Breaking: Giants Dealt Brutal Injury Blow with Season-Ending Surgery

The San Francisco Giants received terrible injury news Friday afternoon, learning that their big off-season acquisition, Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, is done for the season.

BREAKING: Jung Hoo Lee will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum and will miss the rest of the season pic.twitter.com/boHaKNahTP

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) May 17, 2024

Lee will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum. He suffered the injury after crashing into the outfield wall earlier this week. 

The Giants made a big splash back in December, far outbidding other suitors by signing Lee to a six-year pact worth $113 million. The deal establishes a new benchmark for Korea Baseball Organization transfers, blowing away the previous richest deal by AAV awarded to an incoming KBO hitter —  a four-year, $28 million deal for Ha Seong Kim with the San Diego Padres. 

The Giants' Lee deal was immediately branded an overpay by pundits around baseball, but the team was simply happy to convince any big-name free agent, regardless of nationality, to sign with them. They had been spurned by a number of others over the past few years, including Aaron Judge at the high end, and JD Martinez this past year. 

Lee had a .340 lifetime average in Korea over seven seasons, with an .898 OPS. So far, that hasn't transferred to the big leagues, as he posted a middling .262 mark in 37 games with the Giants, with a .641 OPS. 

We'll now have to wait until 2025 to see if he can adjust better to major league pitching.