a two-year, $8 million contract, with the second-rounder becoming a punter Optioned for $4.5 million. The Lugo deal might overvalue him a little, but both guys immediately make the Royals better.
The Royals' pitching was so bad last year that John Fisher tried to move them to Las Vegas as well. Kansas City allowed 5.30 runs per game in 2023, better only than the Hand-in-the-Till A's, and in some ways it's even more horrendous because the Royals have allowed so much in since their World Series win in 2015 had invested in pitching in the draft. Before signing Lugo, there were no potential starters on the Royals' 2024 depth chart except for breakout 2023 starter Cole Ragans, who posted an ERA under 4.50 last year, and the lowest of them, Daniel Lynch. came back late in the year without his fastball.
GO DEEPER
Royals and Lugo agree to a three-year, $45 million contract
The Royals' 2018 college pitching class produced almost nothing, with Lynch and Brady Singer (5.52 ERA last year) being the biggest names and Jackson Kowar now out of the trade, while 2020 first-rounder Asa Lacy plagued by arm problems and arm problems is control. Singer is the only pitcher the Royals have drafted in the last 10 years to generate at least 2.0 WAR as a Royal, and the only one to generate 3.0 WAR for anyone in the majors since Sean Manaea in 2013 . These weren't bad drafts, or at least not all of them – I was among those who praised the 2018 draft class, and Lacy, who I saw a week before the end of the world in 2020, looked like he had that year can win 1:1. The point is, the major league team had to leave the organization for even an average starter, and they landed one in Lugo, which gives them two such players in their rotation alongside Ragans.
Lugo is a fastball/curveball guy with some of the highest spin rates ever seen on his breaker, but he works with a wide range of pitches and doesn't rely too heavily on any one pitch. He is very deceptive, as the four-seamer and curveball look similar out of his hand and then break in opposite directions as they approach the plate, and unlike many starters in this market, he doesn't have much yardage on his arm – Last year's 146 innings were by far his career high. I pegged him at around $10-12 million per year, but I don't think $15 million is excessive, and he's as big an upgrade for the Royals as he would have been for any other team. If he can give them 150-160 innings, he could be a three-win improvement over the 5.50 ERA guy he replaces.
Stratton is also a good fit for the Royals because he has shown he can handle some innings out of the bullpen, including multi-inning stints, and is slightly above average in run prevention. Over the last three seasons, he was worth 1.6 rWAR/1.4 fWAR while throwing 225 1/3 innings with a 3.91 ERA and 3.55 FIP. Building on a theme here: The Royals didn't finish the season with a reliever on their roster who pitched at least five innings in the majors last year and had an ERA under 4.40. Stratton gives them length and also some quality.
They also signed left-hander Will Smith to a one-year deal worth $5 million plus potential bonuses. Smith had exactly a 4.40 ERA while pitching for Texas this year, which was his worst season since he bombed as a starter in 2012… for the Kansas City Royals. The bullpen is already better than it was. I'm not saying these moves make the Royals a contender, but they are already more competitive than they were a month ago.
(Top photo of Jung Hoo Lee at the 2020 Summer Olympics: Yukihito Taguchi / USA Today)