The Hanhwa Exodus Continues

The speculation is over. Lee Beom-ho had to choose between being the only competent hitter with Hanhwa, jumping to Lotte or making the move across the sea to Japan. He announced his decision today. Lee has signed a 3 year(2 years plus 1 option year), 500 million yen deal with the NPB's Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

That massive thud you just heard was new Hanhwa manager Han Dae-hwa's head hitting his desk. Han now has a team coming off a 46 win season without its 2 best hitters. An exact quote from Han, "I would like to cry." So would all the Hanhwa fans, Manager Han, so would all the Hanhwa fans.

And Now Our First Trade of the Offseason!

And boy, is it yawn inspiring. Hanhwa has traded pitcher Cho Gyu-su and a PTBNL to the Doosan Bears for infielder Lee Dae-su. Lee posted a .262/.308/.361 in 61 AB's for the Bears. Cho hasn't pitched in a KBO game since 2005. He was with Hanhwa's 2nd league team for a while. He posted a 6.87 ERA and 33 baserunners in 18 1/3 innings of work. Cho won 10 games as a rookie in 2000, but hasn't shown much since.

I'm guessing the PTBNL will have talents such as "is able to put a shirt on in only one try" and "has a pulse," but he must improve "baseball skills."

KBO Fever! Catch it!

Yomiuri Giants 9, KIA Tigers 4

Lee Seung-yeop meets 2009 KBO MVP Kim Sang-hyeon. "You guys won the Korean Series? Seriously? No effing way."

What, exactly, is it going to take for Korea to win one of these effing club championships? It's gotten increasingly more frustrating the longer I live in Korea.

The best news that came out of this weekend was that next year the 4-club Asian Series should return! I really dug the Asian Series and thought that it made for a fun weekend, even if it was promoted terribly. Supposedly, next year's tourney will take place in Taiwan. I'm all for Japan not getting home field advantage for one of these tournaments. They've had home field advantage for both WBCs and all of the Asian Series. Enough is enough. Hopefully, the KBO will finally get funding for a dome or two and be able to host an Asian Series in November or a WBC in March.

On to a quick recap...

HT to the Japan Times for a much better recap than the Korea Times offered. Hey, if the English language press in Korea were remotely competent, I wouldn't need to blog.


Yang Hyeong-jong about to unload on an unsuspecting Japanese hitter. Just because he wears glasses doesn't mean he sucks.

KIA actually held a 3-1 lead heading into the 7th, but the KIA bullpen collapsed and surrendered 7 runs(!) to the Giants. Yang Hyeon-jong got the start for KIA and looked solid. Yang threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Yang gave up only 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6 before he was lifted. Relievers Kwak Jeong-cheol and Jeong Yong-woon allowed all the damage during the 7th inning. I guess KIA forgot to bring their bullpen on the trip. We couldn't bring in Yoon Seok-min for a batter or two? Yoo Dong-hoon was unavailable? What better way to send SK another great big "EFF YOU" than to succeed where they failed? Whatever. At least the game was over before 5 o'clock.

KIA broke through in the 1st inning on an RBI single from DH Na Ji-wan. KIA added 2 more in the 5th inning on a Na Ji-wan single with the bases loaded. KIA fake rallied their way to a 4th run in the 9th inning on a Lee Hyeon-gon RBI double. Hopefully, the Tigers got to do some sightseeing and/or buy some presents for the kids back home. I guess Na was the only guy that didn't spend all night at a karaoke bar.

Yomiui Giants 9, KIA Tigers 4

Meet the Newest Chiba Lotte Marine

Hanhwa 1st baseman, Kim Tae-gyun, has signed a 3-year, 700 million yen contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines. Kim ends his 9-year KBO career with 188 homers, a .310 batting average and 701 RBIs. The new Hanhwa manager was last seen headbutting his head against a wall. He was...unavailable for comment.

Hanhwa fans, don't despair. The Eagles re-signed veteran outfielder Kang Dong-woo with a 1-year, 100 million won contract.

Also, outfielder Park Jae-hong will be back with SK next season for 400 million won.

Odds and Ends...

This first free agent signing of the 2009/10 off season happened yesterday. KIA catcher Kim Sang-hoon a 1 year deal for 225 million won(about 200k American) to return with the Tigers..

The Korea/Japan Club Championship takes place in Nagasaki on Saturday November 14th at 1 PM Korea time. The KBO champion KIA Tigers will face the NPB champion Yomiuri Giants. I have no idea who is pitching or who will play. It's too bad the Asian Series went belly up. It was cool watching some of the best talent in Asia actually face each other and at least pretend to care. I'm not sure what kind of effort we can expect at this "Club Championship."

It sounds like Lee Beom-ho wants to stay with Hanhwa. I guess the Hanhwa brain trust wants to win 30 games instead of 20.

Royster Returns to Lotte

Jerry Royster inked a 1-year deal worth $600,000. He'll get half up front as a signing bonus. He also made some interesting comments about Lee Beom-ho. It sounds like Royster wouldn't mind the Hanhwa 3rd baseman with Lotte. My only question is, where's he going to play? Lotte is set at first, third and DH for the foreseeable future.