Sometimes there are players who are ‘bigger’ than the team
There is no player greater than the team. However, there are occasional players who are ‘big’ enough to sway the club’s strategy. With the movement of professional baseball Kiwoom Lee Jeong-hoo (25), the goal of the club and the fate of many players are changing. This is what happened in less than a year since last winter.
On the 29th, Kiwoom gave away Won-tae Choi, the main starting resource, to LG, and obtained the right to pick the first round of next year’s season along with Lee Joo-hyung, a famous beast player, and Kim Dong-gyu, a promising pitcher. It is impossible to predict as Kiwoom, but he compromised to some extent with this season’s goal and chose a trade aiming for ‘N years’. 안전놀이터 It was a trade that accelerated as Lee Jung-hoo’s participation in the rest of the season became uncertain due to an ankle injury in the match against Lotte on the 23rd. He also revealed how Lee Jung-hoo’s injury from the Kiwoom club became a catalyst for the trade.
Kiwoom has been sluggish since the opening, but the gap with 5th place KT just before the trade was concluded was only 3.5 games. In addition, with a 6.5 game gap with 3rd place Doosan, it was in a position to surpass the mid-table or higher. However, Kiwoom eventually decided to promote ‘later’. It is as if we accepted it from the inside as well as from the outside to see how much Lee Jung-hoo’s presence or absence affects the team’s drive.
On the other hand, it seems that the club is reacting too extreme to the change in situation caused by Lee Jung-hoo.
Kiwoom attracted veteran players like never before last winter. Set-up man Won Jong-hyun, born in 1987, was recruited from the free agent (FA) market, and outfielder Lee Hyeong-jong, born in 1989, was signed as a futures free agent.
Lee Jung-hoo has publicly declared that he will go to the United States after this season. The club also plans to send Lee Jung-hoo through the posting system (private bidding system). Kiwoom saw this season as the last opportunity to challenge for the championship, which would not be available for a while, and tried to gather all its strength. However, after Lee Jung-hoo left, Kiwoom took a different path.
For Kiwoom, it also seems to be the time to look at the identity of the team’s power once again. The reason why Kiwoom was strong last year was because it had a clear ‘center’ in Lee Jung-hoo, but it was also because the almost obscure bullpen pitchers used their full power well under the surface, such as playing an active part in a ten o’clock counterattack. It was also a proud culture of Kiwoom to raise one or two of these players back to the A-class or limited class.
However, Kiwoom also seems to have met a wall in nurturing players from some point on. Since Kim Hye-seong, he has not been able to develop a competitive player outside the team. This is also connected to the team’s stagnant race this season. This week, after giving away the team’s signboard selection and starting to attract prospects again, Kiwoom seems to be standing at a crossroads where he has to set his destination again.