FA Jackpot → Annual salary of 50 million won → Retirement Bae Soo-jin… ‘Dongbyungsangryeon’ of 38-year-olds of the same age from the first nomination
NC Park Seok-min (38) and Doosan Jang Won-joon (38) joined the pros as the first nominations side by side in the 2004 draft. At that time, Park Seok-min was Samsung’s first nomination, and Jang Won-joon was Lotte’s first nomination.
Park Seok-min, who is recording 268 homers in his career, and Chang Won-joon, a pitcher with 129 wins in his career, hit the FA jackpot in their early 30s and enjoyed several championships. However, he is challenging to restore his honor this season by renewing the contract with the lowest annual salary of 50 million won, leaving behind the FA jackpot and splendid past.
After the 2014 season, Jang Won-joon succeeded in signing a large free agent contract with Doosan for a total of 8.4 billion won over 4 years. After moving from Lotte to Doosan, he played a key role in winning the Korean Series in 2015 and the combined championship in 2016. He was a 10-win pitcher for eight consecutive years through 2017.
However, it has been downhill since 2018. He was sluggish with an average ERA of 9.76 with 3 wins and 6 losses in 13 games in the first half, and played mainly as a relief pitcher in the second half. In the end, he finished the 2018 season with a 9.92 earned run average of 3 wins and 7 losses.
In 2019, he only allowed 2 runs in 6 games and 2 runs (average ERA of 9.00), and in 2020, he pitched in 2 games and gave up 8 runs in 5⅔ innings (average ERA of 12.71) and was on the verge of retirement.
Jang Won-jun, who started again from a low position as a relief pitcher, showed the possibility of a comeback by recording an average ERA of 6.75 in 32 matches, 1 loss, 1 save and 4 holds in 2021, and last year recorded an average ERA of 3.71 in 27 matches, 1 loss and 6 holds.
Jang Won-joon’s annual salary, which was 1 billion won at the time of free agency, gradually decreased from 600 million won → 300 million won → 80 million won → 50 million won. This year’s annual salary is also frozen at 50 million won.
After the 2015 season, Park Seok-min signed a 4-year free agent contract with NC for up to 9.6 billion won. And after his 4-year contract period was over, he reacquired FA qualification and renewed his contract with NC for 2 + 1 years, up to 3.4 billion won, ahead of the 2020 season.
Park Seok-min, who is subject to renewal this year, signed a contract for an annual salary of 50 million won. A whopping 93% was cut from last year’s annual salary of 700 million won. This is the largest reduction ever recorded.
Park Seok-min, who contributed to NC’s first Korean Series in 2016 and NC’s first Korean Series win in 2020, has not been very active in the past two years. Violation of the COVID-19 quarantine rules in July 2021 was the final blow.
KBO’s 72-game suspension and NC club’s 50-game suspension were added. He returned in June of last year after being suspended for a total of 122 games. However, over a year of absence from practice and injuries overlapped, leaving the worst performance.
He played in 16 games with the first team last year and had a batting average of 10.4, 9 Lee (7 hits in 47 at-bats), 0 home runs and 2 RBIs. He left due to a back injury at the end of July, and played a rehabilitation game in the second team at the end of the season, but did not return to the first team.
This season could be the last chance for Park Seok-min and Jang Won-joon. NC coach Kang In-kwon decided to give Park Seok-min a chance. NC has to compete for third baseman with Do Tae-hun and Seo Ho-cheol as third baseman resources Noh Jin-hyeok (Lotte FA transfer) and Park Joon-young (Doosan Sangsang player transfer) leave the team. 토토사이트
New head coach Lee Seung-yeop, who has risen to the Doosan headquarters, gave veteran Jang Won-joon another chance. Director Lee said, “I want to treat a legend like Jang Won-joon. He told me to run without regret. It would be nice if we could compete with our juniors once with the determination that this is really the last time,” he said. I would not want to participate in a game as a legend when my grades and skills are declining. I will judge calmly,” he said.