KBO introduced the salary cap system, which will take effect in 2023, to raise the league’s power and continue to develop, and from 2021 to 2022, the salary cap was set at KRW 11.426.38 billion, 120% of the club’s average annual salary, including the top 40 annual salary players (annual salary, actual payment of options, and annual FA down payment among each club’s players, excluding foreign and rookie players).
In 2023, none of the clubs exceeded the salary cap. By team, Doosan recorded the highest amount among the 10 clubs at 11.1817 billion won. This was followed by six out of 10 clubs, including SSG at 10.08 billion won (10.74 billion won), LG at 10.07 billion won (10.67 million won), Lotte at 10.646 million won (10.67 million dollars), Samsung at 10.04 billion won (10.74 million dollars), and NC at 10 billion won (88.12 million won).
Doosan topped the top 40 ransom list, beating SSG, which has raised issues through multi-year contracts, and LG, which is full of high-paying employees, because it has invested a large amount of money in staying inside the FA.
Doosan, which established a dynasty by advancing to the Korean Series for the first time in the KBO League for the seventh consecutive year, ended its journey with Choi Joo-hwan (SSG), Oh Jae-il (Samsung), Park Geon-woo (NC), and Park Se-hyuk (NC), but poured a lot of money into Kim Jae-ho (2.5 billion won for three years), Heo Kyung-min (8.5 billion won for four plus three years), Jung Soo-bin (6.5 billion won for six years) and Kim Jae-hwan ( 11.5 billion won for four years) before the 2023 season, and Yang Eui-ji returned to Korea for 15.2 billion won in four plus two years before the 2023 season, making his reputation a big player in the stove league. 15.2 billion won is the No. 1 in total FA value in the KBO league.
The Doosan Bears disappeared into history after the 2021 Korean Series. Following the humiliation of ranking ninth for the first time in 2022, the team returned to the postseason at fifth place this year along with manager Lee Seung-yeop’s appointment, but the fall baseball season ended just one game later.
Unfortunately, the dynasty began to decline from the time the club invested a large amount of money. FA contracts began in 2021 for Jung Soo-bin and Heo Kyung-min and 2022 for Kim Jae-hwan, but efforts did not lead to results for all three players. In particular, Kim Jae-hwan fell into a severe slump with a batting average of 248 in 2022 and a batting average of 222 in 2023, suffering from the controversy over “eat and run” the most among them. In 2023, Huh Kyung-min’s annual salary was 1.2 billion won, Jung Soo-bin 600 million won, and Kim Jae-hwan 1.5 billion won.
A professional is money, and money represents a player’s value and ability. That’s why people are labeled “eat and run” if they receive a large amount of money and fail to perform. Of course, baseball’s performance is not controlled by the performance of a particular player, but when you look at the top teams every year, high-paying players are usually at the center. The club also hopes for the role and boldly pays a large amount of money.
Doosans high-paid players, who rank No. 1 in total annual salary, are preparing for the 2024 season with utmost efforts. Despite the teams invaluable accomplishment of ranking fifth this year with Coach Lee Seung-yeop, fans booed him in the final round of the home game, and the fall game ended in vain after just one game due to its loss in the first round of the wild card game. All the team members are already sweating it out to rank at least third place in next season. 사설 토토사이트
Especially, Kim Jae-hwan’s moves stand out. In a rare move, he joined the closing camp and was coached by Lee Seung-yeop, a former national hitter, and moved to the U.S. with his own money to take lessons from Kang Jung-ho, a former Major Leaguer. “I’m sure Kim Jae-hwan will change next year,” Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop said, confident that his big shot will make a comeback.
Yang Eui-ji won the Golden Glove in the catcher category with a batting average of .35 with 17 home runs and 68 RBIs in 129 games this year, but he gave himself a failing score in his first year of FA.
Yang Eui-ji also said, “I think Doosan will be one step stronger next year based on this year. The coach, the players, and the front desk are all looking forward to it next year. We will work hard together so that the coach can be cheered.”
