this is a SHOCKING development...

A recent report indicates that a move of the global face of the San Francisco Giants is no longer off the table as we head towards this year's trade deadline. What this means for Buster Posey and the future of the Giants organization, we will break down here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel, I'm your host Michael Montreal, and if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest, we're excited you found your way back to the channel. Now before we get into today's topic, let me know down in the comments who you want to see traded away at this year's trade deadline. This video is also brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is America's number one sports pick app and the best way to get in on the action. We'll dive into some crazy picks later and some of the awesome promotions that they're running. Make sure to go down below, use the link in the description and download PrizePix today. Using code Digest, it is one of the best ways to support the channel and really does help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So thank you guys for checking out PrizePix and thank you to PrizePix for sponsoring today's video. Now obviously, it is that time of year. Last year, we saw the Giants become sellers at the deadline for the first time in quite some time. And this year, it has never been more obvious for this team to become sellers. They've been arguably the most obvious sellers in all of baseball this season. And now we're getting rumors, reports with the trade deadline less than two weeks away. And I'm sure that that is what we'll be covering for the most part over these next two weeks is who could be dealt? What's the Giants plan heading into the deadline? A report from Bob Nightingale, who has been covering the Giants a lot more closely this season. I'm not sure if that's because of Tony Vitello's inaugural season as a big league manager or whatever it may be, but we got indication that Jung-Hoo Lee is a face who could be on the move for the San Francisco Giants. Now this was coming off of the SF Giants Digest Twitter account, which if you haven't yet, make sure to go follow that. Put out Bob Nightingale on this year's deadline. They're all ears too. Now, obviously, before he mentions Jung-Hoo Lee, he talks about the usual candidates to be dealt at this year's deadline, like a Luis Suarez, like a Robby Ray. Those two are for sure getting moved. He also mentions the three big money guys that the Giants would love to get out of the money from Matt Chapman, Rafael Devers, Willie Damas, if that's even possible at this point. But this is the first time that we've gotten real indication that there have been conversations about a move surrounding Jung-Hoo Lee. Now, I want to hear what you guys think in the comments if you think this is a move that makes a lot of sense for the Giants, and I'll give you my quick piece about it. I don't think this happens. I don't think this makes sense for the Giants, and not because of a baseball move, not because of a trying to win in the future move, but because of the financial aspect of this. One thing that a lot of fans don't bring into consideration is how much money Jung-Hoo Lee brings into this organization. Now, he's an expensive player for what he's provided, but he also brings the Giants a ton of money in terms of the global view of baseball. He brings a lot of money in from the Asian market, the Korean market, of course, and this is the global face of the San Francisco Giants. I would argue he's the most marketable player on the roster currently, and you look at the Jung-Hoo crew that's out in right field, center field at a lot of games this season. You look at the jerseys that you see walking around the ballpark at this day and age. It's a lot of Jung-Hoo Lee jerseys. I'd argue that you see more Jung-Hoo Lee jerseys than anyone on the Giants roster if you were to go to a random game at Oracle Park this season. For that reason, I don't see this happening, but you never know if the Giants are absolutely blown away by what someone offers for Jung-Hoo Lee, then yeah, of course you consider it to better the future of this organization, but for those financial reasons, I don't necessarily see this happening, but I do want to get into what Jung-Hoo Lee has shown in his MLB seasons, and this is his first, you know, real breakout season, I would argue, in Major League Baseball. Now, of course, the first two seasons, nothing too crazy, obviously didn't play a lot in 2024 thanks to the shoulder surgery, but last year was his first full season in the league. He slashed 266-327-407, good for a 107-WRC+, 2.4 wins above replacement, and this year the offense has been significantly better. He's hitting over 300, and he has been pretty comfortably over 300 for the first three months of the season, a 303-335-426 slash line, which is good for a 111-WRC+. There still hasn't been a ton of power, only five home runs, and I'd assume he finishes around that 8-10 mark, which is basically what he posted last season, but he's striking out less than 10% of the time at 9.9. He is not walking whatsoever, that's kind of been the Giants' biggest problem this season in terms of offense, is that they have the lowest walk rate in Major League Baseball by a pretty comfortable margin, so you don't love seeing that, but outside of that, Jung Ho Lee has been kind of exactly what you expected coming over from the KBO for the first time this season, and he looks like a well above average big league bat at this day and age. Now, I know he's slowed down a little bit over the last month or so, but what he showed for that two-month stretch between May and June, whatever it may have been exactly, he looked like one of the best pure hitters in all of Major League Baseball and had no issue facing big league caliber arms, which is something that was a real question when he came over from KBO. Now, looking at his contract, he is owed a good chunk of money over the next few seasons. Now, this year he's making $23.25 million, next year he'll make the same. There isn't opt-out after the 2027 year, which I think a lot of people tend to forget about because when you think of Jung Ho Lee, you think of, oh, he got a six-year deal a few seasons ago, but there actually isn't opt-out after next year, and if he were to opt in with the Giants, it'd be $20.5 million, and obviously if someone were to deal for him at this year's deadline, whatever it may end up happening, they would be on the hook for another $20.5 million in 2028 and 2029, and he will not be a free agent until 2030, but there is a lot to like about Jung Ho Lee as a player. I mentioned he hits for high average, he hits comfortably above 300, he'll run into a few home runs, a lot of doubles, a lot of triples, but I don't know if he's necessarily worth this money, but he is extremely young as well. A lot of people forget that he's only 27 years old, he came over to Major League Baseball at the ripe age of 25 years old, which you don't necessarily see a lot of guys coming over from Asia, so that is another piece of the puzzle when you think about what teams may like in potentially signing up for Jung Ho Lee. Now, you look at this contract and this money, you'd have to think, okay, the offense is good, it's not necessarily worth $23.2 million, so he must be a good defender, right? And that has not necessarily been the case in Major League Baseball. Now, this is his first season in right field, and it has been slightly better than what he's posted in center field. This year, negative six defensive runs saved in right field, negative two outs above average, and a negative four fielding run value. That's actually right around the same fielding run value he posted last year in center field, which was at negative two, but the defensive runs saved in center field were absolutely abysmal at negative 18, one of the worst defenders in baseball in center field in terms of just pure metrics and how he graded out. But I think the eye test is a lot better with Jung Ho Lee, not kind of kicking balls around like we saw with Jung Ho Lee last year, or excuse me, with Elliot Ramos last year, where it was so obvious he was a below average defender. I think the eye test with Jung Ho Lee is a little bit better. He does have a strong arm, which helps his case in right field. We've seen him gun down a few guys this year, which, as I mentioned, does help his case in terms of grading out value-wise, but not the best defender in terms of outfield defense from Jung Ho Lee, which is a little bit underwhelming considering how athletic he is and having the nickname grandson of the wind. I think you kind of expect him to be an above average defender on that side of things. Now, I did mention we'd get into some specific picks from prize picks in today's video. Today, the Mets take on the Brewers, and Jacob Mizorowski, one of the best young arms in baseball, is taking them out. You can go more or less six and a half strikeouts for him today. Obviously, he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, rocking up strikeouts, so if you like that, you can check that pick out. There are a ton of Major League Baseball picks. All of the other sports, there were a ton of World Cup picks recently. Of course, that is over now, but you can check out all of those picks on prize picks today. Prize picks also have some really great promotions going on, including Taco Tuesday, which would be tomorrow. The tacos are going nowhere. Our board is serving up discounted projections on Tuesday all day long. Once again, use the link in the description to download prize picks today and use code digest to get started. New users get $50 instantly in their lineup, so I'm playing your first $5, and as I've mentioned in the past, it really helps the channel continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube, so thank you guys for checking out prize picks. Now, to close out today's video, obviously this is an intriguing conversation because Jung-Koo Lee, as I mentioned, is one of the most familiar faces on the Giants, and when he's going right, he is one of the best pure hitters in all of Major League Baseball. But how bad has this Giants team been this year? Comfortably below .500 for the majority of the year. Went into the All-Star break 14 games below .500. You have to think about the future, and potentially dealing Jung-Koo Lee is something that could better the future of this franchise. You need pitching close to the big leagues. You need a few of those at this year's deadline, and if Jung-Koo Lee can net you some talented ones, you heavily have to consider that. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments if you want to see Jung-Koo Lee dealt at this deadline, or you think Buster Posey and the Giants should hold on to him past this year's trade deadline. Let me know in the comments, and if you enjoyed today's video, make sure to go down below and hit that subscribe button. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everyone over at Digest Media. As always, thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.