They are drooling over two former KBO league MVP players this winter. SportsNet New York (SNY), a U.S. media outlet, reported on the 5th (Korea time) that the Mets are trying to recruit starting pitchers and outfielders, referring to their goals for this year’s winter meeting. 토토사이트 추천
The Mets ended the 2023 season with 75 wins and 87 losses and a winning rate of 0.463. They ranked fourth among the five teams in the National League East. After Steve Cohen, a “billionaire investor,” took over the club in 2020, he made the postseason for the first time in six years by winning 101 games last year. Before this season, he even recruited Justin Verlander, a former Cy Young Award player, to take the presidency.
Despite the transfer of ace Jacob deGrom, the Mets, who had performed well with 29 wins and 27 losses until May, started to decline with a disastrous win rate of 0.269 (7 wins and 19 losses) in June. Although the Mets posted an upward trend with 14 wins and nine losses in July, they sent key players such as Verlander and Max Scherzer through trade, and fell back to 11 wins and 18 losses in August. Eventually, the season ended without a rebound.
Although they have had a difficult season in all respects, the Mets still have their will. After breaking up with Buck Showalter, they appointed Carlos Mendoza, a former New York Yankees bench coach, as their new head coach, and David Stearns, who worked as Milwaukee’s general manager and led the team well, as president of baseball operations.
Under Stearns, the Mets announced their offseason departure by recruiting starting resource Luis Severino and utility player Joey Wendle. The Mets are preparing for additional investment at the one-term meeting, which has been taking place since the 4th. According to ESPN, the Mets have left the game to recruit Shohei Ohtani, the biggest fish in the FA market. However, this is also an opportunity to recruit another quasi-baseball player.
The first position the Mets need to supplement in this Stove League is the starting pitcher. At this point, only three players are on the starting lineup for the Mets. Japanese pitcher Cenga Kodaly, who quickly became the ace with 12 wins, nine losses and an earned run average of 2.98, is holding out, and Severino and Jose Quintana, who were recruited this winter, are the most likely candidates.
Through the posting system, the Mets recently entered the competition to recruit Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a Japanese pitcher who is seeking to enter the U.S. market. Also, they are interested in left-handed starters including Blake Snell, winner of this year’s National League Cy Young Award, Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez.
In addition, the Mets are keeping an eye on Peddy as a starting member. Mark Feynsand of the Major League’s official website MLB.com reported on Monday that Peddy will likely decide between the Mets and the Chicago White Sox. He is expected to sign a two-year contract with a total annual salary of 10 million U.S. dollars. According to Feynsand, Peddy’s contract is expected to be completed within a day.
Playing for the Washington Nationals for six seasons from 2017, Peddy pitched in 102 games (88 starts) and recorded 21 wins and 33 losses with an ERA of 5.41 in his career. Before this season, he signed a contract with the NC Dinos for a total of 1 million U.S. dollars (down payment of 200,000 dollars and annual salary of 800,000 dollars) to advance to the Korean stage. Based on his new weapon called “Sweeper,” which he refined in the off-season, Peddy pitched 180 ⅓ innings in 30 pennant races, posting 20 wins, 6 losses and 209 strikeouts with an ERA of 2.00. He has won three times (triple crown) for the first time in 12 years since KIA Tigers’ Yoon Seok-min in 2011. Peddy thus achieved the title of MVP after the end of the season.
As a result, Pedi is likely to return to the Major League. MLB.com introduced Pedi as an “Asian League star that can be seen on the Major League stage soon” in November. The media said, “Some in the baseball world believe that Pedi can successfully settle in the big league starting rotation.” MLB Traditional Lumus also mentioned Pedi as a notable FA resource, although he is not at the top of the ranking.
Along with the rotation of starting pitchers, the Mets are seeking to reinforce this winter. Currently, the Mets consist of outfielders Starling Marte, Brandon Nimmo, and DJ Stewart. Nimmo, who achieved his first 20-homer season (24 home runs) since his debut, is guaranteed an OPS of 0.800 or higher every year. Marte, a 12-year player, is a veteran of the Hotajun tribe who was selected as an All-Star for the Mets last year. However, he played in only 86 games this year due to injury. Stewart showed off his slugging capability by hitting 11 home runs in 58 games this year, but the fact that he does not have a full-time season is an obstacle.
According to the media, the Mets recently spoke with Michael A. Taylor, who has strength in defense. With quasi-parter outfielders such as Kevin Kiermaier and Teoscar Hernandez on the market, the media listed Lee Jung-hoo with Taylor and other notable options. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on the 5th that the Major League Secretariat has posted a posting notice about Lee Jung-hoo to 30 clubs.
Lee Jung-hoo is also a star player representing the KBO. Lee Jung-hoo, who joined the Nexen Heroes (currently Kiwoom) as the first draft pick in 2017, recorded a batting average of 0.340, 65 homers, 515 RBIs, 581 runs and 69 steals in a total of 884 games during the seven seasons of the KBO, and a slugging percentage of 0.407 OPS 0.898. He boasts the top batting average among active players who have a total of 3,000 or more at-bats. Notably, he won the MVP award in the 2022 season by displaying an outstanding batting average of 0.349 with 23 homers and 113 RBIs and an OPS of 0.996.
As a result, Major League Baseball is showing keen interest in Lee Jung-hoo. The New York Post reported that 20 teams including the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees have shown interest in Lee Jung-hoo even before the posting notice. USA Today also reported that the Mets are showing strong interest in Lee Jung-hoo.
If the Mets move properly, two KBO MVPs could play for a team. Of the 12 MVPs (Park Byung-ho won the award for two consecutive years from 2012 to 2013) since Lee Dae-ho in 2010, five (Lee Dae-ho, Park Byung-ho, Eric Thames, Josh Lindblom, and Yang Hyun-jong) went to the big leagues, but they never played for the same team.
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