snippets from some people I talk with:

 

Lee has spent time in Spring Training with both the Cubs and Marlins. His connection to both clubs was Leon Lee, Derek's father, who was the Asian coordinator for the Cubs until a couple years ago. The Marlins were earlier rumored to have interest, and if they deal Derek Lee, Seung-Yeop might make a good platoon partner with Conine at first. I don't know of any way to get L/R splits on Korean players, though.

We don't know, either, even in Korea. For those of you interested in him...

 

Seung-yup Lee

Samsung Lions (Korean Baseball Organization)

Position: 1B Height: 6-0 Weight: 190 Born: 8/18/76 Bats: Left Throws: Left

 

Year G* AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG

1995 120 365 55 104 29 1 13 73 33 54 0 3 0.285 0.345 0.477

1996 122 459 57 139 32 6 9 76 34 42 4 1 0.303 0.354 0.458

1997 126 517 96 170 37 3 32 114 49 79 5 2 0.329 0.391 0.598

1998 126 477 100 146 32 2 38 102 78 97 0 2 0.306 0.404 0.621

1999 132 486 128 157 33 2 54 123 112 114 10 2 0.323 0.458 0.733

2000 125 454 109 133 33 0 36 95 80 113 4 5 0.293 0.404 0.604

2001 127 463 101 128 31 2 39 95 96 130 4 2 0.276 0.412 0.605

2002 133 511 123 165 42 2 47 126 89 109 1 2 0.323 0.437 0.689

2003 131 479 115 144 23 0 56 144 101 89 7 0 0.301 0.428 0.699

*Each team plays 126 games in 1991~1998, 132 in 1999, and 133 since.

 

He is certainly the greatest hitter of all time in Korea. Has good contact with excellent plate discipline and tremendous power. Small, compared to Major League sluggers, built like Nomar Garciaparra. But, his homeruns are produced not by pure strength, but by exceptional bat speed and smooth swing. To me, his swing resembles Luis Gonzalez?s, though it?s a bit longer and has a little more uppercut. He can pull a pitch and hit to the opposite field. Like many sluggers, he's weakn at high-inside fastballs. His fielding ability is one of the best in Korea. Very good range and an outstanding arm for a first-baseman(originally drafted as a pitcher). He doesn't commit many errors. He has never been a threat in basepath, but not an immobile object, either.

I projected his stats in MLE style. The Korean pro-league is assumed to be in between AA and AAA, based on the stats of former minor leaguers, international competition, and some qualitative evaluations. So I assumed the league level to be 17% below the ML, considering AA is 20% below and AAA is 14% below, based on Baseball Prospectus.

 

Year EQA Projected EQA

1995 0.271 0.217

1996 0.267 0.214

1997 0.309 0.247

1998 0.320 0.256

1999 0.366 0.293

2000 0.317 0.253

2001 0.323 0.258

2002 0.340 0.272

2003 0.334 0.267

 

The 3-year average PEQA is 0.266. Comparable first basemen for this season are Fred McGriff, Sean Casey, Lyle Overbay, etc. I have to say that?s not bad. But, that's not great, either.

 

Not only will he move to a league of a much higher level and face entirely different pitchers, but also he has to adjust his whole life. And he?s now 28 years old and is not expected to get much better. Like Matsui did, he?s likley to suffer more significant decline in power department than in other stats and struggle at first. At best, he will be a Tino Martinez type player, say 0.280/0.360/0.520 with decent 1B defense, I guess. In the worst case, he?ll come back to Korea in two years and take his anger out on Korean pitchers. I bet he will match the projection, a just OK hitting and good fielding first-baseman, like, say J.T. Snow. As for the contract, I don?t know how much ML teams will offer. I?d say it?s $1~2mil., which seems about right in my opinion.

 

And for those of you uninterested in him...

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His wife, Song-jung Lee, is gorgeous. She was a model. I have no idea whether she still is or not. ("Lee" is the second most last name in Korea. For that matter, I am Lee, too. "Kim" is the most one and "Park" is the third most.)

 

 

If we trade D Lee we probably move right in with the top teams in the market for him. BTW his wife is majorly hot.

There is a high possibility for Lee to replace one of our front office's favorite players, the ultra-classy Derrek Lee. We have contacted his agent, and are going to make him a contract offer if/when we trade Derrek.

Hey Admin, what is your middle name?

 

Just figured I would test you out here....

 

Getting (Korean) Lee may be nice, but I dont know how well he would fit in with our team and what price he would command. Could play 1B with Conine, sure, and allow both he and Conine to spell OF from time to time. A lefty bat with some pop is always a need.

looks like around 1-2 million, maybe three. I mean if he's that cheap...