Jeon Jun-woo and Ahn Chi-hong are free agents this year, and Kim Won-joong and Koo Seung-min are free agents next year… “I wish everyone would stay”
As for the issue of appointing a successor… CEO Lee Kang-hoon said, “We need to discuss this after appointing the general manager.”
Reporter Kwon Hyuk-jun = Lotte Giants’ new head coach Tae-hyung Kim set his sights on winning the championship and expressed his expectations for an ‘inaugural gift’ to the club. Although there is still a lot of postseason schedule left, Lotte’s ‘Stove League’ has started one step ahead of other teams.
On the 24th, coach Kim Tae-hyung held his inauguration ceremony at the Lotte Hotel Busan in Busanjin-gu, Busan and was officially inaugurated as his director.
Coach Kim Tae-hyung, who took the helm of the Doosan Bears in 2015 and rose to the rank of ‘master’ by leading them to the Korean Series for 7 consecutive years and leading them to 3 championships, will take the helm of Lotte and take on a new challenge.
Coach Kim expressed his strong aspirations, saying, “Nothing in this world goes according to plan. We have to make it happen,” and added, “We will aim to win based on hot offensive baseball.”
However, just because a ‘master’ comes, the team cannot immediately become a ‘championship candidate’. In particular, for Lotte, which has failed to reach the postseason for the past six consecutive seasons, reinforcing its power is essential to advance to the next level.
Director Kim Tae-hyung also knew this well. When asked about his inauguration gift, he joked, “I think the contract total of 2.4 billion won would be enough,” and then added, “I told you that the club needs a free agent. It will be up to the club to make that decision.”
There is a need to crack down on ‘domestic rabbits’ belonging to Lotte immediately. Lotte’s Jeon Jun-woo and Ahn Chi-hong will qualify as free agents after this season, and Kim Won-joong and Koo Seung-min will qualify as free agents after next season. All four are Lotte’s key players.스포츠토토
Coincidentally, all four of these people attended the inauguration ceremony that day. Coach Kim seemed to be aware of this and smiled, saying, “I hope all of these players stay on the team. I told the club that they are needed on the team.”
However, from Lotte’s perspective, the priority is to appoint a new general manager before discussing recruiting free agents. Lotte recently appointed coach Kim Tae-hyung and announced that it is also in the process of selecting a successor to general manager Sung Min-gyu.
Lotte CEO Lee Kang-hoon also said, “All four players, including Jeon Jun-woo, Ahn Chi-hong, Koo Seung-min, and Kim Won-joong, are necessary and exemplary players for the team,” adding, “We talked a lot about the FA, but we can discuss more once a new general manager is appointed.” “I think there is,” he said.
Lotte solved the biggest challenge of the absence of a head coach by recruiting ‘master’ coach Kim Tae-hyung. There was also some positive room for recruiting free agents. How much of an inauguration gift will Lotte give to the new manager?