We learned last week that the New York Yankees had not forgotten about the time Jon Heyman reported that “Arson Judge” was signing with the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants haven’t forgotten that fiasco either.
While they missed out on the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes, the Giants signed Korean centerfielder Jung Hoo Lee on a six-year, $113 million contract Tuesday night.
As he often does, New York Post baseball reporter Jon Heyman was first with the scoop.
Jung Hoo Lee to Giants. 6 years, $113M. opt out after 4 years.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 12, 2023
This time, at least, he didn’t misspell the names of any players or teams, which is also something he often does. Along with “Arson Judge,” who can forget the time Rich Hill and Ji-Man Choi signed with the “Oasres?” And if you really go back in time you might remember a rather unfortunate hashtag error that Heyman didn’t notice before hitting send.
Farhan Zaidi, the Giants president of baseball operations, spoke with reporters Tuesday regarding Lee’s signing. When asked about Heyman’s report, Zaidi offered up a zinger he’s probably been holding onto longer than he would admit.
“Jon Heyman? I’ll say this, he’s got a better chance of being accurate if he actually spelled the guy’s name correctly,” Zaidi said, per The Athletic’s Andrew Baggerly.
Farhan Zaidi, asked about @JonHeyman report that Giants are in agreement with Jung Hoo Lee: "Jon Heyman? I'll say this, he's got a better chance of being accurate if he actually spelled the guy's name correctly."
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 13, 2023
Got’em.
Zaidi might have felt extra spicy because of a column Heyman penned earlier in the week, saying that had Shohei Ohtani signed with the Toronto Blue Jays instead of the Los Angeles Dodgers, it would have been “bad for baseball” because Toronto, while beautiful, has a “small-town feel,” implying locals don’t care about baseball enough to deserve a player of his caliber. Zaidi was born in Ontario, not too far from Toronto.
Last week, the Yankees marked their trade for Juan Soto on the first anniversary of Heyman’s “Arson Judge” tweet by announcing they’d acquired “Jon Soto.”
[Andrew Baggerly, Image via Foul Territory]
