Seattle Mariners' Lee Dae-Ho, right, is greeted by teammates after scoring on his three-run home run against the San Diego Padres in the eighth inning of a baseball game on May 30 in Seattle. The Mariners won 9-2.

/ AP-Yonhap



Slugger Lee searches for team that respects his value

By Kang Hyun-kyung

After spending an experimental 2016 season with the Seattle Mariners as a 34-year-old rookie, slugger Lee Dae-ho has become realistic.

In the face of making choices about what team he can play for in the 2017 season, Lee said he's looking for a baseball club that guarantees him a full-time position with treatment equal to his experience and performance.

Lee said he still remains undecided about the team he will play for but stressed that good working conditions are the most important criteria when choosing his team. "I'll make a decision based on treatment from the team," he said in a recent interview. "My agent is working hard to find the best team for me and I'm waiting for good news while focusing on workouts."

The 2016 season was experimental for Lee. He signed a $5 million, one-year contract with the Mariners at the expense of his former team in the Japanese baseball league Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, which made him an attractive offer of 1.6 billion yen ($13.6 million) for three years.

Playing in the Major League Baseball was something he had longed for since he was a child.

To chase his childhood dream, the star athlete was determined to invest a year to play in the MLB as a rookie, rather than becoming the highest-paid foreign baseball player in the Japanese league.

He said he wanted to see if he was viable in the world's toughest league and also make the most of the contract to prove himself as a strong athlete who deserves a full-time contract with one of the MLB clubs.

After returning to Korea in October following the season, he said he would like to seek a baseball career that can go along with his duties as a breadwinner and father of two children.

He said he was happy in the MLB but had no intention of playing under a platoon arrangement again as he did with the Mariners. Under the time-sharing scheme, two players, usually left- and right-handed players, are chosen to play a single defensive position.

He batted .253, with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs in 104 games.

In a co-authored book, "Thanks, Baseball," Lee said 2016 was "the most intensive year" in his life.

"It was the hardest year but at the same time the happiest one," he wrote. "I had been struggling all during the season but it was my most joyful experience ... Baseball became an object to overcome, not something that I could enjoy as I did before, after joining MLB. I felt I was like a warrior fighting on the battlefield. I had never been like this."

After a year with the Mariners, the free agent said he realized men are supposed to be where they are needed, rather than where they want.

He was negative about the possibility of playing in the Major Leagues as a platoon athlete again.

"I'm afraid I will be an irresponsible father and breadwinner if I explore my career like that again," he said.

But he opened the Major League option and said he's willing to play for a team in the U.S. if the club treats him based on his experience and performance. "If a full-time position and the right treatment are not guaranteed, I would need time to think about the offer seriously."

Baseball analyst Choi Won-ho said it's difficult for players to prove themselves under the platoon arrangement.

"Their chances for playing in games are low and this makes it difficult for even sluggers like Lee to pull together great performances in Major League Baseball," he said.

Lee also has kept his options open in the Korean and Japanese baseball leagues.

Hurdles, however, stand in the way of his choice of teams.

In the Korean Baseball Organization, contract money is a major obstacle for national clubs to hire the slugger. Lee is reportedly interested in his former team, the Lotte Giants.

It remains uncertain whether the Giants will be able to offer him a contract high enough to keep the slugger sticking around.

The Japanese professional baseball league is the most eager to sign a contract with Lee, who played in the league from 2011 to 2015 before he headed to the Seattle Mariners earlier this year.

According to Japanese media outlets, four teams — Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Chiba Lotte Marines, Orix Buffaloes and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles — are seriously considering signing a contract with Lee.

He was a star in Japanese baseball. During his four years there, Lee hit 98 homers with 348 RBIs.

In 2015, he won the MVP award in the Japan Series after he hit a two-run homer and helped the Hawks to achieve a 5-0 win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at the Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. The Hawks won the series.