Washington Post article on Kim

[Going Underground]

Jones telling it like it is. This article seems like it was more DD's idea and not Buck's to send him to the minors.

The mixed reception Hyun Soo Kim received on Opening Day needed no translation. Amid some cheers, a reverberation of boos transcended language and culture. After the Baltimore Orioles outfielder refused an assignment to the minor leagues out of spring training, a right stipulated in his contract, some critics let Kim know how they felt.

Outfielder Adam Jones noticed something when Kim would turn around to look at the fans who were yelling at him. If someone is saying something to him, he just looks at them like, I don't know what you're saying, Jones said.

[Kim] was an easy target, Jones said. [The critics and angry fans] were insensitive bastards.

Not once did I think about returning to Korea, Kim said.

But Kim gets a little more anxious when asked about why he was unequivocal about staying in the major leagues.

Rather than say I have a lot of confidence about my abilities as a baseball player, I had to do more of the things that I could control, Kim said. There's really a lot of things I could say, but I'll stop there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/hyung-soo-kims-struggles-highlight-the-adjustment-to-mlb-korean-players-face/2016/07/20/86d3c7c0-486f-11e6-acbc-4d4870a079da_story.html

[baltfan]

Adam Jones is a tremendous asset whose contributions go well beyond the field

[Rene88]

Adam Jones is a tremendous asset whose contributions go well beyond the field

Amen brotha.

[pastorfan]

Adam Jones is a tremendous asset whose contributions go well beyond the field

I agree, but I'd like to see him catch balls hit to center and get some big hits.

[Tony-OH]

Jones telling it like it is. This article seems like it was more DD's idea and not Buck's to send him to the minors.

I'm not sure I got that for the article. Buck stopped playing Kim this spring, pure and simple. He didn't want him on the roster to start the year. He rarely played him in April even after he got a few hits. The fact that Kim said, "There's really a lot of things I could say, but I'll stop there," kinda speaks volumes if you ask me.

Now I don't pretend to know what Buck was exactly thinking this spring, but when his first comments about Kim were about his weight you can read between the lines that he wasn't happy with the way he showed up to camp. After the slow start, I think Buck just buried him a bit. The one thing we know about Buck is if you are "one of his guys" you have a good chance of sticking around and if your not, you will be out the door pretty quick if they can do it contractually.

As much as love Buck and think he's a great manager, probably the 2nd best Orioles manager behind Earl Weaver, he does have tendency to make up his mind about a young (In Kim's case new to MLB) player real quickly. Now I'm not syaing Buck doesn't have a pretty good track record of making the correct call, but in Kim's case, I real something rubbed him the wrong way about him early on and it ended up with Buck hoping he would go back to Korea or take a minor league assignment.

[wildcard]

I'm not sure I got that for the article. Buck stopped playing Kim this spring, pure and simple. He didn't want him on the roster to start the year. He rarely played him in April even after he got a few hits. The fact that Kim said, "There's really a lot of things I could say, but I'll stop there," kinda speaks volumes if you ask me.

Now I don't pretend to know what Buck was exactly thinking this spring, but when his first comments about Kim were about his weight you can read between the lines that he wasn't happy with the way he showed up to camp. After the slow start, I think Buck just buried him a bit. The one thing we know about Buck is if you are "one of his guys" you have a good chance of sticking around and if your not, you will be out the door pretty quick if they can do it contractually.

As much as love Buck and think he's a great manager, probably the 2nd best Orioles manager behind Earl Weaver, he does have tendency to make up his mind about a young (In Kim's case new to MLB) player real quickly. Now I'm not syaing Buck doesn't have a pretty good track record of making the correct call, but in Kim's case, I real something rubbed him the wrong way about him early on and it ended up with Buck hoping he would go back to Korea or take a minor league assignment.

I think when you add the good points you made to what is said in the article Buck had good reason to want Kim to start the year in the minors. Reports out of shape, major cultural adjusts to make, wasn't selective at the plate, didn't hit in ST and he was average at best in the outfield.

However Buck allowed Rickard's hot start to run its course and then gave Kim a chance. Kim ran with it. Play better and you get more playing time. That is what has happened. Now Kim is a major part of the team. A nugget if you will.

[Can_of_corn]

I think when you add the good points you made to what is said in the article Buck had good reason to want Kim to start the year in the minors. Reports out of shape, major cultural adjusts to make, wasn't selective at the plate, didn't hit in ST and he was average at best in the outfield.

However Buck allowed Rickard's hot start to run its course and then gave Kim a chance. Kim ran with it. Play better and you get more playing time. That is what has happened. Now Kim is a major part of the team. A nugget if you will.

I'd buy that line if Buck hadn't benched Kim in st. None of us know if Kim would even had gotten a chance to play in Norfolk.

[wildcard]

I'd buy that line if Buck hadn't benched Kim in st. None of us know if Kim would even had gotten a chance to play in Norfolk.

There are 7 million reasons why Kim would have played at AAA. His contract was guaranteed and the O's were not asking him to give that up to go to AAA.

[Can_of_corn]

There are 7 million reasons why Kim would have played at AAA. His contract was guaranteed and the O's were not asking him to give that up to go to AAA.

Or, they wanted to pull a Yoon on him and get him to quit.

Send him down to Norfolk, let him rot on the bench and try and wait him out.

If he quits he doesn't get paid.

I think when your manager benches you in ST he isn't worried about you getting acclimated.

[TouchemAll]

I'm not sure I got that for the article. Buck stopped playing Kim this spring, pure and simple. He didn't want him on the roster to start the year. He rarely played him in April even after he got a few hits. The fact that Kim said, "There's really a lot of things I could say, but I'll stop there," kinda speaks volumes if you ask me.

Now I don't pretend to know what Buck was exactly thinking this spring, but when his first comments about Kim were about his weight you can read between the lines that he wasn't happy with the way he showed up to camp. After the slow start, I think Buck just buried him a bit. The one thing we know about Buck is if you are "one of his guys" you have a good chance of sticking around and if your not, you will be out the door pretty quick if they can do it contractually.

As much as love Buck and think he's a great manager, probably the 2nd best Orioles manager behind Earl Weaver, he does have tendency to make up his mind about a young (In Kim's case new to MLB) player real quickly. Now I'm not syaing Buck doesn't have a pretty good track record of making the correct call, but in Kim's case, I real something rubbed him the wrong way about him early on and it ended up with Buck hoping he would go back to Korea or take a minor league assignment.

Yep :agree:

[24fps]

I'm not sure I got that for the article. Buck stopped playing Kim this spring, pure and simple. He didn't want him on the roster to start the year. He rarely played him in April even after he got a few hits. The fact that Kim said, "There's really a lot of things I could say, but I'll stop there," kinda speaks volumes if you ask me.

Now I don't pretend to know what Buck was exactly thinking this spring, but when his first comments about Kim were about his weight you can read between the lines that he wasn't happy with the way he showed up to camp. After the slow start, I think Buck just buried him a bit. The one thing we know about Buck is if you are "one of his guys" you have a good chance of sticking around and if your not, you will be out the door pretty quick if they can do it contractually.

As much as love Buck and think he's a great manager, probably the 2nd best Orioles manager behind Earl Weaver, he does have tendency to make up his mind about a young (In Kim's case new to MLB) player real quickly. Now I'm not syaing Buck doesn't have a pretty good track record of making the correct call, but in Kim's case, I real something rubbed him the wrong way about him early on and it ended up with Buck hoping he would go back to Korea or take a minor league assignment.

Kim's conditioning or lack thereof shouldn't have been a mystery to Showalter. The following quote is from Roch's February 9 blog.

Vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson may know Kim better than anyone in the organization after working him out for a few weeks. He can talk about Kim’s swing, arm and conditioning. He also can vouch for Kim’s sense of humor.

Roch goes on to report:

"He’s big, but he moves well. He moves better than you’d think," Anderson said on Thursday while heading to UCLA for the latest workout. "He’s agile for how big he is. Coordinated. I’ve seen him play other sports.

I fully agree with your overall assessment of Showalter, but Kim got pretty shabby treatment and I'm glad he stuck to his guns.

[El Gordo]

There are 7 million reasons why Kim would have played at AAA. His contract was guaranteed and the O's were not asking him to give that up to go to AAA.

There's no good reason for him to have done so. First he is one of the premier players from his league, a Korean Ichiro, he wanted to make it in the MLB. He didn't come here for the money. Other Korean players of his level are doing quite well here. Second the O's gave him no reason to trust that they would bring him up when he started hitting. Third it was in his contract that he remain on the 25 if that was his choice. He knew what the problem was and he was beginning to correct it. Even Buck acknowledged that. I don't know exactly what went on, but I do know one thing, the only person who acquitted himself well was Kim.

[Can_of_corn]

There's no good reason for him to have done so. First he is one of the premier players from his league, a Korean Ichiro, he wanted to make it in the MLB. He didn't come here for the money. Other Korean players of his level are doing quite well here. Second the O's gave him no reason to trust that they would bring him up when he started hitting. Third it was in his contract that he remain on the 25 if that was his choice. He knew what the problem was and he was beginning to correct it. Even Buck acknowledged that. I don't know exactly what went on, but I do know one thing, the only person who acquitted himself well was Kim.

I agree with all of this except the part about the money. Kim is making substantially more in the states than he ever made in Korea. No way for us to know if that was a factor in wanting to join MLB.

[Tony-OH]

I'd buy that line if Buck hadn't benched Kim in st. None of us know if Kim would even had gotten a chance to play in Norfolk.

This. I could believe Buck had a grand plan for him had he not stopped playing him in spring training.

[Can_of_corn]

Remember how they said Kim couldn't handle ML velocity?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hyun-soo Kim is batting .438 (42 for 96) vs fastballs this year... Wow.<a href="https://t.co/Hn8RzZj02C">https://t.co/Hn8RzZj02C</a></p>— Daren Willman (@darenw) <a href="

">July 29, 2016</a></blockquote>

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