"We're a young team." Are there no 'internal FA' Kim Sung-wook and Lee Yong-chan in Hodu's plan for next season
"We're a young team." Are there no 'internal FA' Kim Sung-wook and Lee Yong-chan in Hodu's plan for next season
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Are Kim Sung-wook (32) and Lee Yong-chan (36) not included in the NC Dinos coach Lee Ho-joon's plans for the next season? News of their contract has not been heard for many years.먹튀검증
NC`s goal of this year`s stove league was to crack down on the internal team. Coach Lee Ho-joon of Hoduji, who was appointed as NC`s new coach in October last year, asked the club to work harder to crack down on internal forces rather than recruiting external free agents.
Notably, his first goal was to renew his contract with Kyle Hart, who reigned as the league's best ace last season, and Matt Davidson, the home run king. He already renewed his contract with Davidson (1+1 year total of 3.2 million dollars) in November last year, but failed to reach an agreement with Hart, who had a strong will to re-enter the Major League next season. Instead, he hired Logan Allen, a left-hander with extensive experience as a starting pitcher in the Minor League.
Lim Jeong-ho, one of the internal resources who applied for the FA, was also retained. In November last year, NC officially announced that it would renew contract with Lim for up to 1.2 billion won (down payment of 300 million won, annual salary of 600 million won, and option of 300 million won) for three years. Lim, who played in 479 games alone as a member of NC, recorded 11 wins, 22 losses, 92 holds, three saves and an earned run average of 4.33 (ERA), is also the No. 1 hold holder in NC`s history.
However, news of the contract between the other two internal FA Kim Sung-wook and Lee Yong-chan has yet to be revealed. Fifteen of the 20 players in the FA market have already visited their teams, and they are facing a cold wind from the market to overcome the year with Seo Geon-chang, Ha Joo-seok and Moon Sung-hyun.
There is a reason why NC is considering renewing their contracts with the two teams. Lee Yong-chan, who joined the team as an FA during the 2021 season, became the guardian of NC by making 16 saves, 22 saves in 2022, and 29 saves, the most in his career in 2023. However, his ERA soared in the second half of last year, ending the season with a disappointing record of 3 wins, 9 losses, 16 saves, 2 holds, and 6.13 ERA in 57 games.
Based on simple records, Lee Yong-chan seems to have experienced a sudden decrease in ball power at the end of the season, but that was not the case. Lee's hit rate for the season was 0.353 last year, tied for second among league pitchers who played more than 30% of regular innings. In June and July, when the record was followed, the hit rate was well over 30%. The WHIP (permission rate of on-base allowed per inning) for the season also recorded 1.90, showing signs of anxiety about being a closer. Manager Lee Ho-joon also expressed his intention to use Lee as a starting pitcher when Lee Yong-chan stays, but if he fails to recover the least amount of ball power, his position is not a problem.
Outfielder Kim Seong-wook is also like a crab. He hit .204 with 17 homers, 60 RBIs and 10 steals in 129 games as the main center fielder last season, but was not practical despite his second-most homers and the fourth-most RBIs in his team. He hit double-digit homers exposing his weakness in batting accuracy, but his OPS did not exceed 0.7 (0.671).
Coach Lee Ho-joon recently appeared on YouTube channel "Jung Geun-woo's Baseball Life" and said, "I'm not worried at all about hitting. I'm confident that an hour just passes when I look at the blackboard," adding, "However, we will have to wait and see as Lee Yong-chan is the FA, Shin Min-hyuk is operating, Kim Young-kyu is not normal yet, and Kim Tae-kyung is rehabilitating." "I think NC is currently in the middle. The team in the middle can go up depending on how much the young player grows," he said.
Starting with domestic training at Changwon NC Park on the 25th, the NC team will depart for Tucson, Arizona, on the 30th to prepare for the 2025 season in earnest. There is not much time left for Kim Sung-wook and Lee Yong-chan.