Successful FA 1.5 billion contract 10 years after selecting a compensation player. The birth of a second Lee Won-seok. Who is the third reward myth?
Dec 21, 2024
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However, there are not many successful cases in selecting prospects who are excluded from the protected players. It's really rare to leap to the starting lineup and play as the mainstay of the team and sign an FA contract, which is the dream of a professional player.
The representative FA reward myth is Lee Won-seok. After the 2008 season, when FA Hong Sung-heon moved to Lotte, Doosan chose infielder Lee Won-seok, contrary to expectations that it would pick a pitcher, a necessary position at the time. Doosan explained that it picked the best player from the compensation list.
And Doosan's choice was not wrong. In Doosan's infield, which is said to be hard, Lee Won-seok played a key role, became an FA after the 2016 season, signing a four-year contract with the Samsung Lions for a total of 2.7 billion won, and signing the highest FA contract for compensation players. Four years later, after the 2020 season, he became an FA, successfully signed another contract with Samsung for up to 2 billion won for 2+1 years, moved to Kiwoom in a trade in April last year, and signed a non-FA multi-year contract for up to 1 billion won for 2+1 years in June of that year.
Since then, many teams have left FA players and recruited prospects dreaming of becoming the second Lee Won-seok, but the results have not been good.
Finally, Lee Won-seok's reward player Shinhwa came out. It is Lim Ki-young of the KIA Tigers.
After the 2014 season, as Song Eun-beom moved from KIA Tigers to Hanwha Eagles, KIA selected Lim Ki-young as a compensation player. Lim Ki-young, who graduated from Gyeongbuk High School and was nominated by Hanwha as the 18th overall pick in the second round in 2012, went up to 41 games in the first division for three years with a 2-3 record and a 5.34 ERA with one hold, and was a pitcher who was scheduled to join Sangmu soon at the time.
KIA immediately chose Lim Ki-young, a promising player, rather than a sense of power, and the choice was correct. Lim Ki-young, who returned from military service, played as a starter in 2017 and contributed to KIA's first win in eight years with an 8-6 record and an ERA of 3.65.
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It is Kang Seung-ho of the Doosan Bears who expects a third reward myth. Kang Seung-ho, who replaced Choi Joo-hwan, who left for the SK Wyverns after the 2021 season, became Doosan's main infielder. He played in 140 games this season and hit .28146 with 18 home runs and 81 RBIs, making his career high.
Many compensation players also came out in the FA market. KT sent Shim Woo-joon and picked pitcher Han Seung-joo, and although Um Sang-baek was taken away, it brought outfielder Jang Jin-hyuk. Doosan sent Huh Kyung-min to KT, but brought pitcher Kim Young-hyun, and KIA was able to pick Kang Hyo-jong, a first-place prospect, instead of sending Jang Hyun-sik to LG. LG recruited lefty Choi Chae-heung from Samsung instead of Choi Won-tae. Among them, there may be a myth of FA compensation that will succeed Lee Won-seok's term.
indyk@sportschosun.com
