A Role for Kim

[Guest antiorioles]

I have been very hard on Buck for how he has handled this.

There is no reason at all to try and interject a racial component to any of this.

Koji loved Baltimore, Chen only had one issue in four seasons.

I didn't know the word "prejudice" has a racial component. I just used the word as my dictionary told me.

prejudice: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation

I know Kim looks chubby and runs awkwardly, but his defense is not that bad.

He was underrated and failed to be drafted ten years ago due to that impression, and now goes through the same IMO.

He hasn't made any defensive error this year, but everybody concludes he is a horrible defender.

What's the evidence? What did they see? They say "Buck knows best".

[Can_of_corn]

I didn't know the word "prejudice" has a racial component. I just used the word as my dictionary told me.

prejudice: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation

I know Kim looks chubby and runs awkwardly, but his defense is not that bad.

He was underrated and failed to be drafted ten years ago due to that impression, and now goes through the same IMO.

He hasn't made any defensive error this year, but everybody concludes he is a horrible defender.

What's the evidence? What did they see? They say "Buck knows best".

There is generally a connotation of some form or racism/sexism with the word. Particularly when you are talking about a minority.

That is even more likely to occur when you say something like "My advice to all Asian players: DON'T GO THERE.".

It is kinda hard for me not to think that you think there is a racial element.

[Guest antiorioles]

While I would agree that the Orioles haven't handled the situation well, mostly from the spring training timeframe, you are being over the top with some of this stuff. It's about baseball. It has nothing to do with being Korean. You are trying to make it some human rights or racial issue. It's a baseball issue.

Well, maybe it's a cultural thing. Most Koreans, including Kim himself, thinks that Kim represents Korea in the big league. So if he is insulted for no reason, we feel humiliated as well.

It may operate in the opposite direction too. If Kim's performance sucks like ST, we may be the first to cry out "Kim, you are not good enough, you are a national shame, give up the money and come back."

O's could have shipped back Kim to Korea (there are teams that are willing to pay more money, as O's front office believed), but they picked up the wrong timing.

[Can_of_corn]

Well, maybe it's a cultural thing. Most Koreans, including Kim himself, thinks that Kim represents Korea in the big league. So if he is insulted for no reason, we feel humiliated as well.

It may operate in the opposite direction too. If Kim's performance sucks like ST, we may be the first to cry out "Kim, you are not good enough, you are a national shame, give up the money and come back."

O's could have shipped back Kim to Korea (there are teams that are willing to pay more money, as O's front office believed), but they picked up the wrong timing.

It is my understanding that Kim was not interested in going back to Korea.

He would have to approve such a transaction.

[brianod]

Seriously, what is with you dude. Do you intentionally ignore Kim's actual ML hitting statistics in order to continue to push your narrative that Kim can't hit a ML fastball? You intentionally cherry pick one pitcher he's faced to push your tired narrative? Are you aware that 2 of his 9 hits to date were hard hit balls to the outfield off 93mph fastballs (BTW -most of Sale's fastballs were around 93MPH) ? Somehow I don't think facts even matter to you - you have an axe to grind with Kim for some other reason than his actual ML performance and quite frankly, it's getting old. By your own admission, you actually want him to fail.

Just trying to inject some realism into all the drama over Kim. I hope he succeeds and I would be fine to give him more playing time. I'm just tired of all the drama and all the posts about him. He has earned more time and I'm sure Buck will give him some. I hope he succeeds beyond my expectations because that would help the Orioles.

[Guest antiorioles]

It is my understanding that Kim was not interested in going back to Korea.

He would have to approve such a transaction.

Yoon didn't have to come back to Korea, but he did. He didn't prove himself even at AAA level, and Kia Tigers was able to persuade him to come back.

And many baseball fans also wanted him to come back, because, well, he is not good enough.

Kim is an entirely different story. A general consensus here is that Kim should never consent to going to Nolfork or coming back, because he hasn't been given a fair chance.

Even Choo of Rangers publicly advised Kim never to consent to demotion and criticized O's.

If Kim had been given a fair chance and failed to deliver, he would have agreed on a U-turn. If it had been the case, I wouldn't have come here.

[Can_of_corn]

Yoon didn't have to come back to Korea, but he did. He didn't prove himself even at AAA level, and Kia Tigers was able to persuade him to come back.

And many baseball fans also wanted him to come back, because, well, he is not good enough.

Kim is an entirely different story. A general consensus here is that Kim should never consent to going to Nolfork or coming back, because he hasn't been given a fair chance.

Even Choo of Rangers publicly advised Kim never to consent to demotion and criticized O's.

If Kim had been given a fair chance and failed to deliver, he would have agreed on a U-turn. If it had been the case, I wouldn't have come here.

I was just making sure you did know that Kim would have to be a willing participant in a return to Korea.

FYI I was just about the only person here that thought that Yoon would agree to surrender the money and go back to Korea.

Really the only thing we are disagreeing on is any possible racial component.

[Can_of_corn]

I don't even think there is disagreement there at this point.

Did they step back from the all Asians comment?

If they did than yea, we're cool.

[Guest antiorioles]

I was just making sure you did know that Kim would have to be a willing participant in a return to Korea.

FYI I was just about the only person here that thought that Yoon would agree to surrender the money and go back to Korea.

Really the only thing we are disagreeing on is any possible racial component.

I don't think race is a main issue here.

On the other hand, I don't believe that O's would attempt a similar maneuver to a U.S-born player or a Canadian player.

And I suspect that Yoon's precedent perhaps made O's front office believe Koreans are easy to ship back regardless of what contract says.

But again, it's not a main issue, and was not what I initially tried to say. All I want to see is a fair chance, that is, an evaluation based on facts and data rather than initial impression.

[Can_of_corn]

I agree he deserves a fair chance, said it since day one.

I have also stated that if I were Kim I wouldn't accept a demotion.

So we are in full agreement there.

[epic]

It's clear the Orioles have bungled the handling of Kim. He didn't exactly set the world on fire in ST but they need to give the guy some time to adjust to big league pitching. They knew this going in too.

It's also hard to see Rickard play very well all throughout ST and not give him the starting nod in the first few weeks of the season to see how he does. But we're starting to see him come back down to Earth. He's still making pitchers work to get him out but at some point that isn't enough.

This club is trying to win games above all else and if Rickard (and Alvarez to some extent) continue to struggle over the next couple of weeks I would expect Kim to see more playing time. We'll see how Buck truly views Kim because if Rickard doesn't pick it up by, say June, and continues to get 6 starts a week then we're letting $7mm and some solid potential rot away on the bench for a rule 5 guy.

You gotta see what you really have with Kim at some point.

[El Gordo]

I don't think race is a main issue here.

On the other hand, I don't believe that O's would attempt a similar maneuver to a U.S-born player or a Canadian player.

And I suspect that Yoon's precedent perhaps made O's front office believe Koreans are easy to ship back regardless of what contract says.

But again, it's not a main issue, and was not what I initially tried to say. All I want to see is a fair chance, that is, an evaluation based on facts and data rather than initial impression.

I think the main problem with Kim is that unlike Park and Kang, he is in serious competition for playing time with Reimold, Alvarez, and Rickard. Take any one of them out of the equation and we would be seeing a lot more of him.

[weams]

Personally, I am more worried about getting AJ on track.

Roch had a good quote from Buck on Rickard and his slump:

Ditto. I hope when needed Kim is up to the task as well.

[MrOrange82]

I think the main problem with Kim is that unlike Park and Kang, he is in serious competition for playing time with Reimold, Alvarez, and Rickard. Take any one of them out of the equation and we would be seeing a lot more of him.

They shouldn't have given him a guaranteed, multi-year contract to be in (an apparently losing) competition with players like that.

[Babypowder]

They shouldn't have given him a guaranteed, multi-year contract to be in (an apparently losing) competition with players like that.

Correct. Doubtful they pay him and bring him in if they fully expected him to be in competition with a oft-injured recent journeyman and a rule V pick.

Rickard has been bad and couldn't have reasonably been expected to be a solid everyday corner outfielder before spring training. His ST performance has put unreasonable expectations on him and added length to his leash he probably shouldn't have.

But everyone does get excited about an underdog story, especially when he's white and "scrappy" because America.