SSG Landers of the Korean pro baseball league made a pre-announcement to sign a contract with Choi Jeong (37), the “20-year one-club man” who ranks first in homers (495). The contract is unprecedented in the FA market.
SSG said on the afternoon of the 4th, “I met with Choi Jeong and talked positively. We want the player to proceed with the FA contract, so we will announce it after the contract on the 6th when the FA market opens.” In fact, with an oral agreement, SSG announced the same to fans on the club’s official SNS, saying, “Information on Choi Jeong’s FA contract.” It was news that relieved SSG fans who were worried that Choi Jeong would leave.
KBO announced the list of qualified FA players (30 people) for 2025 on the 2nd, and players must apply for approval of the exercise of FA rights by the 4th. KBO will announce the players who exercised FA rights as FA-approved players on the 5th, and official negotiations and contracts with all clubs will be possible from the 6th. SSG launched a crackdown on the “house rabbit” on the first day of the FA opening, foreshadowing the contract with Choi Jeong in advance.
Initially, SSG aimed to complete a multi-year contract with Choi Jung before the FA market opens. As Choi Jung played an age-defying performance this year, behind-the-scenes interest was unusual from the end of the season. Since it is a C-grade that does not generate compensation players, the fact that it can be recruited by giving 1.5 billion won in compensation, which is 150% of Choi Jung’s annual salary (1 billion won), played a major role.
In the second draft last winter, SSG, which suffered from strong headwinds by not putting “23-year One Club Man” Kim Kang-min on the list of protected players and causing a transfer to Hanwha, could not repeat the mistake twice. It made all-out efforts to catch Choi Jeong and came to the final stage, forming a consensus with a large contract of at least 10 billion won. It is not just a multi-year non-FA contract, but a “Official” has been postponed to the 6th for FA contracts. When Choi Jung applied for the FA, it seems that he announced the contract in advance considering his fan sentiment.
Whether it is a non-FA multi-year contract or an FA contract, the size of the contract does not seem to be different. However, it seems that Choi Jeong wanted an FA contract because of the type of contract. According to KBO regulations, down payment is only available for rookies and FA contract players. Non-FA multi-year contract players cannot receive down payment, and the total amount of salary and option is divided into training.
Players prefer a down payment that allows them to receive a large sum of money sooner even with the same contract amount. The annual salary is paid in installments over 10 months from February to November, but the down payment is based on the concept of a lump sum payment. According to Article 7 of the KBO baseball player contract, the team pays the down payment in two installments, one within 30 days after the player’s contract is approved, and the rest within 30 days after the league is terminated.
For the club, it is not a bad idea to keep Choi as an FA contract. If SSG recruits an external A-B grade FA, Choi Jeong, the FA contract player in question, will automatically become a protected player. If it is a non-FA multi-year contract, it should be included in the protected player list, but as Choi is automatically excluded from the FA contract, one more player can be protected. Of course, this is an effect that can be gained only when SSG recruits an external FA player. 토토사이트
In addition to these practical aspects, there is also an iconic part. So far, only five players in the KBO League have signed pure FA contracts three times, except for non-FA multi-year contracts, including Cho In-sung, Jung Sung-hoon, Lee Jin-young, Park Yong-taek, and Kang Min-ho. Choi Jung will set the record for the highest amount ever in the third FA contract beyond Kang Min-ho, who signed a four-year, 3.6 billion won contract with Samsung in December 2021. It is highly likely that it will be a record that no one can beat in the future.
In November 2014, Choi renewed his contract with SK for the highest amount ever recorded at that time at 8.6 billion won for four years. In December 2018, Choi also stayed with SK for six years at 10.6 billion won for the second free agent. He broke the framework of his four-year contract at the time, and made headlines with his six-year, long-term contract. Choi, who earned 19.2 billion won (10.2 million U.S. dollars) through the third free agent contract, which will be announced on Friday, will surely surpass Yang Eui-ji (27.7 billion won (25.6 million dollars) of Doosan Bears as the accumulated amount of free agent.
