Blue Jays may have to decide on Ha Seong-Kim before they’re ready

While the offseason market has been moving slowly, the Blue Jays do have some urgency to deal with soon when it comes to their interest in Ha-Seong Kim.

It’s starting to look like maybe Ross Atkins won’t deliver Blue Jays fans a Christmas present this year, at least not in time to beat Santa’s arrival anyway.

Things have moved especially slowly with this year’s free agent market, and the big ticket items like George Springer, Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto, DJ LeMahieu, and many more remain on the shelf. From the sound of things it hasn’t been for a lack of trying from the Blue Jays’ front office, but the movement just hasn’t started yet. Sometimes you have to be patient with these things, especially in pursuit of true impact players.

That said, the Blue Jays are going to have a decision to make soon whether they like it or not.

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That’s because one of the available players they’ve shown interest in is Korean star infielder, Ha-Seong Kim. The 25-year-old has been a star throughout his young career in Korea, hitting for average, power, and providing speed on the base paths. His former team, the Kiwoom Heroes, have made him available this winter and the Blue Jays aren’t the only MLB team rumoured to have shown interest.

It’s not the threat of another team swooping in that’s bearing down on the Blue Jays, although that’s a relevant factor as well. Rather, when a player is posted for this process, there’s a 30 day deadline for them to sign. In Kim’s case, that deadline is coming on Jan 1st, and the Blue Jays will likely have to make a decision about him before they’re fully ready.

Of course, that’s because they still don’t know if they could end up with someone like LeMahieu, which would fill their vacant infield position and likely take care of their interest in Kim. It’s also possible that Ross Atkins and company still have their eyes on Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor, which again would strengthen their infield and leave little room for another starting calibre player like Kim.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve always viewed the Blue Jays’ rumoured interest in Kim as a back-up plan of sorts. He profiles as a great asset with the group they’ve already assembled, however, it’s always tough to predict how players from overseas will adjust to life and baseball in North America. Look no further than to Shun Yamaguchi’s early season struggles in 2020 as proof of what I’m talking about. Signing Kim could pay off in a big way and turn out to be a savvy decision, or perhaps he ends up as an expensive utility man.

Either way, the Blue Jays have less than a week to either get something done with one of their other infield targets, or they’ll have to decide if they want to gamble on Kim’s MLB future rather than see his posting expire. Maybe he’ll sign somewhere else before and take the decision out of their hands, but for now the clock is ticking for the Blue Jays with at least one decision.