It wasn’t meant to be
The era of speculative fanboy-ing over a Ha-Seong Kim, Jung-Hoo Lee bromance in the Orange-and-Black is officially over.
Infielder Ha-Seong Kim and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a two-year, $29 million contract that includes an opt-out after the first season, sources tell ESPN. Kim is coming off shoulder surgery but is expected to return in May and slated to take over at shortstop.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 29, 2025
The Tampa Bay Rays, curiously in need of shortstop, shelled out for the 29 year-old Gold Glover: matching the $28 million contract (with an added cherry on top) that Kim originally signed with San Diego in 2020 for half the years and generous perks tacked on.
While Kim has great contact skills and provides speed on the base paths (60 SB over his last two seasons), he’s been a league average offensive player throughout his time in the Majors. His value lies in his elite and malleable defense and ostensible durability. He played in 150+ games in 2022 and 2023 and logged significant innings at three infield positions for the Padres. In 2023, Kim won the Gold Glove Award as a utility infielder (16 DRS) while ranking 14th in National League MVP voting and accruing a 5.8 bWAR.
That productivity and durability diminished in 2024. A shoulder injury and subsequent surgery ended Kim’s season early (121 games) and meant he’d go into free agency still on the mend with his recovery bleeding into the 2025 season.
I’ll be the first to admit I wanted Kim on the Giants (I know BoMel is bumming right now too). In terms of highlight reels on Youtube, I’d take web gems over homer montages any day of the week, and Kim has stacked a fair amount of defensive clips over these past four years. Watching these videos while worrying about the Giants own state of affairs in the middle infield, I couldn’t help but covet the surprising power in the arm, the sure hands, the flexibility and improvisation up the middle.
And don’t forget those intangibles: witnessing the blossoming of the Lee-Kim friendship in a Giants uniform, all of their dugout shenanigans, the mid-game shots of them brooding over the dugout railing as their midnight black locks framed their faces…
Division relevance looks bleak for the near future — why not let the pursuit of daily vibes be the club’s consumer guide?
Photo by Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images
Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images
Photo by Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images
Kim could’ve worked on the Giants, but the timing of his recovery, the uncertainty about his arm strength didn’t make a deal super clean — and in his first months as Grand POBO, Posey needed something clean. He needed to make a splash with a marquee name for a marquee position.
Willy Adames always fit that bill better than Kim.