Kiwoom Heroes delivered surprise news.
On the 12th, as a substitute for Yasiel Puig, he announced a contract with foreign hitter Edison Russell (28) for a total of $700,000.
Russell, who led the Chicago Cubs to their first championship in 108 years in 2016, entered the KBO League as a replacement for Taylor Motor, drawing a lot of attention in 2020. He was noticed as a heavyweight player, but fell short of expectations. He had 62 hits in 244 at-bats, 2 home runs, 22 runs scored, and 31 RBIs in 65 games, with a batting average of just 0.254. Eventually, Russell, who failed to renew the contract, played two years in the Mexican League Acereros de Monclova. He played in 80 games this season and announced his recovery with a monster-level performance with a batting average of 0.348, 24 homers and an OPS of 1.120.
The Doosan Bears also reunited with a player who broke up.
On the 9th, it was announced that it had signed a contract with foreign pitcher Raul Alcantara (31) for a total of 900,000 dollars (guarantee 800,000, incentive 100,000).
Alcantara, which debuted in the KBO League at KT Wiz in 2019, bloomed after moving the team to Doosan Bears in 2020. He won the Golden Glove pitcher category, winning the most wins and odds ratio with 20 wins and 2 losses and an earned run average of 2.54 in 31 games.
Based on his best performance in the KBO League, he advanced to the Japanese professional baseball team Hanshin. However, after two years of 63 matches, 4 wins, 6 losses, 1 save, 25 holds, and an average ERA of 3.96, he returned to Doosan.
Recycling of foreign players who broke up. There is a reason.
This is because of the foreign supply and demand market that has tightened this winter. The market for scouting in the KBO League is Triple A. Considering the possibility of adaptation and development in the KBO league, contact is made.
But this year, things are not so easy. This is because the pool of recruited players has been drastically reduced.
Officials from each club in charge of foreign supply and demand unanimously said, “As the minor leagues were almost shut down in the aftermath of Corona 19 over the past two years, many veteran players who found it difficult to promote to the big leagues quit baseball.” Players are trying to compete in the U.S. The aftermath of the increase in the minimum wage in the major leagues is also working against us,” he explains.
In other words, the difficulty of finding unverified new faces has become much higher. As a result, it became difficult to select a complete foreigner.
An official from a club said, “The supply and demand situation is not good, and the regulation on the total amount of foreign players and the upper limit of $ 1 million for new players are all reducing the range of motion. In some cases, players with injuries or drug issues have no choice but to take a risk. “, he complained.
On the 10th, the LG Twins officially announced the termination of the contract with Abraham Almonte, a new foreign outfielder.
It failed to pass the medical test conducted in the United States. On the 6th, LG agreed to a contract with Almonte for a total of $800,000 (down payment of $100,000, annual salary of $400,000, and incentive of $300,000). 메이저놀이터
Switch hitter Almonte was recruited by batting coach Lee Ho-jun after seeing and interviewing him in the Dominican Republic.
However, it was not the first player that LG initially wanted to recruit. As the supply and demand market became difficult, the result of signing a contract with a player in uncertainty led to an unusual contract withdrawal.
Surprising recycling of foreign players like Russell and Almonte’s contract withdrawal were all the result of an imbalance between supply and demand in the market.