International baseball players have recently become an important aspect of MLB free agency. Asian and Cuban players have dominated the scene over the past few years, most recently with South Korea's Kwang-hyun Kim and Cuba's Yasmany Tomas.
The San Diego Padres put up $2 million for the right to negotiate with Kim and the bid was accepted by his South Korean team, SK Wyverns, on Wednesday. The Padres will now have 30 days to negotiate with the left-hander, who they view as a middle reliever or back-of-the-rotation starter. Kim is only 26 years old, but has struggled in recent years with shoulder and wrist injuries.
His 2014 season proved to be a bright spot after his recent struggles from 2011-2013. In 28 starts Kim posted a 13-9 record with a 3.42 ERA in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and is now excited he has an opportunity to join the MLB. It was announced in late October that SK Wyverns would be posting Kim, and unfortunately for them the Padres' $2 million bid was $8 million less than they expected because fellow South Korean Hyun-jin Ryu attracted a $25.7 million bid from the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2012. However, more clubs were interested in Ryu because he was better, younger and had less of an injury history.
On the other hand, Cuban players don't have to worry about bids. They have a much harder process in defecting from their country and getting cleared by the United States government, which is exactly what Yasmany Tomas and countless others have done. Tomas is expected to land a contract in the $100 million range because of his youth and power, but because so many teams are interested in him it's hard to narrow down the free agency speculation. He last conducted a private workout for the Boston Red Sox, but his agent spoke at the General Managers' Meetings to promote his client.
"He's got more power than [Jose] Abreu," said Jay Alou, Tomas' agent, via this NBC Sports HardballTalk article. "He's got a lot more power. Abreu's a little older, more mature with his bat. Sometimes it takes guys longer to figure things out. And the last couple of weeks, a lot of things have clicked for Yasmany. I can tell you he's got a lot more power than anyone I've ever seen. A lot."
Jose Abreu, of course, was named the AL Rookie of the Year after slashing .317/.383/.581 with 36 home runs and 107 RBIs with the Chicago White Sox in 2014. The 27-year-old defected from Cuba last year and landed a six-year, $68 million contract to play first base in the MLB and the investment has paid off, which is why many are salivating over Tomas.
The Phillies still viewed as front-runners for Tomas, but others including the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants are involved in the sweepstakes.
