Japanese starting pitcher Kenta Maeda is the biggest fish currently on the international market, but Korean first baseman Dae-ho Lee is generating some noise of his own while the Maeda posting process plays out.
Daum’s Daniel Kim reports that Lee has received multiple offers in the two-year, $4-5 million range from interested major league teams. Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review suggested last week that the Pirates might take a look.
Lee is a free agent and so he doesn’t have to follow the typical posting guidelines for players moving from Nippon Professional Baseball to North America. He stands to make around $5 million from the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in 2016 and could just head back to NPB if he doesn’t find an MLB contract to his liking.
Lee, 33, batted .282/.368/.524 with 31 homers and 98 RBI in 141 games for the Hawks in 2015.