Lotte Giants appointed coach Kim Tae-hyung. The inner thoughts of ‘Lotte’s oldest professional’ with 15 years of experience are also unique.카지노사이트
Jeon Jun-woo is taking a break after the regular season ends. It’s a long-awaited time with his family. When contacted on the 20th, he smiled and said, “I play with my kids and spend time with my wife.”
Strictly speaking, Jeon Jun-woo is not currently a ‘Lotte player’. He becomes a free agent after this season. This is the second free agency opportunity following 2019 (up to 3.4 billion won in 4 years).
Unlike his leisurely daily life, the situation at his team, Lotte, was hectic. After moving quickly, CEO Lee Kang-hoon met with director Kim Tae-hyung on the 18th and signed on the 20th. His three-year contract is worth 2.4 billion won including down payment. This is the highest treatment for an active head coach like KT Wiz coach Lee Kang-cheol.
On the other hand, I also said goodbye to former general manager Sung Min-gyu. There is a change of head at both the front desk and the field. This is a signal that Lotte is returning to focusing on the field rather than playing front-end baseball 11 years after the Royster-Yang Seung-ho era.
Discussing a contract with the original team is not tampering. However, it was not a situation to discuss free agency. The contract with Jeon Jun-woo and Ahn Chi-hong is the responsibility of the new general manager who will be appointed later. Representative Lee explained, “We plan to take time to select candidates and discuss them with the parent company.”
Jeon Jun-woo also fully understands the club’s position. He said, “I haven’t had any conversations with the team yet. They must have been busy selecting coach Kim Tae-hyung. Isn’t the general manager position vacant as well? There is an order to things. I’m still waiting without any impatience.”
He was Lotte’s best hitter this year, both in name and reality. He had a batting average of .301, 2 innings, 17 home runs, 77 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.852, just as good as in his prime. He ranks first in the team in most offensive indicators except for stolen bases.
He has been a Lotte one-club man since joining the team in 2008. After Lee Dae-ho’s retirement, he became Lotte’s leading franchise star. He also served as captain for several years.
Jeon Jun-woo, along with Ahn Chi-hong, who served as captain this year, will represent the team at the inauguration ceremony of new coach Kim Tae-hyung to be held on the 24th.
Although they are prospective free agents, both Jeon Jun-woo and Ahn Chi-hong have great affection for Lotte. Lotte also has no intention of losing the two players who are the team’s best hitters and the backbone of its leadership, as they are shouting ‘win now’ by appointing coach Kim.
However, Jeon Jun-woo, who is over 35 years old, is a C-level free agent. He can move teams without compensating players. A surprise transfer like Byung-ho Park (KT Wiz) is also possible. He feels that his value was not fully recognized during his first free agency. He is also proud of the fact that he has shown the presence of ‘Hyeja FA’ over the past four years.
Jeon Jun-woo laughed, saying, “It’s a little ambiguous, but I still thought I should say hello. It didn’t seem polite. I hope I can be a ‘gift’ for the new manager. Maybe we can play fall baseball together.”
Ahead of this season, Lotte recruited three free agents (Yoo Kang-nam, Noh Jin-hyuk, and Han Hyun-hee), and poured up to 26 billion won to extend the contract of ‘glasses ace’ Park Se-woong, becoming a ‘big player’. In addition, depth was strengthened by recruiting a large number of valuable released players from other teams, such as Kim Sang-soo, Ahn Kwon-soo, and Shin Jeong-rak.
However, this year too, it stopped at ‘Bomde’. The upward trend, which ranked first overall in April (14 wins and 8 losses) and maintained a win-loss margin of +10 until May, quickly subsided in June. Ahead of the All-Star break, the team’s winning percentage had already broken .500, and despite replacing two foreign players, they were unable to rebound. At the end of August, former coach Larry Sutton resigned due to health issues, and even under acting coach Lee Jong-un, the team failed to rebound.
Thanks to Jeon Jun-woo, we were able to continue competing in the top 5 until the end. However, I ended up not being able to go to the fall baseball game for six consecutive years.
Looking back on the year, Jeon Jun-woo said, “It’s so disappointing. It was really good at the beginning of the season… Individual performance is not bad, but a player stands out only when the team is doing well. A player’s value is recognized more when the team’s performance is good,” he said. “Last year as well.” “It was like this, but I’m most upset that I made the same mistake again.”
Coach Kim Tae-hyung is one of the best managers in the KBO League, having advanced to the Korean Series for seven consecutive years and winning three times. He worked as a baseball commentator for a year, but was destined to eventually return to the field.
“Lotte is not a weak team. The team composition is good, but the balance keeps getting off. I was upset because the team that was capable of doing well kept failing. Personally, I felt like we started too late, so it was a season where I felt sorry for the team.”