Our New SS: Lee Hak-ju

by airweino on May 14, 2008 10:19 AM CDT

I just read this article via our favorite website (www.mlbtraderumors.com):

http://eastwindupchronicle.com/east-prospect-watch-lee-hak-ju/

It seems we signed the next Derek Jeter, albeit a lefthanded hitter and Korean.

I am not sure about everyone else, but it is nice to see us getting him. Hopefully he pans out like Jeter did for the Yankees or he could be the next Hee Seop Choi. Has anybody else heard anything here? I am tired of talking about Edmonds.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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There was a fanpost about international signing

that had something about this kid. Said the same thing of how he has better skills than Jeter had coming out of high school. I haven’t heard much of anything else but he sounds pretty exciting.

So nobody has to see the scroll bar on my posts!!!!

by McRipper on May 14, 2008 10:26 AM CDT reply actions

I don't know about skills, but...

...the scouting report I read said that Hak-ju’s intangibles are better than Jeter’s were coming out of high school.

by John Q Freejazz on May 14, 2008 1:53 PM CDT up reply actions

That's unpossible!

I has a blog.

by cwyers on May 14, 2008 2:00 PM CDT up reply actions

That write up was very strange...

...seemed like a guy’s stream of consciousness about this Hak-Ju kid.

Well, good to see we are stretching out our prospects and farm system…but he looks about 16 years old right now, so this may be a ways away…

Dan

Evey Hammond: Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici. V: By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

by dtpollitt on May 14, 2008 10:26 AM CDT reply actions

The guy at East Windup Chronicles is a Cubs scout in Korea, I believe.

I has a blog.

by cwyers on May 14, 2008 10:37 AM CDT up reply actions

Well then...

...I re-adjust my opinion. Good scout, so-so writer. :)

Dan

Evey Hammond: Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici. V: By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

by dtpollitt on May 14, 2008 11:35 AM CDT up reply actions

Interesting that no mainstream picked up on this

That I recall, anyway—this is dated April 30.

by Shanghai Badger on May 14, 2008 10:32 AM CDT reply actions

This is exciting...

I hope he becomes what this guy is hyping. Maybe he’ll join the Cubs in time for their World Series three-peat in 2010.

Help me Obi-ONEDEC. You're our only hope.

by IowaCubs- on May 14, 2008 11:05 AM CDT reply actions

why would you say something like that

by dahcar on May 14, 2008 1:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Hee Seop worked out though...

because he got us Derrek Lee, albeit indirectly.

Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.

by bren on May 14, 2008 11:51 AM CDT reply actions

Choi

never got a fair shake from MLB.

Choi was hitting .244 when that horrific accident with Kerry Wood happened in 2003. But it was a loud .244 with a .389 OBP and 7 HR in 135 ABs. This despite Dusty jerking him in and out of the lineup because of Dusty’s allergy to walks. He really didn’t get much of a chance to play after that and in fairness, he wasn’t quite right the rest of the season.

Choi gets traded to Florida, where he hits .270 with a .388 OBP and 15 HRs in half a season in a bad hitters park. Those are budding superstar numbers. Then he gets traded to the Dodgers where he struggled and got pounded mercilessly by the LA Press because he had the unmitigated gall to get himself traded for the next Roy Campenella, Paul LoDuca. Unofficial Dodgers GM Bill Plashke eventually got figurehead Dodger GM Paul DePodesta fired over that.

In 2005, Choi had to fight for playing time with Olmedo Saenz, of all people. He did OK with a .253/.336/.456 numbers in part-time play. That’s not great for a first baseman, but he was still only 26 and had shown he could hit in the majors. At worst, that’s a part-time first baseman and a left-handed bat off the bench. A smart organization would have given him another shot.

Not the Dodgers, who wanted nothing to do with “Google Boy’s” little Korean who cost them St. Pauli Boy. DePodesta was gone, and the Dodgers just cut Choi in the off-season. The Red Sox picked him up and sent him to Pawtucket, but having been treated like dirt by two organizations, back in the minors and fighting injuries, Choi just lost interest. He realized he could just go back to Korea and be done with all this crap.

I’m not saying that Choi would have been a star here, but I think he could have been a productive left-handed bat in the majors if teams focused more on what he could do rather than how bad he looked when he struck out. Certainly he wouldn’t have been as good as Derrek Lee, so we made a good decision there.

While I don’t know if Hee-Seop Choi is bitter about his experience in MLB, I know that I still am a little. He got hosed.

It's a girl! Born 1-18-08. 2246 PST. 8 lbs. 1 oz.

by Josh Timmers on May 14, 2008 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

wow

I dont think ive ever seen that much thought go into anything related to Choi, nicely done. Youre right, Im sure he could do what Ward and players like that do.

SS is going to be an area of need for the Cubs in the future, so lets hope he pans out, I wonder if he’ll be in the next WBC

Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.

by bren on May 14, 2008 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions

I think...

... Choi was never quite the same after that concussion.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on May 14, 2008 1:57 PM CDT up reply actions

Perhaps

Except that he tore it up in half a season in Florida after that.

I think it was the shenanigans in LA that did him in. He also had some other injuries unrelated to the fall that were nagging and kept him from ever truly getting in a groove.

Clearly, even if everything had gone right for Choi, he wouldn’t have been as good as Derrek Lee. But he could have been a good player if he’d have been given a shot.

It's a girl! Born 1-18-08. 2246 PST. 8 lbs. 1 oz.

by Josh Timmers on May 14, 2008 3:40 PM CDT up reply actions

Nothing but speculation on my part

But LA has the probably the largest koreatown in the country. Could have been kinda distracting

by californiachicagoan on May 14, 2008 6:02 PM CDT up reply actions

Perhaps

but, seriously, one of the baseball writers for the LA Times did a story right after the trade in which Choi went to Koreantown and little Korean-American children were going up to DePodesta and complaining about trading Paul Lo Duca.

I think, along with some injuries, it was Jim Tracy, Frank McCourt and Tommy Lasorda who did him in with an assist from Bill Plaschke and TJ Simers. McCourt gets all of his baseball advice from Lasorda and is obsessed with getting good mentions in the LA Times.

It's a girl! Born 1-18-08. 2246 PST. 8 lbs. 1 oz.

by Josh Timmers on May 14, 2008 6:40 PM CDT up reply actions

Many before him have been dubbed “naturals”, but most often what’s between the ears plays as big, if not a bigger role than natural ability in a given players success.

Soriano should hit 5th. Period.

by Canadian Cubs Fan on May 14, 2008 2:10 PM CDT reply actions