The San Francisco Giants’ offseason sees only Lee Jeong-hoo (26), the ‘grandson of the wind’.
Since the remaining strength reinforcement is minimal, the off-season evaluation is poor.
On the 1st (hereinafter Korean time), ‘CBS Sports’ of the United States ranked San Francisco a ‘C’ while evaluating the offseason of 30 major league teams.
Although Lee Jeong-hoo was recruited, it is unfortunate that Japanese stars Shohei Otani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were all lost to the LA Dodgers.
In the past few years, San Francisco entered into a battle to recruit large free agents such as Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies)
Aaron Judge (New York Yankees), and Carlos Correa (Minnesota Twins), but lost.
This winter, many fans are disappointed as major players are being ignored. CBS Sports said, ‘San Francisco continues to try to recruit the best free agent players
but most of them are failing. 토토사이트
Although it is risky, no players have been recruited except Lee Jung-hoo and catcher Tom Murphy, who are said to be true talents.
Should we say that coach Bob Melvin is also strengthening his power? “San Francisco should be ashamed of this,” he harshly criticized.
Given this situation, Lee Jeong-hoo’s presence itself is a great comfort to San Francisco fans. On the 1st
the American sports media ‘Clutch Point’
Lee Jung-hoo, who signed a huge $113 million contract with San Francisco
is ready to show Giants fans his true worth.
Many famous free agent players turned down San Francisco, but Lee Jung-hoo thought it was the perfect team for him.”
Next, Lee Jeong-hoo also delivered a New Year’s greeting to Giants fans, which he posted on his SNS the day before (the 31st). Lee Jung-hoo said in English on social media
I consider it a great honor to be a member of the San Francisco team.
He looks forward to meeting Giants fans as soon as possible. It’s currently the offseason and I’m training hard.
I will do my best to make Giants fans proud
he wrote, “Happy New Year, Let’s Go Giants.”
Clutch Point said, ‘Lee Jung-hoo played in the KBO for 7 years and played in 884 games. He batted .304 with 65 home runs, 515 RBI, and 69 stolen bases.
He also won the Golden Glove five times, winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2017 and MVP in 2022.
Lee Jung-hoo’s defense will play an important role at (San Francisco’s home stadium) Oracle Park. However, San Francisco hopes that Lee Jeong-hoo will revitalize the attack.’
For that reason, San Francisco ranked 24th in the league last year with 674 points. Clutch Point explained that the team’s batting average was 28th (.235) and strikeouts (1,492) were the 7th highest in the league, and that “As San Francisco’s starting center fielder
Lee Jeong-hoo entered the major league with a great burden. Both the outfield defense and batting line must be solid.
However, San Francisco believes that Lee Jeong-hoo is the right person for the role, and now it is up to Lee Jeong-hoo, who wants to show his true worth.’
On the same day, ‘MLB.com’ also made bold predictions for each of the 30 clubs for the new year of 2024, predicting San Francisco as the ‘National League (NL) Rookie of the Year’.
In the main photo, along with Lee Jeong-hoo, six leading players are included, including Bo Bichette (Toronto Blue Jays)
Jordan Alvarez (Houston Astros), Pablo Lopez (Minnesota Twins), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (Miami Marlins), and Key Brian Hayes (Pittsburgh Pirates).
Among them, Lee Jeong-hoo was located in the center and attracted attention.
MLB.com said, ‘San Francisco hasn’t produced a Rookie of the Year Award winner since Buster Posey in 2010, but they are in a good position to end a long drought.
Last year, 12 prospects debuted in the major leagues, and many of them will maintain their rookie status in 2024,” he said.
If the young players develop as expected, San Francisco will have several rookies, including center fielder Lee Jeong-hoo
left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison, and shortstop Marco Luciano.
We will be able to retain a candidate,’ he predicted.
As shown by the fact that Lee Jeong-hoo’s name appeared first, you can guess how high the expectations are for him.
He should be fully supported as he invested a lot of money, $113 million over 6 years.
As manager Melvin announced the batting order and position as first hitter and center fielder early on
Lee Jung-hoo was given the opportunity to lead the NL Rookie of the Year race from the beginning of the season.
There has yet to be a Rookie of the Year Award winner among Korean major leaguers. The closest was in 2015 when Pittsburgh infielder Kang Jung-ho finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
In 2013, LA Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin ranked 4th in the NL, and in 2016, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Oh Seung-hwan ranked tied for 6th in the NL.
Broadening the scope, four Japanese players won the Rookie of the Year award, including Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo in 1995
Seattle Mariners pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000, Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001, and LA Angels pitcher Ohtani in 2018.