This has been a festive month of December for free agents in South Korean baseball, as clubs have spent a record-breaking amount of money with a few players still left in the open market.
All-Star outfielder Na Sung-bum hit a jackpot last Thursday, when he signed a six-year deal worth up to 15 billion won (US$12.6 million) with the Kia Tigers. It is tied for the largest free agent deal in Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) history, matching the four-year, 15 billion-won contract that infielder Lee Dae-ho signed with the Lotte Giants in 2017.
There have been 10 free agent contracts valued at over 10 billion won in the KBO, and five of them have been signed this month alone.
On Dec. 14, former Doosan Bears outfielder Park Kun-woo signed a six-year, 10 billion-won contract with the NC Dinos, Na’s former club. The Dinos acknowledged at the time they were far apart with Na in contract talks and Park was a potential safety net in case Na left.
Three days later, two other major dominoes fell in free agency. The Bears brought back outfielder Kim Jae-hwan on a four-year, 11.5 billion-won deal. The LG Twins gave their own outfielder Kim Hyun-soo 11.5 billion won in a four-year deal, while attaching a mutual option for two more years at the end.
On Friday, a day after signing Na, the Tigers pivoted to their franchise icon Yang Hyeon-jong and handed him a four-year deal valued at 10.3 billion won.
Yang pitched for the Tigers from 2007 to 2020, before signing a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers in February this year. He had a bitter cup of coffee there, splitting time between the majors and the minors without recording a win. After the season ended, Yang became a free agent and decided to come home.
After some hiccups in negotiations, Yang signed a deal that pushed the total free agency spending to a record 87.7 billion won through Friday. With four players still left unsigned, KBO teams haves shattered the previous mark of 76.6 billion won in 2016.
That the teams have gone on a spending spree maybe isn’t a surprise in and of itself, given the quality of players available this winter. But the timing of it all is unexpected, since the KBO had its second straight season plagued by the coronavirus pandemic.
Under tight social distancing restrictions, KBO clubs played the 2021 season either before limited crowds or no fans at all. Concessions were also shuttered for most of the year, and television ratings suffered as well.
After the season, teams released more players than usual in massive salary dumps. It now seems as though they were saving money then so that they could throw it around in free agency.
The Dinos got the ball rolling by making Park the first 10 billion-won man of this winter. They probably overpaid for a contact hitter with little power, a ton of batted-ball luck and a checkered postseason history. But they needed an outfielder to replace Na, and that was the price of doing business.
After losing Park via free agency, the Bears, who had lost more than their share of free agents in recent years, were under immense pressure to retain Kim Jae-hwan. If nothing else, they needed to appease an increasingly angry fan base. It cost them 11.5 billion won to keep a 33-year-old outfielder who still hits for power but offers limited defensive upside.
The Bears’ Seoul rivals, the Twins, have also been profligate. Before giving Kim Hyun-soo 11.5 billion won, they plucked outfielder Park Hae-min from the Samsung Lions on a four-year, 6 billion-won contract.
The Tigers were already in for a major makeover after missing the postseason for the third straight year. They replaced their team president, general manager and manager in November, and needed to send a message in free agency that they meant business.
They did that by giving Na his record-tying deal and then bringing back Na on a four-year contract.
Two other former major leaguers are left unsigned, and they could push the total spending this winter past 100 billion won: third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun, whose four-year, 8.8 billion-won deal with the KT Wiz expired this year, and first baseman Park Byung-ho, who made 1.5 billion won this year.
Source: Yonhap News Agency