SATURDAY 10:20pm: The Phillies or Nationals may be frontrunners, a source tells Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Philadelphia has scouted Kang, and they traded incumbent shortstop Jimmy Rollins last week. Of course, we will update you when we hear more substantive news.
9:26am: The team that posted the winning bid isn’t yet known, but it isn’t the Mets, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin writes. It also isn’t the Padres, tweets CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, or the Dodgers, tweets the Los Angeles Times’ Dylan Hernandez. The Orioles aren’t the team, either, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweets, and it’s not the Blue Jays, according to Jays broadcaster Mike Wilner (on Twitter), or the Yankees or Braves, via ESPN’s Jim Bowden (Twitter links). It also was not the Giants, tweets the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea. Add the A’s to the list of clubs who did not win the bidding, says John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). Meanwhile, Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN.com is “led to believe” the Twins did not win (also Twitter). The Rays are also out, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
Barring any surprises, it appears that 11 teams have been eliminated as potential landing spots for Kang.
FRIDAY 11:59pm: In an English-language article, Yonhap reports (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, on Twitter) that the club has in fact announced the acceptance of the bid. The article indicates that even Nexen is not sure which MLB club subitted the winning offer.
Per the article, Kang is seeking between $5MM and $6MM per season on a multi-year deal of up to four years in duration.
10:31pm: With the posting fee bids submitted for infielder Jung-ho Kang, the KBO’s Nexen Heroes are expected to accept an approximately $5MM bid for the right to negotiate a contract with the Korean star, as the Yonhap News Agency reports (Twitter link via Jeeho Yoo; Korean-language article, via Sun-Min Kim, on Twitter).
The MLB team with the winning bid has yet to be reported. If that club is unable to work out a deal with Kang, it would be refunded the amount of the posting fee. Otherwise, the team would owe that $5MM on top of whatever contractual terms it reaches with Kang.
Kang, 27, raised eyebrows with a 40 home run/1.198 OPS campaign last year. The star shortstop has been a productive hitter for some time now, but that impressive power display certainly raised his profile. The KBO has turned into a fairly drastic hitter’s league, though Kang’s numbers still look outstanding against league average.
Just how his tools translate to the big leagues remains to be seen, of course, and questions remain whether he can play up the middle at the game’s highest level. Be sure to give a listen to this week’s podcast for great insight on Kang from former MLB and KBO pitcher Ryan Sadowski of Global Sporting Integration.
