Choi Hyung-woo, Ryu Hyun-jin, Kim Tae-gun, Koo Ja-wook..."Previous Investment" A Bright Year
Choi Hyung-woo, Ryu Hyun-jin, Kim Tae-gun, Koo Ja-wook..."Previous Investment" A Bright Year
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Clubs and players in the KBO League renew their annual salary contracts every year. With the introduction of the free agent system in 1999, multi-year contracts have become possible. Currently, more and more people sign long-term contracts with teams before becoming free agents. They are so-called "non-FA long-term contracts" or "non-FA multi-year contracts." Clubs can hold players before they enter the free agent market, and players can grab large amounts of money earlier.메이저사이트
The problem is that the results of long-term non-FA contracts were generally not good. In 2021, SSG Landers signed contracts with Park Jong-hoon, Han Yu-seom, and Moon Seung-won for 6.5 billion won, 6 billion won, and 5.5 billion won for five years, respectively, one year before the FA. Their performance over the past three years has fallen short of expectations. Park Se-woong (9 billion won for five years), a 10-win pitcher for Lotte Giants in 2021 and 22, also won only one-digit victory last year and this year. In the case of Koo Chang-mo of the NC Dinos, he signed a contract for up to 13.2 billion won for 6 (+1) years, but he joined the military after suffering from injury.
Is there any successful case for non-FA long-term contracts? This year, Choi Hyung-woo (41, Kia Tigers) and Ryu Hyun-jin (37, Hanwha Eagles) proved the value of prior investment. He has also demonstrated that long-term non-FA contracts can be successful. Choi signed a three-year contract with Kia in 2021 at a maximum of 4.7 billion won (4.1 million U.S. dollars), and continued to display stellar performance. In response, Kia signed a contract with Choi, who has one year left until the FA, at a maximum of 2.2 billion won (2.3 million dollars) for one year (+1) before this season. Choi played a batting average of 0.280 this year, 22 homers and 109 RBIs, contributing greatly to the overall championship. He also has the oldest Golden Glove.
After returning to Korea for the first time in 11 years, Ryu entered the U.S. through posting, and was not a free agent. Despite this, the Hanwha Eagles gave Ryu the highest amount ever of 17 billion won when they signed an eight-year contract. Ryu, who had difficulty adapting to the automatic ball-strike system in the early days of the season, became the only player in his team to win the double-digit victory (10 wins and eight losses). He ranks third in ERA (3.87) among Korean players.
KIA's Kim Tae-gun and Samsung's Koo Ja-wook are also good examples. Kim Tae-gun, who had signed a four-year free agent contract with NC for up to 1.3 billion won (1.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2020, was traded to Kia through Samsung. Kia signed a non-FA multi-year contract with Kim Tae-gun for three years at 2.5 billion won (2,240 dollars). Kim Tae-gun displayed strong performance in both the regular season and the Korean Series, contributing greatly to the overall championship. Koo, who signed a five-year contract with Samsung for 12 billion won (12 million dollars) just before the 2022 season, had a batting average of 0.336 last year, 11 homers, his personal best of the year, and a batting average of 0.343 and 33 homers. Samsung's prior investment in 29-year-old Koo four years ago, one year before the FA, was a huge success.