February 21, 2008
Byung-Hyun Kim Donning an Eyepatch
By
Zeldink
Posted at 7:28 pm
Yesterday the Pirates announced the signing of Byung-Hyun Kim to a Major League contract worth $850,000.
Kim will join the Pirates bullpen, grabbing one of the spots for himself thanks to his big-league deal. No announcement on who will be moved to make room for Kim on the roster.
Charlie at Bucs Dugout is somewhat excited by the signing, citing Kim’s entertaining and unorthodox delivery.- Matt at the Pittsburgh Lumber Company hopes that Kim will be used as a reliever instead of a starter. And then mentions that Kim is only 29. That’s hard to believe. It seems like forever ago that he was crumbling under the pressure of the World Series. Something like that should have destroyed his baseball career, so perhaps it’s telling that he signed with the Pirates.
- Lastly, Pat at Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke had an initial negative reaction. It’s hard to find any fault with that, considering the moves the Pirates have made over the years. Pat thinks it could be beneficial if Kim is used selectively as a reliever, but finds Kim’s Strikeout to Walk ratio scary.
If used as a reliever and a spot starter, I think this deal could help the Pirates. It’s not the sort of thing that will turn a team around, but Kim is a guy who’s won before. And he’s still young. The Pirates need youth and experience to help improve the team. Right now, they’re only going to be able to sign players with lots of negatives, too.
2001 World Series, Game 4. Kim relieves Schilling in the eighth with a 3-1 lead and strikes out the side (Spencer, Brosius, and Soriano). Right there he’s already done what a closer is supposed to do, dominate for one inning. Too bad it was the eighth. He goes out in the ninth, fans Williams. O’Neill singles, Jeter grounds out. By now Kim’s pitch count is over 60 and Brenly still has him in the game, and so it’s no big surprise he’s out of gas and Martinez ties the game.
And 24 hours later Brenly again goes to his closer in the eighth, despite the fact he threw 60 pitches the night before. Kim gives up a double to Posada but gets Spencer on a grounder and fans Knoblauch to end the inning. Then in the ninth he again runs out of gas (wow, big surprise there, eh?) and gets beat by Brosius.
He didn’t crumble under the pressure, he was badly misused by his manager, whom I’m glad the Reds did not hire.
A few years later, Kim is in Boston, hurts his shoulder and his ankle in April when he gets hit by Preston Wilson’s broken bat, pitches through pain all season and helps get the Sox to the playoffs, and then the idiots in Boston boo him in the ALDS when he wasn’t healthy enough any more to be effective. He gives them the finger, which they richly deserved. He winds up with the Rockies where he reportedly didn’t get along with the coaches all that well – then goes to the Marlins where everybody in the organization reportedly loved the guy last year. Figure that one out.
Kim made the Reds look ridiculous this past July, allowing five hits, two walks, and one run in seven innings of work while striking out six. I kind of wish the Reds would have taken a flyer on him. Only problem with that is, his agent is Scott Boras.
JK
I see more stories about teams not wanting to deal with Boras’ agency. The Reds haven’t shown a willingness to, considering how they dealt with both Felipe Lopez and Kyle Lohse. And I haven’t heard any rumors concerning Lohse this off-season.
In related news, Jay Bruce left Scott Boras, so that should be good news for the Reds.
I’d forgotten how badly Brenly had misused Kim in that Series. It’s like the Diamondbacks won in spite of their manager.