“Lotte is doing nothing.” Lotte Giants’ ‘Legend’ Lee Dae-ho expressed his thoughts on Lotte, which has not won in 32 years.
Lee recently attended the event as a lecturer on the “Knowledge + Knowledge of Broadcasting University” channel on YouTube. In the video clip released on YouTube, Lee said, “Lotte has not won since 1992. Given that he is not a player after retirement but a fan of Lotte, what do you think is the reason why Lotte cannot win the championship?” He smiled first.
Lotte has not won a championship for 32 years since its victory in 1992. Lee Dae-ho also took off his uniform without winning a championship. After advancing to the postseason by ranking third in the regular season in 2017, Lotte ranked seventh in 2018 and the bottom in 2019. Since then, the team has fluctuated between seventh and eighth places for five years. This year, it also ranked seventh with 66 wins, four draws and 74 losses overall.
Lee was at a loss as to whether to say honestly or not, but soon replied that it was an investment. “I feel like I lost a good player who really dedicated himself and worked hard in the team and spent a different amount of money belatedly. It would be good to catch a good player with a good amount of money, but I think I caught a player who was a little bit inferior to me,” Lee said.
“If you’re going to catch him, you’re going to catch the best player in the league, and if you’re going to spend money, you’re going to have to pay a lot of foreign players to bring good players, but you always bring them cheaply so you want them to do well and if you can’t, you change them again. I think it’s better to spend it than that.”
At the same time, he mentioned the transfer of Kang Min-ho and Son Ah-seop, who were Lotte’s franchise stars. Kang Min-ho transferred to the Samsung Lions for a four-year total of 8 billion won in 2018, his second free agent. Son Ah-seop wore a uniform for the “Nakdong River rival” NC Dinos for a four-year total of 6.4 billion won in 2021. Both players were franchise stars with strong Lotte colors, so fans were shocked and despondent.
“We talked about this in other lectures, but we should not take away Kang Min-ho and Son Ah-seop,” Lee said. “Once Kang Min-ho joined the team, Lotte went into a dark period for several years without a catcher. As well as A-seop, I retired as well. When can we raise the players below us to win? Other teams bring good players and the players below us grow up to win. It doesn’t work for fans who want to raise them.”
“Even if I look at the 스포츠토토 Major League Baseball right now or the LA Dodgers who won the championship, they spend astronomical amounts of money and bring good players. When a good player comes out as an FA, I have to spend more money than others to bring him in, and I have to crack down on good players so that they don’t get out of the way, and I have to quickly find out about foreign players and make up my mind, but I think it’s always a little late. It’s too bad,” he said.
Lee pointed out that Lotte remains complacent. “Other teams are ready for next year, and we are recruiting good players. Lotte is not doing anything. We came in seventh this year, but nothing has been reinforced,” Lee said.
He continued, “Other teams are reinforcing to win the championship, but I only want the players to do well. As much as the player tries, as much as the fans want, the club should make it. Obviously, Lotte also spends a lot of money and invests a lot, but it doesn’t do it when it’s time to do it. I think that’s a little disappointing.”
