Lotte Giants' new dark number. This is a list of the regular season rankings over the past seven years, also known as "password." What should we do with these 17 billion FA's total increase in Lotte's dark number.먹튀검증
Breaking away from the dark ages that had remained at the bottom of the list in the past, Lotte has performed in fall baseball several times since the 2010s. However, he has never experienced fall baseball in the last seven seasons since he entered the playoffs by ranking third in the regular season in 2017.
In fact, Lotte hovered at the bottom of the list, ranking 7th in 2018, 10th in 2019, 7th in 2020, 8th in 2021, 8th in 2022, 7th in 2023 and 7th in 2024, respectively. The largest ranking was 7th, and there was no season that produced such performance that it finished at the bottom once.
It was a highly anticipated season as he appointed Kim Tae-hyung, who once led Doosan Bears to numerous fall baseball games. However, Kim Tae-hyung, who also led Doosan to the Korean Series for the seventh consecutive year, also failed to advance to the seventh place after taking the helm of Lotte.
It has no choice but to be a result theory, but again, it is pointed out what Lotte's problem is.
The problem that stands out externally is the sluggishness of the three external FA players.
Outside FA players Yoo Kang-nam, Han Hyun-hee and Roh Jin-hyuk, who Lotte brought with a large ransom, have been sluggish side by side until this season, shocking the team greatly.
At the end of the 2022 season, Lotte brought Yoo Kang-nam on the condition of up to 8 billion won for four years, Roh Jin-hyuk on the condition of up to 5 billion won for four years, and Han Hyun-hee on the condition of a total of 4 billion won for three plus one year. They have poured a whopping 17 billion won into them.
However, the three continued their disastrous performances side by side at the level of FA eating and running for the second year.
First, Yoo Kang-nam, who had a batting average of 0.261/92 hits/10 home runs/55 RBIs in 121 games in 2023, only hit 0.191/26/5 home runs/20 RBIs in 52 games this season, and was of little help to the team as he finished the season early due to a knee injury.
The bigger problem is that Yoo Kang-nam's rehabilitation period alone takes seven months for his left knee meniscus cartilage suture surgery, which he received in July. He needs to undergo rehabilitation at least until February next year. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to join the camp in perfect condition at the beginning of the regular season or the normal season.
Roh also failed to be of help to the team for two years. Roh, who was the center infielder who showed the best offense in the league in 2022, also recorded a batting average of only 0.219, playing 157 at-bats in 73 games this season since his performance plummeted to 0.257/4 home runs/51 RBIs in 2023, after his transfer to Lotte.
In fact, it was hard to use him as a starting player in the game. Not only that, but Roh also showed disappointment in defense this season by playing a small number of defense innings and committing as many as eight errors.
Han Hyun-hee's situation is better compared to these two, but it is not what she expected at the time of recruitment. In 2023, the first year of Lotte's joining, Han Hyun-hee played 104 innings between starting and relief, recording 6 wins, 12 losses and 3 holds with an ERA of 5.45.
And this year, Han Hyun-hee concentrated almost as a reliever, pitching 76.1 innings in 57 games, posting 5 wins, 3 losses and 8 holds with a 5.19 ERA. It's not that he didn't contribute to the team, but he certainly didn't do his part in the aftermath of the collapse of Lotte's relievers. He had to contribute to the team in the form of a long man who played a lot of innings, at least for sure, or as a sure-fire native starter, but he couldn't do anything and it was ambiguous.
Of course, Han Hyun-hee is a better case compared to Yoo Kang-nam and Roh Jin-hyuk, who did not play many games due to frequent injuries and failed competition for the main player for two seasons. Nevertheless, while the Lotte mound was struggling this season, Han Hyun-hee made a difficult performance to say that he played a big role as a player with a large FA price.
As a result, over the past two seasons, Lotte did not enjoy any definite recruitment effect through the three external FA. The problem is that the burden on them for high-priced pieces will continue for at least two more seasons. As the three players receive a down payment when signing an FA contract, they have chosen to receive a small salary for the two seasons after the transfer and collect the remaining salary for the three to four seasons.
Although it varies depending on the details and duration of each contract, it means that Lotte will have to pay Yoo Kang-nam, Roh Jin-hyuk and Han Hyun-hee for the remaining two or one season. In conclusion, Lotte has not made proper investment since it caught these three FA.
The only contract is to hold Jeon Joon-woo for up to 4.7 billion won for four years last year, and to hold the house rabbit by signing bullpen must-win duo Kim Won-joong (up to 5.4 billion won for four years) and Koo Seung-min (up to 2.1 billion won for two plus two years). In fact, according to the total amount of the top 40 players' annual salary for each club recently announced by KBO, Lotte has 11.15 billion won, almost close to the competitive balance tax (11.426.38 billion won).
This means that the three players will have to pay more next year. Even if Han's option one-year contract is not triggered, he should guarantee at least Yoo Kang-nam and Roh Jin-hyuk a higher salary than in the two seasons before 2026. Han's annual salary next year is also 1 billion won, up from 300 million won this year.
In the end, the trio of FA eat and run are holding back, hindering not only the current but also Lotte's future growth. If they continue to look the same as the last two seasons. This is why these three must rebound for the rest of the contract.