“We desperately need Kim Ha-sung” Boston became urgent, and the price rose in a day.
There is a joke that “the price has risen in a day.” Kim Ha-sung (27, San Diego) turned from a “good player to a “necessary player” overnight.
Jordan Moore of the U.S. media The Athletic lamented on his SNS on the 11th (Korea Standard Time), “Boston really needs Kim Ha-sung.”
Moore’s reaction was due to news of surgery by Boston’s main second baseman Trevor Story. Boston reported earlier in the day that second baseman Story had surgery on his right elbow on the 10th. According to Chambloom, president of Boston, the cause is the pain that has occurred since December last year. The rehabilitation period is expected to be at least four to six months, so the out in the first half is definitive.
Boston, where all the keystone combinations disappeared due to the story’s injury, was in a real hurry to transfuse middle-fielders. On the same day, even large shortstop Carlos Correa, who remained in the FA market, signed a six-year, $200 million contract with Minnesota. Now he has to fill center fielder Kike Hernandez with shortstop and backup infielder Christian Arroyo with second baseman. Hernandez has the strength to play all of his internal and outfield positions, but his career batting average is 0.239 and OPS 0.732, which is regrettable. Arroyo played 87 games last year, six years after his debut, and only became a backup. Both of them are sad to leave the main players.
Even if it was not Story’s injury, Boston’s lukewarm move was regrettable in that it needed to reinforce shortstop. Another media outlet Eagle-Tribune pointed out, “Boston needed a middle-infielder even before Story announced surgery on the right elbow,” adding, “(Without Story) now is the time for Boston to move. The only option left for Boston at this point is reinforcement through trade,” he explained.
Kim Ha-sung was a player that major Boston-related media such as “NBC Sports Boston” and “Mass Live” consistently insisted on recruiting. The Eagle-Tribune also said, “Kim Ha-sung is one of the best defenders in baseball since coming from South Korea in 2021. He showed a good batting average of 0.251, 11 home runs and 12 steals, and OPS 0.708 last year, and he is a perfect player for Boston considering his cheap contract conditions still four years away,” he praised.
Before this day, Tanner Ha-wook (27), a “first-rounder right-hander,” whose strength is a fast ball of 95.2 miles (about 153 kilometers) per hour on average, was specifically shown as a trade card through local media. Sean Adam, a member of the Boston Sports Journal, offered a one-on-one trade between Ha-wook and Kim Ha-sung. 안전놀이터
However, as Boston became urgent, it became difficult to bring Kim Ha-sung to Ha-wook. Recently, San Diego General Manager A.J. Preller expressed his relaxed stance on Kim Ha-sung’s trade, saying, “I want to run a flexible team.”