Starting from the 19th, "Jeon's War" will begin
The professional baseball stove league has opened. The start is the public announcement of the free agent (FA) roster.
The Baseball Organization (KBO) announced a list of FA-qualified players on the 15th, including Jeon Joon-woo, An Chi-hong (Lotte Giants), Yang Seok-hwan (Doosan Bears), Lim Chan-kyu, Ham Deok-ju (LG Twins), Kim Jae-yoon (kt Wiz), and Kim Sun-bin (KIA Tigers). F.A. eligible players must apply for approval for the exercise of their rights by the 17th, and the baseball committee will announce the approved players of F.A. the day after the application deadline (18th). From the day after the announcement (19th), players can negotiate with all clubs, including foreign clubs. In other words, a full-fledged "war" will be held from the 19th.
Multi-year contracts become commonplace and the players receiving the most attention in the current market situation without F.A. are Jeon Joon-woo, Ahn Chi-hong (B grade), and Yang Seok-hwan (A grade). For this reason, Lotte, which newly recruited manager Kim Tae-hyung, is prioritizing crackdown on house rabbits. Yang Seok-hwan is attractive as a mid- to long-range hitter, so multiple clubs are paying attention. KT closer Kim Jae-yoon and LG middle pitcher Ham Deok-ju (B grade) are also attractive sales for clubs with loose back doors.
It has been only two days since the end of the Korean Series, but the baseball committee hurriedly announced the list of free agents because the second draft (private) will be held on the 22nd. The second round of drafts was held five times in odd years from 2011 to 2019, abolished once and revived this year. Each club will have a list of 35 protected players, where F.A.-approved players and players in the first to third years of joining will be automatically grouped into protected players. For this reason, the F.A. target was announced early. Clubs with many prospects are struggling to make a list of protected players.
In the second draft, the team will be nominated up to the third round in reverse order of this season's performance, and each round must pay 400 million won, 300 million won, and 200 million won in compensation to the original team. Three lower-ranked teams this year, namely Kiwoom, Hanwha and Samsung, can exercise two more nominations. Compensation for less than four rounds is 100 million won. Futures FA disappeared as the second draft revived.
Meanwhile, Lee Jung-hoo (25, Kiwoom Heroes), who announced his entry into the Major League through a posting system (closed competitive bidding), also went to the U.S. The baseball committee said, "We received a request from the Major League Secretariat to check the status of Lee Jung-hoo and Ko Woo-suk (25, LG Twins) on the 14th, and notified on the 15th that "the player is a player for Kiwoom and LG, respectively." Kiwoom has already decided to help Lee Jung-hoo advance to the Major League before the season. In the U.S., Lee Jung-hoo's ransom is estimated to be between 14 million and 15 million dollars per year on average. Ko Woo-suk has a dream of going to the big league, but there is no specific movement yet.