LG General Manager Cha Myung-seok said, "I'll meet you first," and will you catch the youngest pitcher FA ever
LG General Manager Cha Myung-seok said, "I'll meet you first," and will you catch the youngest pitcher FA ever
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Will the LG Twins catch right-hander Choi Won-tae (27), the only free agent in the team? "We will meet him first," LG General Manager Cha Myung-seok said.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on the 5th the list of 20 approved out of 30 players who were announced as eligible FA players in 2025.먹튀검증
A total of 20 FA-approved players announced by KBO in 2025 are Lim Ki-young, Jang Hyun-sik, Seo Geon-chang (KIA), Ryu Ji-hyuk, Kim Heon-gon (Samsung), Choi Won-tae (LG), Kim Kang-ryul, Heo Kyung-min (Dusan), Um Sang-baek, Woo Kyu-min, Shim Woo-joon (KT), Noh Kyung-eun, Choi Jeong (SSG), Koo Seung-min, Kim Won-joong (Lotte), Ha Joo-seok (Hanwha), Lee Yong-chan, Lim Jung-ho, Kim Sung-wook (NC), and Moon Sung-hyun (Kium).
On the other hand, 10 players, including Kim Jae-ho (Doosan), Park Kyung-soo, Oh Jae-il (KT), Seo Jin-yong (SSG), Jin Hae-soo (Lotte), Lee Jae-won, Kim Kang-min (Hanwha), Shim Chang-min (NC), Choi Joo-hwan and Lee Yong-kyu (Kium), did not apply for free agency. On the 4th, Choi Joo-hwan signed a non-FA multi-year contract with Kiwoom on the condition of 2+1+1 total of 1.2 billion won per year.
Attention is focusing on LG's strategy for the stove league. It was only recently that LG became a strong team. After the end of the 2018 season, LG recruited Cha Myung-seok. Since Cha's inauguration, LG has established itself as a strong team that constantly dominates the KBO league. Most of all, LG has advanced to the post season for six consecutive years from the 2019 season to this season. Notably, it won the title overall for the first time in 29 years last year, reaching the peak of its career. However, LG finished the regular season in the third place and entered the playoffs, but failed to achieve its goal of winning the title for two consecutive years.
For now, LG hopes to win next season's championship. To that end, LG needs to steadily strengthen its capability in this season's Stove League. For now, attention is focusing on whether Choi Won-tae, the only internal FA resource, will remain.
Choi pitched in 24 games this season, posting nine wins, seven losses and an earned run average of 4.26. While pitching in a total of 126 ⅔ innings, he posted 126 hits (10 homeruns), 57 walks, 103 strikeouts and 66 runs (60 earned runs) with WHIP (perinning allowance) of 1.44 and a batting average of 0.263. He made 10 quality starts (three earned runs or less in six innings as a starter). However, he was also exited from the lineup in June when he was diagnosed with micro-damage to his right oblique muscle. Consequently, Choi only played in one game in June and three games in July.
More than anything else, Choi was disappointed in big games. Choi left the Kiwoom Heroes in July last year through a 3:1 trade, and joined the LG Twins. At the time, he was a winning contractor, risking the loss of Lee Ju-hyung, pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, and the first-round rookie award in 2024. However, Choi was particularly weak in fall baseball. He has lost two games, saved three and held an earned run average of 7.26 without winning in 17 post-season games. This year, he bowed his head to three runs (two earned runs) in two ⅔ innings in the semi-playoff, and seven hits (two homeruns) in three innings in the playoffs, and five runs (five earned runs) in three strikeouts.
First of all, LG plans to meet with Choi and talk to him. "We have to meet him first," Cha Myung-seok, LG's general manager, told Star News on the phone on Tuesday. Cha is a baseball player who describes the stove league as "the time for the team leader." He has always engaged in FA negotiations with a reasonable stance without overpaying. Choi, the "youngest FA pitcher ever," has certainly been a starting resource for a season, although he failed to break the terrible fall baseball jinx. Since joining the Nexen Heroes (currently the Kiwoom Heroes) through the first nomination in 2015, Choi has played in 217 games as a professional player, posting 78 wins and 58 losses with an ERA of 4.36 (550 earned runs in 1,134 ⅓ innings) and 1205 hits (92 home runs) with 818 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, 2025 FA-approved players can sign contracts with all clubs, including overseas clubs, starting today (June 6). In addition, each club can sign up to two FA-approved players from other clubs under Article 173 of the KBO Rules.