“It’s better to receive money.”
Lotte invested heavily by recruiting free agents by filling up the maximum recruitment limit of three in the free agency market this year. Yoo Kang-nam (4 years, 8 billion won), Roh Jin-hyuk (4 years, 5 billion won), and Han Hyun-hee (3+1 years, up to 4 billion won) were brought in to fill the missing elements of the team.
In the past, there was a time when Lotte was making wide strides while stirring up the FA market. However, the clubs who lost their FA players were not alone in their worries. Aside from the existing power outflow, they had to suffer from the headache of selecting compensation players based on compensation regulations. Most clubs try to select a compensation player from among promising players to fill the spot with future resources even if a player leaves the free agency. Even veteran players with immediate power were selected from time to time, but the trend was a promising reward player.
However, the teams facing Lotte were different. Lotte in the past did not have a very good pool of prospects. Even if he was a promising player in the team, he was not at a competitive level compared to other clubs. After receiving the list of protected players, officials from other clubs could not help but sigh. The ground-breaking complaint that “money is better” also indicated Lotte’s bleak future.
It is easy to see if you look at Lotte’s FA transfer compensation players in the past. In 2009, when he moved to Doosan as Hong Seong-heun’s FA compensation player, infield prospect Lee Won-seok was the most successful compensation player from Lotte.
After that, veterans or compensation was the opposite. When Yoon Gil-hyun transferred to free agency in 2016, SK (now SSG) chose veteran pitcher Kim Seung-hoe. He was only 35 at the time. The compensation for Son Seung-rak, who transferred with Yoon Gil-hyun, was compensation. At that time, Nexen (currently Kiwoom) received 1.59 billion won, 300% of Son Seung-rak’s annual salary of 530 million won in the previous year, as compensation instead of a compensation player. In 2018, when Min Byung-hun was a free agent, Doosan selected Baek Min-ki, a 28-year-old outfield prospect. Baek Min-ki is currently retired.
But now the player base has solidified. Things have changed. Recently, while hovering in the lower ranks, he also steadily collected prospects. It is time for the club to show their achievements by promising players who have been cherished and developed into first-team resources. The time has come when each and every player is a waste. In the end, Lotte suffered a lot of bleeding during this FA process. Yoo Kang-nam’s reward player is Kim Yoo-young (29), a left-handed pitcher who was firstly nominated, Noh Jin-hyuk’s reward player is catcher An Joong-yeol (28), and Han Hyun-hee’s reward player announced on the 20th is Lee Kang-joon (22), a fastball sidearm prospect. got a choice 먹튀검증
As soon as Kiwoom received the list of compensation players, he immediately chose Lee Kang-jun. Among Lotte’s promising resources, there was a player he had his eye on, and that player was Lee Kang-jun.
Koh Hyung-wook, general manager of Kiwoom, welcomed the nomination of Lee Kang-joon, saying, “It took less than an hour to decide the FA compensation player.” “When Han Hyun-hee signed a free agent contract, he had selected a list of players he wanted in advance. I was thinking of appointing these players when they came out, but when I received the list, it was easy to decide because this player was out of the list of protected players.”
“He is a pitcher who has been watching pitching since high school. His fast ball is basic and his movement is great. Han Hyeon-hee has a fast ball but a neat ball, while Lee Kang-jun has a fast ball and great movement. Moreover, if he throws 100 pitches, all 100 pitches do not change his velocity. He is a pitcher with good stamina. In the future, he is a promising player who can grow as a starting pitcher,” said Lee Kang-jun highly.
Now, everyone agrees that Lotte’s promising team has become solid. Things are different from before. There was a time when free agents were recruited without worrying about compensation players, but now we have to consider both compensation players and future development. And at the time when these worries are less, the evaluation is high that this winter is the last time. As such, Lotte’s promising resources are highly likely to develop infinitely in the future.