"After Lee Jung-hoo, move to right field!" Veteran SF Reporter Criticizes Club's 'Failed Outdoor Plan'

*This content was translated by AI.

A veteran reporter who has been in charge of the San Francisco Giants for more than 20 years criticized the lukewarm club's move. In particular, he criticized sharply for the part where there was no movement in the reconstruction of the outfield, which is pointed out as the weakest point. Lee Jung-hoo (28) should be quickly moved to right field and a professional center fielder should be quickly recruited.

Andrew Bagley, a reporter for The Athletic who has been working as a reporter in charge of San Francisco since 2004, published an article titled "How to understand San Francisco's disappointing off-season moves" on the 10th (Korea Standard Time) through the Mailbag section that responds to fans' inquiries.

According to the article, a San Francisco fan told reporter Bagley, "Do you have any plans to fix the field defense issue? Promising center field resources with good defense, such as Justin Dean and Joey Wimmer, were recruited on waivers, but were released again. Again, it's no different from last season," he said.

In response, reporter Bae Gully agreed with the fan's question and said, "The most direct solution to solve the Giants' problem is recruiting center field. There is certainly a need for change. We need to quickly recruit a new center fielder who is outstanding to use Lee Jung-hoo's shoulder to right field while reducing the burden of Elliott Ramos' defense in left field.

He then strongly criticized the club's plan to strengthen its outfield defense as a failure. Reporter Bae Gully said, "We had high expectations by filling the 40-man roster with as many as 10 outfielders this offseason, but in the end, we have a composition that is no different from last year, sending out all the players who can be a plus factor in defense. I'm simply at a loss," he said.

During this offseason, Justin Dean and Joey Wimmer, whose defense has been proven, were acquired through waivers and trades, respectively, but recently handled them one after another (transfer nomination) to reinforce the pitching staff, including Tyler Marley. In the end, they released resources that would increase defensive indicators again.

According to the figures presented by reporter Bae Gully, the combined OAA (Outs Above Average, defensive indicator of how many outcounts are captured than the league average) recorded by Lee Jung-hoo and Heliot Ramos in the 2025 season reached -14. In particular, Lee Jung-hoo left an indicator of OAA-5, DRS (Defensive Run Saved) of -18, an indicator of how many points defenders blocked.

The club is also aware of it, but it seems to criticize that it is actually in place. Buster Posey, head of the baseball division, acknowledged the need to strengthen outfield defense during a general manager's meeting in Las Vegas in November last year and said, "I'm going to continue talking to Lee Jung-hoo with the coaching staff. I will discuss the necessary adjustments with the players," he said, but nothing has changed.

The Athletic attributed the sluggish San Francisco move to spending $17 million (about 24.8 billion won) to Blake Snell (34). This is about the options Snell achieved in the 2023 season. In addition, with Harrison Bader (32), who has a history of "middle-field Golden Glove" who is currently a free agent (FA), saying that The Athletic will not be a good option to sign a three-year contract, attention is being paid to how San Francisco will move.

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*This content was translated by AI.