Lee Dae-ho inks minor league deal with Seattle Mariners
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Lee Dae-ho
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Seattle Mariners announced Thursday (KST) that it has signed a one-year minor league deal with Korean slugger Lee Dae-ho.
According to Lee’s Korean agency, Montis Sports Management Group, the deal includes an invitation to big league spring training later this month. No financial terms were disclosed.
The announcement came hours later after a number of reports here announced that the 33-year-old first baseman/designated hitter agreed to a one-year, $4 million incentive-laden deal, meaning he could earn up to $4 million in performance incentives if he makes the Major League Baseball (MLB) club.
“Dae-ho gives us another potential right-handed power bat in the first-base competition,” the Mariners' general manager, Jerry Dipoto, told MLB.com. “He has performed at a very high level of production in both Korea and Japan, and we are excited to see how that translates to our team.”
On Thursday, Lee was included in the 40-man roster of the Mariners.
On Lee’s signing, American media reports that Lee, hitting right, is likely to platoon with left-hitting veteran first baseman Adam Lind. Platooning is a system that two different-handed players are selected to play a single defensive position. Lind, who joined the Mariners last month, went .277, with 20 home runs, 87 RBAs, but has been weak against left-handers. During his 10-year MLB career, he hit 145 home runs off right-handers but hit 21 off left-handers, all of his 20 homers last season were off right-handers.
Lee said in a statement released by Montis that: “I am delighted to have a chance to play in the majors. … I will try my best at spring camp to make it into the big league club and I believe I can accomplish that goal.”
Last year, Lee had a career-high season in his four-year Nippon Professional Baseball stint, hitting 31 home runs and posting 98 RBIs in 141 appearances for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He was more productive in the Japan Series, batting .500 with two homeruns and eight RBIs to lead the Hawks to beat the Central League pennant-holders, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. This earned Lee the honor of becoming the first Korean to be named MVP of the Japan Series.