Will Lotte Giants, who have recently been actively recruiting players, turn to the release market to find a “second Kim Sang-soo”.
Lotte has enjoyed a lot of fun thanks to its recent recruitment of players who were released from the SSG after the 2022 season, and has become a must-winner by joining from the 2023 season. 온라인카지노
Kim Sang-soo, who had one save and an ERA of 9.00 without losing or losing in only eight games in the first team at SSG in 2022, was notified of his release after the season. Lotte reached out to Kim Sang-soo, who was 34 years old at the time. Lotte, which had the highest ERA in the bullpen in the 2022 season with 4.79, sought to strengthen its bullpen by recruiting veteran pitcher Kim Sang-soo.
The results were very successful. Kim appeared in 67 games in 2023, and made a perfect comeback with four wins, two losses and one save, 18 holds, and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.12. He played a must-win role in front of closing pitcher Kim Won-joong and setup man Koo Seung-min. He played in the most games in his team, recording the most holds after Koo Seung-min (22 holds).
This year was a bit of a bummer compared to last year. Kim Sang-soo, who had a good start by allowing no runs in his first six games of this season, started to falter from mid-April. Kim Sang-soo, who risked consecutive throws and digesting multiple innings to fill the gap caused by Choi Jun-yong, who had good performance in the bullpen last year, even joined the second division in July due to his fatigue accumulation, but pitched in 74 games and played his part in 73 ⅔ innings with eight wins, four losses, two saves and 17 holds with an ERA of 4.15.
Lotte successfully secured Kim Won-joong (a total of 5.4 billion won (4.1 million U.S. dollars) and Koo Seung-min (a maximum of 2.1 billion won (2.3 million dollars) (2+2 years) who applied for free agency in this market, but failed to completely resolve the bullpen issue. We cannot be certain that Choi Joon-yong, a must-winner last year, and Jeon Mir, a rookie who stood out this year, will show the same performance as before even when he returns from injury. Kim Sang-soo, who will turn 37 next year, is also uncertain about his continued performance. However, Park Jin-do, who recorded an ERA of 4.38 in 38 games, is the only comforting factor for Lotte’s bullpen.
Lotte, which spent a considerable amount of money on the contract with the “Koo/One Duo,” is likely to turn to the market for released players, which has less risk than recruiting FA, which has to pay compensation to its original team to reinforce bullpen resources. Except for the players currently released by Lotte, Yun Ho-sol (30), Ko Hyo-joon (41), Shim Chang-min (31), Park Min-ho (32), and Jang Pil-joon (36) can make free contracts as released players. The probability is not high, but if successful, it is likely to help the team strengthen its power in the short term.
Attention is focusing on whether Lotte will be able to find a “second Kim Sang-soo” by turning its attention to the recruitment of risk-free release players in the stove league.
