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Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee and the San Francisco Giants agreed Tuesday on a six-year, $113 million contract, sources told ESPN, the biggest outlay for an Asian-born hitter coming to Major League Baseball and a vital signing for a Giants team that had reeled in recent years from free agent travails.

Lee is a longtime star in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), regarded as royalty with father, Jong Beom Lee, regarded as the best all-around player in the KBO in the 1990s. Nicknamed “Grandson of the Wind” — his father was called “Son of the Wind” — Lee’s guarantee exceeds the $90 million the Boston Red Sox gave Masataka Yoshida last year and includes an opt-out after the fourth season.

The New York Post was first to report the news.

Lee had long been tied to the San Diego Padres, where his close friend Ha-Seong Kim plays infield. But after Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers this week, the Giants — who were regarded as long shots for Ohtani — stepped up their pursuit of Lee. Over the previous two years, efforts to sign major free agents were either spurned (Aaron Judge) or nullified (Carlos Correa, who agreed to a 13-year contract with San Francisco before a failed physical scuttled it).

While Lee is not in the same category as Ohtani, Judge or Correa, the left-handed-hitting outfielder has batted over .300 every season in the KBO and owns a lifetime batting average of .340, including a high of .360 in 2021. A fractured left ankle ended his 2023 season after 86 games, slashing .318/.406/.455 with six home runs and 45 RBIs.

He debuted in 2017 at 18 for the Nexen/Kiwoom Heroes, going straight from high school to hit .318 and winning the league’s rookie of the year award. Lee’s best season came in 2022, when he won KBO MVP honors while hitting .349/.421/.575 with a career-high 23 home runs in 142 games and more than twice as many walks (66) as strikeouts (32).

Lee’s elite contact ability should help him transition to the majors. Hitting from an open stance — where he first steps forward with his front foot and then stops as he begins his swing — Lee struck out just 5.4% of the time over the past two seasons, compared to the KBO average of 18.2% and the MLB average of 22.7% in 2023.

Some evaluators believe Lee has the speed to play a solid center field, assuming he returns from the ankle injury without any issues, while others project him as a right fielder, which puts more pressure on the bat. His lack of power this year was accompanied by a ground ball rate of around 60%, which would be higher than any MLB regular in 2023 except Tim Anderson.

Still, the Giants saw Lee as a potential All-Star-caliber player who, at 25 years old, remains in his prime. In the best-case scenario, he turns into a top-of-the-order hitter who hits close to .300 with an above-average OBP. He’d prefer to avoid the learning curve of Kim, the last Korean star to come to MLB.

In his first season with the Padres in 2021, Kim struggled and posted a .622 OPS, but has improved to .708 and then .749 the past two seasons. Kim, a teammate of Lee’s with the Heroes, hit for more power in the KBO than Lee but with lower batting averages, owning a career mark of .294 in Korea.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield contributed to this report.

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

LAS VEGAS — Left-handers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox won Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards on Thursday.

Cleveland right-hander Emmanuel Clase won his second AL Reliever of the Year award and St. Louis righty Ryan Helsley won the NL honor.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined David Ortiz as the only players to win four straight Outstanding Designated Hitter awards. Ohtani and the New York YankeesAaron Judge won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in their leagues.

Major League Baseball made the announcements at its All-MLB Awards Show.

Sale, 35, was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177⅔ innings for the NL’s first pitching triple crown since the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011. He earned his eighth All-Star selection and first since 2018.

Sale helped Boston to the 2018 World Series title but made just 56 starts from 2020-23, going 17-18 with a 4.86 ERA, 400 strikeouts and 79 walks over 298⅓ innings. He was acquired by Boston from the White Sox in December 2016 and made nine trips to the injured list with the Red Sox, mostly with shoulder and elbow ailments. He had Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, and returned to a big league mound on Aug. 14, 2021.

Sale fractured a rib while pitching in batting practice in February 2022 during the management lockout. On July 17, in his second start back, he broke his left pinkie finger when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks. Sale broke his right wrist while riding a bicycle en route to lunch on Aug. 6, ending his season.

Crochet, 25, was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts for a White Sox team that set a post-1900 record of 121 losses, becoming a first-time All-Star. He struck out 209 and walked 33 in 146 innings.

He had Tommy John surgery on April 5, 2022, and returned to the major leagues on May 18, 2023. Crochet had a 3.55 ERA in 13 relief appearances in 2023, and then joined the rotation this year.

Sale and Crochet were chosen in voting by MLB.com beat writers.

Clase and Helsley were unanimous picks by a panel that included Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers, along with John Franco and Billy Wagner. The AL award is named after Rivera and the NL honor after Hoffman.

A three-time All-Star, Clase was 4-2 with a 0.61 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 10 walks in 74⅓ innings, holding batters to a .154 average. The 26-year-old converted 47 of 50 save chances, including his last 47.

Voting was based on the regular season. Clase was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in the playoffs, allowing three home runs, one more than his regular-season total.

Helsley, a two-time All-Star, was 7-4 with a 2.04 ERA and 49 saves in 53 chances. He struck out 79 and walked 23 in 66⅓ innings.

Ohtani became the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. A two-way star limited to hitting following elbow surgery, Ohtani batted .310 and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs while stealing 59 bases.

Ortiz won the DH award five years in a row from 2003-07.

The DH award, named after Edgar Martinez, is picked in voting by team beat writers, broadcasters and public relations departments. MLB.com writers determined the finalists for the Aaron awards, and a fan vote was combined with picks from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners to determine the selections.

Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs while hitting .322.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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