Choi Hee-seop May Come Back Home

Baseball fans are wondering whether “Big Choi” Choi Hee-seop will come back to the Korean League.

On March 23, Tampa Bay announced first baseman Choi and catcher Yamid Haad would be sent to the minor leagues. Choi, who signed a two-year split contract with Tampa Bay for up to 1.95 million dollars at the beginning of this year, joined the major league spring camp as a guest player and hit .158 and scored 2 runs in 12 exhibition games.

His contract expires in 2008, but he can be a free agent and come back to Korea if he wants. Kia owns the rights to Choi, who came out of Gwangju Jeil High School.

On the other hand, Lotte made a deal with Song Seung-joon for a yearly stipend of 0.1 billion won in addition to an unrevealed option based on his performance.

Song signed a 0.9 million-dollar deal with Boston when he graduated from Gyeongnam High in 1999 and was traded to Montreal (currently Washington) and San Francisco. He went to Kansas City last year. His minor league record is 56-42 in 166 games with an ERA of 3.50.

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