“L.A. Dodgers or Anaheim”

“L.A. Dodgers or Anaheim.”

The choice of Lee Seung-yeop (27), declaring his challenge of playing in Major League Baseball, is restricted to these two teams.

John Kim, the agent of Lee Seung-yeop for SFX, commented, “Two teams invited Lee Seung-yeop to visit the U.S. Most teams with interest in him are on the west coast. We may be able to sign a contract if things go well during this visit,” in an interview with reporters at the Tom Bradley Airport in L.A., as Lee Seung-yeop arrived on November 19.

There are six Major League teams located on the west coast: the Seattle Mariners, Anaheim Angels, L.A. Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and San Diego Padres.

After a confirmation, the two teams among those six which invited Lee Seung-yeop were the L.A. Dodgers and the Anaheim Angels.

It has been reported that Ahn Byung-hwan, one of the scouts in charge of East Asia for Dodgers, accompanied the suddenly-departing Lee Seung-yeop couple on the airplane to L.A. and this brought a huge interest. It may mean that a contact may happen in advance between the two parties in order for Lee to join the Dodgers. Ahn Byung-hwan was the mentor of Park Chan-ho during his Gong-ju high school days and played an important role in Park Chan-ho joining the Dodgers.

The L.A. Dodgers is seeking a first baseman to replace Fred McGriff, whom they did not resign. Dodgers General Manager, Dan Evans, has an eye for Richie Sexson, who hit 45 home runs and 124 RBIs for the Milwaukee Brewers last year, but the interest may shift to Lee Seung-yeop because of the keen competitions for Sexson. In addition, over 600,000 Korean Americans reside in Los Angeles, so it will also be helpful for the Dodgers’ business.

Anaheim is the team which has steadily appeared in both Korean and American press reports because of its scouting of Lee Seung-yeop. Anaheim needs a first baseman since it will not resign free agent Scott Spiezio. John Kim added, “Lee Seung-yeop is scheduled to visit Anaheim’s Edison Field during his stay in the U.S.”

Lee Seung-yeop is supposed to visit Seattle in the morning and have a meeting with high ranking personnel of the L.A. Dodgers in the evening of November 20.