San Francisco Giants Rookie Named to 'All-Overpaid' MLB Team

The San Francisco Giants outfielder didn't have enough time to show if he was worth his contract.

May 8, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee (51) swings the batt in the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The start of the season for the San Francisco Giants didn't go as planned for many reasons. While they've figured it out a bit in recent months, their early season struggles are the reason the Giants are four games out in the National League Wild Card.

There's still time to catch the teams ahead of them, but it'll take a team effort for San Francisco to complete the task.

Unfortunately, they'll have to do that with a few players still injured. Of those is left-handed hitter Jung Hoo Lee, who got injured after playing in just 37 games. Lee had season-ending surgery, the second of his career, after he had a similar surgery in Korea in 2018.

The Giants handed him a massive contract in the offseason, signing him to a six-year, $113.0 million deal. He was one of the top international players on the market and played well in the KBO, but it was a ton of money to give to a player who's never played in America.

With those factors in mind, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report named Lee to the "all-overpaid team."

"If you count the $18.825M posting fee the Giants had to pay the Kiwoom Heroes to be able to sign Lee to his six-year, $113M deal, the amount they actually spent on him for this year was north of $26M.

"But he only played in 37 games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. Even before the injury, he was struggling to adjust to MLB pitching. Lee hit .340 with an .898 OPS in seven seasons in KBO before ending up at .262 and .641, respectively in his first MLB season."

Naming Lee to the team might be a bit unfair for many reasons. For one, he didn't have enough time to show if he could play at a high level in the big leagues. The injury was hardly a month into the campaign.

While he wasn't perfect before going down with the injury, he showed signs to be an above-average player. He'll have to prove that next year, but there were some positive signs about the player he could potentially be.

San Francisco, more importantly, lost a player who could've likely helped them in a big way. The Giants have had struggles in the outfield for much of the season due to that.

As for Lee, hopefully, he'll manage to stay on the field in 2025 and show why he's worth the money that San Francisco paid him.