Wrinkle in Jung Hoo Lee's contract is sneaking up on the SF Giants

SF Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is coming off his first full MLB season after his 2024 campaign was shortened due to an injury. The Giants are quickly approaching his player option which will come into play after the 2027 season.

The Giants signed Lee to a six-year, $113 million contract in December of 2023. Lee has the choice to opt out of the contract after the fourth year of the deal, but if he opts in he will get $20.5 million in both 2028 and 2029.

Jung Hoo Lee's contract wrinkle is sneaking up on SF Giants

As of right now, it is difficult to predict what Lee will do with that option. If he delivers two more years like he performed in 2025, then it is hard to imagine him making more than $20.5 million per year if he were to test the market. But if he takes a big step forward in these next two seasons, it could be a different story.

Lee was not terrible in 2025 by any means. His overall slash line of .266/.327/.407 with eight homers and 55 runs batted in across 150 games is decent, but not exactly what the Giants were hoping for.

He got off to a hot start and had a .319 batting average at the end of April, but his numbers fell off in the summer and his batting average was .240 by the end of June.

Lee picked things up again by the end of the year with a hot September and his offense really mirrored how the team fared as a whole with the Giants playing well in the first few months of the year before falling off in the summer and then getting hot for a bit towards the end.

Still, the fact that Lee lost the leadoff spot in the order for a good chunk of the year was discouraging. The Giants brought him in to be that consistent presence at the top of the order but it seems he did not take to that role.

It is important to remember that 2025 was in many ways Lee's true rookie campaign because he injured his shoulder just 37 games into the 2024 season and missed the rest of the year.

He is still adjusting to the big leagues so perhaps 2026 will be the year that he takes that next step and becomes the type of player the Giants hoped they were getting when they signed him to that big contract. If not, then they may be stuck with him longer than they would like.