“He could shove a bowl of poutilla in your face…”

The San Francisco Giants have been the most aggressive in their pursuit of Lee Jung-hoo, 25, a free agent. This reporter spent about three weeks in February covering KBO teams and the WBC National Team’s spring training camp in Arizona. At the time, San Francisco assigned staffers to watch Lee. During every visit to the training camp, San Francisco officials were always hanging around Lee. They even followed him to national team training and practice games to check on him.

They even dispatched an official to the three-game series against the KIA in Gwangju at the end of June. A visit to the Gocheok Sky Dome is not news, but they sent officials to local stadiums. He was even recognized as a high-ranking official, which attracted a lot of attention. From then on, it was clear that San Francisco’s love affair with Lee Jung-hoo was not ordinary.

The final nail in the coffin was general manager Pete Putilla. He personally traveled to Seoul to check on Lee. He was in the stands at Gocheok Sky Dome during Lee’s surprise comeback and farewell game. He was most curious about his condition after his ankle ligament surgery and rehabilitation.

Recently, the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees have been reported to be interested in Lee. However, there is no indication that these teams are as interested in Lee as San Francisco. In this situation, The Athletic once again reported San Francisco’s sincere interest in Lee on Thursday (KST).

The Athletic reported that Putilla personally watched Lee’s farewell game. In the video, Futila is briefly seen standing up and clapping. He even introduced the time of his appearance in the 51-second video. MyDaily’s photo department also managed to capture Putilla. 

The Athletic writes, “Lee is a .340 career average hitter who won the KBO MVP in 2022 and five Golden Gloves. He was the best player on the Korean National Team at the WBC. He is the son of Lee Jong-beom, a top player in the 1990s who was so fast that he was nicknamed the Son of the Wind. Lee’s nickname is the grandson of the wind.”

The Athletic continued, “Scouting Korean players is considered tricky, but the Giants’ evaluation is strong enough to shove a bowl of stew in a poutilla. The rest of the front office is interviewing managerial candidates.”

We don’t know if Putilla actually ate the stew in Seoul, but the implication is that it was worth it for him to stay and watch. The general manager went all-in on scouting Lee Jung-hoo and added that the rest of the staff is in the process of hiring a head coach. This shows how much interest San Francisco has in Lee.메이저사이트

The big question is how much. I wonder if the Giants will be able to get up to $100 million for Lee, which would trigger a bidding war. No Korean player in history has ever gotten a $100 million contract in their first major league season. Lee has the talent, but he’s also got the military service and the fact that he’s 25 years old.