Kim Hae-Sung and the 582.3 billion won rejected by the Dodgers? 24 homers, 0.926 OPS ‘at a crossroads’
Are Ha Sung Kim and Juan Soto (of the San Diego Padres) destined to part ways?
The two have paired up to power the San Diego offense this season. On the team, Kim leads the team with a .288 batting average and Soto is second with a .270 batting average, while Soto is first with a .926 OPS and Kim is second with a .835 OPS. Soto’s 24 home runs and 73 RBIs also lead the team. 토토사이트
However, Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension from the Washington Nationals to join San Diego ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. Soto’s free agency is a year away anyway, and now San Diego is facing the same question Washington did a year ago. There was some talk of selling at the trade deadline this summer, but San Diego held out.
On Nov. 11, Bleacher Report listed the one player each of the 30 major league clubs will trade away in the 2023-2024 offseason. Soto was the top pick for San Diego. Earlier in the day, CBS Sports also listed Soto as a potential trade target for the upcoming offseason.
“San Diego has seven players under contract through 2027, eight free agents and four with mutual options to become free agents, making it hard to find a better trade candidate than the Dodgers,” Bleacher Report said. The Dodgers, who are in the midst of a major rebuild this winter, are not a bad bet.
Eventually, you can’t get every player, and it’s time to make choices. “If San Diego can’t sign Soto to a long-term deal in the upcoming offseason, it may be in their best interest to trade him and bolster their farm system,” Bleacher Report said.
San Diego may also be better off dealing Soto while he’s still performing well. Soto has struggled since being traded, but has been on fire since the end of the first half. According to CBS Sports, “Soto is still an elite hitter. He has a great eye and makes a lot of hard contact at a low launch angle. His defense is worthless and he’ll transition to a designated hitter in a few years. If San Diego is serious about trading Soto, there will be plenty of suitors lining up to add an impact bat to the top of the lineup next season.”