“I feel sorry for the coach, but I couldn’t break the team’s principles.”
LG Twins manager Yeom Kyung-yeop mentioned veteran relief pitcher Kim Jin-sung ahead of the first game of the three consecutive games during the week against the Lotte Giants in the “2024 Shinhan SOL Bank 노래방알바 KBO League” at Sajik Stadium on the 23rd.
Kim Jin-sung expressed strong dissatisfaction with the club on his personal SNS a day earlier (22nd) by posting, “I was XX who devoted myself to my body.” The club and manager Yeom decided that Kim Jin-sung’s actions were against the club’s rules and ordered the relegation of the Futures League along with his own disciplinary action.
The decision was made after agonizing over and over again. Kim was the core of LG’s bullpen. This year’s record was one win, two losses and 19 holds, one save and 44 innings of ERA, recording the largest number of holds in games played in the team. Kim’s absence soon led to his team’s weakness. Notably, the LG bullpen, which has become looser than last year’s when the team won the overall title, hurt Yeom’s head several times during this season. Currently, there are also injured players including Ham Deok-joo and Park Myung-geun. Kim’s departure, which can be trusted under any circumstances, was a huge loss to his team.
Nevertheless, Yeom boldly excluded Kim Jin-seong from the first team. He thought of Team LG first. Of course, he tried to deal with the situation. For this reason, he did not exclude himself from the entry list for the first team on Tuesday, but only waited one more day before removing him from the list on Sunday. We had an interview, but due to differences of opinion, the coach had to make a bold decision.
Manager Yeom said, “(Kim) Jin-seong let him go despite his disappointment. It is true that he caused certain problems in terms of team chemistry and principles. The team, the coaches and the team all agreed and decided that it is appropriate to proceed according to the principles, and sent him to the second division. I hope Jin-seong understands this part. All baseball players play baseball with the same mindset. And we need to quickly understand that our team, our fans, and our team do our best to win. It was regrettable as a manager, but I made the decision because I could not violate the principles of the team. The timing of the call-up has not been decided yet. The most important thing is to solve the problem yourself.”
“He must have posted such a message because he had his own disappointment to the club, the coach, and the team. However, professional baseball players are eventually rewarded with money and honor for their disappointment. If you think of it as a sacrifice, you should change your mind as a professional baseball player,” he said. “I thought it was a priority to deal with the manager’s position rather than reprimand. I tried to deal with it well, but there was a difference of opinion, and I had no choice but to take measures according to the team’s principles.”
It was a game in which Kim Jin-sung’s absence was revealed with a cool head. Baek Seung-hyun, who Yeom took as a substitute for Kim Jin-sung, was shaken and caused a crisis on his own. Fortunately, the changed pitcher Kim Yoo-young did not lose a point while extinguishing the fire, but LG, which lost a reliable relief pitcher, has no choice but to operate in a unstable manner in the second half of the game. This is a fatal departure for LG, which is seeking to take the lead.
Nevertheless, it is certain that coach Yeom and LG are pursuing it. In order to reach the top of the Korean Series for the second consecutive year, they need a one-team and a stronger team that values the team over individuals. Attention is focusing on how much this choice for Team LG will unite the team.
