Will the San Diego Padres and Kim Ha-sung (29) of the Major League Baseball be reunited? The team is willing, but it has already accumulated candidates for substitution.안전놀이터

On the 19th (Korea Standard Time), the official Major League website MLB.com had a time to comment on player contracts that the team had to solve under the theme of "Five Challenges San Diego Faces This Winter."

During the 2024 season, San Diego ranked second in the National League West with a 93-69 record (0.574 winning percentage) and first in the wild-card race. After beating the Atlanta Braves with two wins in the wild-card series, it ended the season with a 2-3 loss after Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series.

Now, the San Diego Padres have to deal with several challenges to prepare for the 2025 season. These include whether center hitter Jurickson Profar will stay, rookie Jackson Merrill's contract extension, composition of the starting rotation, and whether coach Mike Shildt will renew his contract.

In addition, attention is focusing on Kim Ha-sung's next move. After joining the San Diego Padres in the 2021 season, he played in 540 games during the four seasons with a batting average of 0.242 (418 hits in 1,725 at-bats), 47 homers, 200 RBIs, 229 runs and 78 steals (17 failed), 0.326 slugging percentage of 0.380, and OPS of 0.706. Having been a backup and starter in his first year, he started his career in earnest by taking the position of shortstop in 2022.

Kim Ha-sung, who won the NL Utilities Gold Glove last year. /Photo = San Diego Padres official SNS
Notably, in the 2023 season, he mostly played second base, posting a batting average of 0.260 with 17 homers, 60 RBIs and 38 steals, with an OPS of 0.749. He was the first Korean to hit 30 steals, and nearly achieved 20-20 as well. He also excelled in defense and won the Gold Glove in the utility category of the National League. This is the first time that an Asian infielder has posted a record. Although he was somewhat sluggish this year (batting average of 0.233, OPS of 0.700), he showed excellent performance with a walk rate of 12.3 percent and a strikeout rate of 16.44 percent per at-bat.

However, this year, he finished the season early due to injury. He felt pain in his right shoulder while returning to the check ball against Colorado on August 19. Later, tests showed that he was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation and was on the injured list for the first time. He tried to return to the team in the middle, but eventually underwent shoulder surgery on the 11th and was confirmed to be out of the season.

Kim Ha-sung is highly likely to be in the market after the end of this season. Having signed a four-year, 28 million-dollar contract with San Diego ahead of the 2021 season, he will remain with the team for one more season if he executes the 8 million-dollar mutual option in 2025. However, in the U.S., the possibility of invoking the option is very low.

"Kim Ha-sung has been loved by fans for four years in San Diego," MLB.com said. "It is highly likely that Kim Ha-sung will not exercise mutual options. San Diego is seeking a reunion, but there are many shortstop candidates, and San Diego is not the only one who wants Kim Ha-sung."

In fact, San Diego has Xander Bogaerts (32), the main shortstop and veteran last year, and Jake Cronenworth (30), Tyler Wade (30), and Mason McCoy (29). In addition, Nick Ahmed (34), who won the Gold Glove for the second consecutive year (2018-2019), also came up with Kim Ha-sung's injury after signing a minor league contract.

Chances are high that Kim Ha-sung will eventually make his way to the market. Another reason is that he recently changed his agent to Scott Boras Corporation, the "devil's agent." Boras has been serving as agents for several Korean players including Park Chan-ho (five-year 65 million dollars), Choo Shin-soo (seven-year 130 million dollars), Ryu Hyun-jin (four-year 80 million dollars) and Lee Jung-hoo (six-year 113 million dollars).

Boras has recently been bringing out the "FA re-entry" card to players who have injuries or are in a bad situation. Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Carlos Correa have already signed single-year contracts when the market conditions are not good. Chapman and Correa have already signed multi-year contracts, and Snell is also likely to sign a large contract after this season.