Pirates Bring in Byung-Hyun Kim
By JSeiner • Feb 20th, 2008 • Category: News & Opinion
The Pirates have signed 29 year old Byung-Hyun Kim to what is presumed to be a major league deal, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pirate fans and reporters everywhere are enraged to have to learn to spell another ridiculous name, following the signing of Doug Meintkeiwicz.
Kim went 10-8 with a 6.08 ERA last season with the Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Marlins. He started 22 games in 2007, though the Bucs will probably use him as a reliever.
Kim is probably best known as the 22-year old closer who saved 19 games for the Diamondbacks in 2001 en-route to the franchises first World Series title.
If this is in fact a major league deal, Kim will take claim to one of the open right-handed reliever spots, leaving one less opportunity for the plethora of minor league righties hoping to crack the Pirates 25-man.
Not sure if I like the signing. I can’t believe that Kim will really do much better than any of the other guys vying for bullpen spots, and I certainly can’t imagine that he’ll assume much of a leadership role, as his English probably isn’t too strong.
Unless the Post-Gazette mis-speculated and this is just a minor league deal, this is a move that should be frowned upon.
JSeiner is currently a journalism student at Boston University. He plays for the BU club baseball team, and he pretty much eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. He hails from Bridgeville, PA, and has been a huge Pirates, Pens, and Steelers fan since birth.
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I don\’t see how this should be frowned upon. The righties in camp are all young and no one has any idea what they are going to bring.
At least they know what Kim can bring. He is tougher on righties and that is what their bullpen is missing. He could be a very good situational pitcher to get an out or two late in games.
Nothing wrong with that.
Yeah after having a day to ponder the acquisition and having looked over some of Kim’s numbers, I’m warming up to the idea of having him as a ROOGY of sorts. Not conventional, but I suppose it still gives him $850K worth of value.