Lee Seung-Yeop to play in Daegu again.

Lee Seung-Yeop, who most fans of Major League Baseball have probably never heard of but who is a household sports name in Korea and Japan, will return to his first base role after several seasons with Japan's Yomiuri Giants. Although he never played in the US, it was his at choosing, turning down a contract from the LA Dodgers and later the NY Yankees to play for Yomiuri.

As a side note, the Yomiuri Giants are the NY Yankees of the Japanese professional leagues. They benefit greatly from Japan's lack of a salary cap but have also managed to create several powerhouse teams and have put together over 30 championships since 1934. You'll also notice that virtually no Japanese player in MLB started with Yomiuri. Ichiro Suzuki, Daiske Matsuzaka, Hideki Matsui, Kosuke Fukudome etc. all came from teams like Chiba and Orix. This is because Yomiuri can pay at or close to major league salaries and can guarantee championships. Some commentators (mostly in Japan) have suggested that if one Japanese team could compete in MLB seriously it would be Yomiuri.

Anyway, at 35 he's a bit past his prime but in the smaller Korean parks (esp in Daegu) I have no doubt he'll be a powerhouse. He already holds the single season record for home runs in the Korean Baseball Organization at 56 (and he didn't even use steriods!) set in 2003. Anyway, with Park Chan Ho already back it could make Korean baseball fairly interesting this season.