Seung-yeop

Lee

Hee-Seop Choi went 2-for-4 with an RBI. The Koreans didn’t use any of their major league pitchers, instead apparently saving Sunny Kim for the game against Japan. It will me a meaningless contest as long as Japan beats Chinese Taipei today.

Lee looked at major league clubs after leaving Korea following 2003, but because he was only offered minor league deals, he picked Japan and went on to hit .240/.328/.450 and .260/.315/.551 in his two years with the Marines. He also homered three times in the team’s four-game sweep of the Japan Series last season. At age 29, he still might only be a candidate for minor league deals in the U.S. There’s a good chance he’ll take a look around, though.

Lee tried to catch on in the U.S. when he first became a free agent two years ago. It doesn’t appear that he had any interest in doing the same this time.

It’s been believed for a few weeks now that Lee was staying with the Giants, but this makes it official. While his new contract has an out clause that lets him jump to the majors, this would have been the best time for him to cross the Pacific, if that’s really what he wanted to do. He’s 30 now, and the free agent market is short on power hitters.

Lee is expected to get a healthy raise from the approx. $1.34 million he made this year to stay with Yomiuri. The 30-year-old hit .323 with 41 homers and 108 RBI this season.