Former Major Leaguers Post Mixed Results
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Doosan Bears starter Kim Sun-woo had the biggest shoes to fill in baseball, stepping in for 22-game winner Daniel Rios, who left for Japan's Yakult Swallows during the winter.
However, after falling hard out of the gate, the former San Francisco Giants castoff is now struggling to find his feet.
After witnessing the 31-year-old allow four runs in less than three innings in his latest outing against the cross-town rival LG Twins Sunday, Bears manager Kim Kyung-moon finally gave in and assigned the starter to the reserve league squad.
It was Kim's third loss in three starts, during which he lasted only 12 1/3 innings and surrendered 10 runs and 18 hits while managing just four strikeouts, making a mockery of his reputation as a power pitcher.
Although manager Kim had expected an adjustment period for his prize acquisition of the winter, an 0-3 start with a 7.80 ERA assures that he is no Rios, who went 22-5 with a 2.07 ERA last season.
``It's important for Sun-woo to get up again," said the Bears manager, who is considering adopting a four-man starting rotation while Kim retools with the reserve team.
``He was treated for a muscle strain after his second start, and his lack of confidence resulted in the meltdown in his third start. His performance will be critical to our team's postseason chances this year, and I still have a starter's spot saved for him.''
The skipper is still confident that Kim has enough talent to prevail, although the path to success might be longer than what the team hoped for.
However, it is disturbing that Kim continues to display the bad habits picked up during his anonymous career in the United States.
Kim is often criticized for being more aware of the radar gun than hitters, showing a tendency to compromise his command while attempting to throw harder and thus falling vulnerable to high pitch counts.
Kim was just that pitcher in his three starts, where hitters feasted on a steady diet of 145kmph fastballs down the middle.
Kim's struggles are putting further pressure on the rest of the rotation that is already operating on a thin margin of error, with Americans Gary Rath and Matt Randel being the only reliable options.
The Bears could only pray that Kim evolves from a thrower to pitcher, although it's anybody's idea whether the 11-year veteran would suddenly get it.
Kia Tigers starter Seo Jae-weong, who left the Tampa Bay Rays to sign with his hometown team in the winter, has fared better than Kim in his South Korean debut, but at 0-2, has no wins to show for it.
It's hard to blame Seo for the Tigers' 3-11 start, adding pain to a tortured fan base that hoped for improvement in 2008, as the 31-year-old pitched brilliantly before giving up four runs over six innings against the Lotte Giants on Sunday.
Seo, posting a 2.70 ERA over three starts, is displaying some of the stuff that once made him a top prospect in the New York Mets system, showing great command of a changeup that he throws for strikes and a deceptive splitter he uses against left-handed batters.
However, his lack of an above-average fastball, which wrote his eulogy from Major League Baseball, is certainly a concern down the road.
Seo's fastball now seems slower than ever, topping at around 140 to 143kmph on most nights and not even that quick most of the time. The real test for Seo would be when hitters start sitting on his changeup, which is going to happen sooner or later.