Posted November. 03, 2003 23:00,
At last, Lee Seong-yeop (27, Samsung) buckled down in his goal to enter the U.S. Major League Baseball.
The secretary of the Major League Baseball, on November 3, asked the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) for Lee Seong-yeops information. The inquiry of personal information is one of the processes of scouting a foreign player. KBO has already informed his identity as a Free Agent (FA) player so that there are no obstacles in his move to a new team outside the country.
If Lee applies for FA identity until November 6, KBO will nail him down as a FA player within three days. It might be around November 10 when Lee starts up the discussion of signing a contract with the teams of Major League. I will leave all the decisions to my agent, John Kim of SFX, remarked Lee Seong-yeop.
Right now, about 10 Major League teams have an intense interest in Lee Seong-yeop, said John Kim, the agent, optimistically assured of Lee entering the Major Leagues. The L.A. Dodgers and San Francisco Giants from the National League, and the Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners from the American League are popping up as strong suitors for Lee Seong-yeop. With an estimated annual salary of approximately $1.5- $2 million, Lee Seong-yeop prefers the American League teams because of the designated hitter system.
After the Asian Baseball Tournament wraps up, Lee and his wife, Lee Song-jung, will go to the U.S. together to look at the trends of Major League Baseball.
The Asian Baseball Tournament (Nov. 5-7, Sapporo, Japan), which also plays the role of the preliminary leagues for the 2004 Athens Olympics, will be Lees last chance to exert himself fully for Korea before entering the Major Leagues. A good beginning and a good ending makes a man of true heart. This tournament will be my last devotion to my country. I will take the initiative of pulling for our national team to play in the Athens Olympics, said Lee, flaring out his resolution.
When he heard the Japanese head coach, Nakashima Shigeo, saying, Korean batters will not be able to hit pitches over 145km speed which are mixed up with two or three curve balls, Lee responded angrily, I will knock out the Japanese pitchers in one at-bat, disciplining himself very hard.