North Shore Nine

The Pirates, whether acknowledged universally, or not, broke the MLB Amateur draft with their (earmuffs) free spending ways.  Shortly after, MLB put a cap in place so big market teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates could not again open their wallet to sign young talent to their organization. It’s time to break another system, this one being the posting system used by the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), though of late, more specifically, the KBO.  

The Pirates have not done much with the posting system since the addition of Jung-Ho Kang, who came to Pittsburgh in 2015. He finished his first MLB season with a 3.9 WAR and was 3^rd in Rookie of the Year voting in the National League ahead of the likes of Joc Pederson and Noah Syndergaad. A bad injury forced him to miss the last few weeks of the season as well as the start of the following season.  Then, off the field issues forced him to miss more time in later seasons, but that isn’t the focal point of the article. 

The focal point is if the Pirates want to start spending money in a way where they can be ballers on a budget, the posting system would be a good place to do so.  Kang cost the Pirates roughly $16 million between the posting fee and the contract. Even if you only count the first two years he played in Pittsburgh, what he did during those two years is worth far more than $8 million per season. 

Not every player coming from the KBO or the NPB will be affordable for the Pirates, but if we look over the last four years, multiple names would be considered reasonable for the frugal spending Pirates.  Kwang Hyun Kim came over in 2019 for a $1.6 million posting fee, signing a 2 year, $8 million contract. Over its length, he posted a 10-7 record with a 2.97 ERA over 35 games and 28 starts.  These are costs and stats that any Pirates fan would be happy to see for their team. 

Next was Ha-Seong Kim who came over for a $5.525 million posting fee and signed a 4 year contract for $28 million.  As a middle infielder with 186 games at SS, 127 at 2B, and 79 at 3B he has put up an fWAR of 8.6 over three seasons while having a triple slash of .245/.325/.383 with 36 home runs.  Another piece Pirate fans would take in a heartbeat. 

The most recent two came over this offseason in Jung-hoo Lee and Woo-suk Go and we are not sure how either will take to MLB. Lee was likely outside of the Pirate price zone at a $18.825 million posting fee, signing a 6 year, $113 million contract. While Go came over for a $900,000 posting fee, signing a 2 year, $4.5 million contract.  This is in the Pirates’ wheelhouse, just not at a position of need. 

I am not saying the Pirates were connected to any of these previous players posted from the KBO, but outside of Lee, most of the other contracts and posting fees are within the Pirates’ limited budget and are well within their comfort zone. 

The Pirates scout the world over, but putting an emphasis on the KBO and the NPB would be a way for the Pirates to add talented players who can help them win games. It is unlikely that all players posted from the KBO continue to have the success that we have see so far, but at the cost associated with the postings, it is worth the chance. The NPB may be a different story.

The NPB changed their posting system after the 2017 season, where they moved from limiting posting fees to no more than $20 million to a system that is contingent on the size of the contract. Since that switch, the only two players who have had success in MLB are the two who have signed the biggest contracts, Seiya Suzuki (5 years, $85 million) and Masataka Yoshida (5 years, $90 million).  Other players have had limited to no success in their transition.

The previous 3 players to come to MLB with the $20 million posting fee were Masahiro Tanaka, Kenta Maeda, and a little known player named Shohei Ohtani  (the newly minted $2 million a year man)! While most of these players from the NPB have not done well, that should not keep the Pirates from scouting and monitoring those being posted.

The Pirates broke the draft and it brought exciting players to PNC Park.  Now it is time to break a new system and find a way to act like true Pirates and raid the waters of the KBO posting system and bring back that hope and excitement that Pirates fans desperately need once again in their lives.