Lotte and Doosan Eager for Foreign Sluggers, Jose and Woods

They are like hot potatoes - too hot to eat but looking too delicious to let go…

37-year-old Dominican Felix Jose and 33-year-old American Tiron Woods are considered the best of kind among mercenaries that have ever played in the Korean basketball league. Lotte Giants and Dusan Bears, therefore, are so eager to have them stay, but it remains to be seen whether fans will be able to see them again.

Giants, after having tough times trailed throughout the season, now hope to have Jose for next year. He is a slugger who led the team to the post season in 1999 hitting 36 homers and scoring 122 runs with a.327 batting average. He was the hero in Busan where that year Giants defeated Samsung in the fifth game of the playoff with a dramatic victory. His three-run homer led the team to the finals.

Even when the team was struggling during the season last year, Jose did his bit hitting 36 homers and hitting a .335 average. Giants, therefore, contacted Jose’s agent as soon as the season ended this year, and agreed on terms of a new contract.

The key to his stay in Korea, however, lies in the hand of the Korea Baseball Organization. The organization earlier limited negotiations with him after finding out that he signed a contract with Montreal Expos in American League despite the existing contract with Giants.

For Jose to continue playing in Korea, the sanctions must be lifted by the president of KBO, which is still seeing him as a problematic player showing no respect to Korean baseball.

˝For the sake of both the team and fans, we need Jose,˝ Giants are asking the organization to soften its stance. ˝We still think Jose deserves a kick-out given his disrespectful manners, but it’s hard to turn a blind eye to the embattled team,˝ said an official from a KBO official.

The organization plans to soon hold an executive meeting to make a final decision on this issue. Jose, who once played for Montreal Expos and Arizona Diamondbacks in American league, is currently playing in Dominican league.

Woods, the first foreign player ever winning three MVP titles - the best all-star player, Korean series player and season player, is in discord with Bears on the renewal of his contract. He is pushing his way into Japanese league, after saying he would no longer play in Korea unless the team treats him duly as one of the top players.

The team, however, recently notified Woods currently staying in the U.S. of freezing his salary for next year. He was paid $231,000 in annual salary with a $100,000 option this year.

˝We asked him to clear his position until the Nov. 30 deadline so that we can look for another foreign player. Yet, we think that he is being bluffing and not serious about leaving Korea,˝ an official at Bears said.

Woods is the only mercenary who played five consecutive seasons in Korea since it began to hire foreign players. This year was a disappointing season for the slugger, however, with 25 homers, 82 runs and a .256 average batting.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com