In an unprecedented foray into the international talent pool, the Pirates on Monday won exclusive negotiating rights with Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang by making the highest bid in the posting process.
The bid, interesting because of the position Kang plays and the monetary commitment required to make it, granted the Pirates a 30-day window to come to an agreement with Kang. The successful bid for Kang is believed to be the first time the Pirates have won negotiating rights during the 16-year history of the posting process.
The Pirates bid $5,002,015, the Nexen Heroes — Kang’s club in the Korea Baseball Organization — told the Yonhap News Agency in an English-language article published Saturday. Nexen accepted the bid. Under the international posting system, Nexen receives the posting fee if Kang signs within 30 days. If the sides do not reach a deal, the Pirates don’t pay the fee.
“The Pirates are pleased to have secured the opportunity to attempt to add [Kang] to our system and look forward to commencing discussions with the [p]layer and his representative in an effort to make that happen,” general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement.
With the bid, the Pirates signaled an ability to spend more than previously thought and have the chance to create flexibility in their infield. Neil Walker, Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison are relatively proven players at second base, shortstop and third base, but signing Kang would provide depth and options.
Kang, 27, hit .356 with a .459 on-base percentage and 40 home runs in 117 games for the Heroes this season. A right-handed batter, he has hit at least 22 home runs in each of the past three seasons and batted better than .300 in three of the past five years.
“If he were Cuban, he’d get $100 million,” Kang’s agent, Alan Nero, told the New York Post in November.
Those impressive offensive numbers came against the lower-level competition of the KBO. The league average was .289 with a .365 on-base percentage and a .443 slugging percentage in 2014, compared to Major League Baseball’s 2014 marks of .251, .314 and .386.
Nero is reportedly seeking a multiyear contract worth $4 million to $6 million per season. If the Pirates signed him near those terms, that would push their projected 2015 payroll above $97 million, not including the posting fee.
After high-profile players such as Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano used loopholes to escape their contracts with Nippon Professional Baseball teams in Japan, NPB and MLB created the posting system. MLB teams had to submit blind bids during a four-day period, a silent auction of sorts, after an NPB team had posted a player. If the highest bid was satisfactory, the NPB team accepted the bid and the negotiating window began; if the bid was too low, the NPB team could turn it down.
Changes to the Japanese agreement a year ago set a $20 million limit on the posting fee and let the posted player negotiate with more than one team, but Korean players are still posted under the old system. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu became the first player to go from the KBO to the major leagues after the Dodgers paid a $25.7 million posting fee.
The exclusive negotiating period ends Jan. 20.
If the Pirates do sign Kang, they will have to decide where he plays, how often he plays and from whom he takes playing time. Kang is considered a strong offensive player but weaker on defense, and it is not certain he can play shortstop at the major league level.
“He doesn’t have the range to play shortstop in the majors, and scouts also expressed concerns about his ability to make the routine plays,” reads a portion of a scouting report from Baseball America’s Ben Badler. “He has an average arm and could play there in a pinch, but he’s a better defensive fit at second or third base.”
Kang could provide insurance in case Walker’s back continues to trouble him, Harrison does not repeat his great performance from 2014 or Mercer’s production looks more like the first month of 2014 than the final five. Adding Kang might allow the Pirates to trade Walker, who will make close to $20 million combined in his final two years of arbitration. They could also trade new first baseman Pedro Alvarez and move Walker to first, something multiple talent evaluators have said is a possibility.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: December 22, 2014, 6:17 p.m.