Baltimore Orioles: Sign Hyun-soo Kim

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The Baltimore Orioles have just signed outfielder Hyun-soo Kim. The 28-year-old, 6 foot-2, 214-pound left-handed hitter has played nine years in the Korean Baseball Organization as a part of the Doosan Bears.

Kim reportedly received several offers from MLB teams and was at one point thought to remain in Korea. However, as reported on by MLB.com,  Kim has accepted and signed a 2-year $7 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

Kim has recorded a lifetime .318 batting average, .406 on-base percentage, and a .488 slugging percentage. Kim is coming off of an extremely impressive .326/.438/.541 season at the plate.

Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Kim is a very patient hitter with a good eye. He recorded 101 walks last season while striking out only 63 times. The only downside to his offensive production comes in the home run category. He had a career-high 28 home runs last year, but he has only broken the 20 home run mark one time in his last five seasons. Home run production may change as Kim will now be playing in “home run friendly” Camden Yards.

This is another great off-season addition for the Orioles. If Chris Davis keeps putting off the O’s, then maybe the answer is to find another productive outfielder to nail down the other corner position.

The rest of this off-season will either be dedicated to finding left-handed pitchers, finding a way to re-sign Chris Davis and taking whatever leftover payroll is available to locate a right fielder. On the other hand, the Orioles could focus on finding a legitimate outfielder who is productive at the plate while adding starting pitchers to their roster and just forget about Davis. After all, they have signed Trumbo.

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Regardless of what happens, this off-season has gone fairly well for the O’s. They were left with a lot of positions to fill entering free agency and have made some solid moves. They now have signed an outfielder and first baseman, while re-signing O’Day and Wieters, and they were able to protect  young pitching talent from the rule 5 draft. Davis still weighs heavy on everyone’s mind, but at this point I am not convinced he is is worth the money. In an era of analytical baseball where it is very possible to put together a team with high offensive output while not spending an astronomical amount of money for home run production, is a one-dimensional slugger really the answer?