The South Korean baseball club SK Wyverns have been informed of the highest bid submitted by a Major League Baseball club for their posted pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun, officials said on Tuesday.
The Korea Baseball Organization said it was told by MLB on Tuesday that a yet-to-be-identified big league club won the bidding war for the South Korean left-hander and that it has relayed the information to the Wyverns.
The amount of the bid has not been disclosed. The Wyverns have four business days in which to accept the bid.
Should the Wyverns accept the bid, then the big league club will have the exclusive right to negotiate a deal with Kim for 30 days. If the team and the player reach an agreement, then the Wyverns will keep the money submitted.
An official with the Wyverns revealed that the amount of money submitted was lower than what the team had hoped to get for Kim, and the team executives were having difficulty reaching a conclusion because of that.
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Kim Kwang-hyun (Yonhap) |
“We won’t be able to make a decision so easily,” the official said. “We’ll continue to have meetings throughout Tuesday, but we’ll take our time. We may not be ready to say today whether we will accept the bid or not.”
The KBO has asked the Wyverns to make their conclusion by 6 p.m. Friday, so that it can inform MLB of that decision by 7 a.m. Saturday, Korean time.
If the Wyverns decide not to accept the bid, then Kim will be off the market and will have to play two more full seasons to gain unconditional free agency.
Once he completes his ninth season, Kim won’t need the Wyverns’ approval to play overseas.
Kim is trying to become the second KBO player to reach the majors via posting after Ryu Hyun-jin, the left-handed starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers who made the jump in 2012. (Yonhap)
