Gambling 'Recruitment of Cho Sang-woo'...KIA's All In Why?
Gambling 'Recruitment of Cho Sang-woo'...KIA's All In Why?
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Kia has rekindled its once-cold stove league. Kia's single shot, which had remained silent amid fierce competition among its rival teams to recruit players, showed its strong commitment to win its second consecutive title.토토사이트
Cho Sang-woo (photo), acquired by Kia in a trade on Wednesday, is a pitcher with the strongest pitching capability in the league. He became the "save king" in 2020 with 33 saves and a finishing pitcher for the national team. It was a "major product" as Kiwoom declared an open trade even though he was the last in this season's livelihood. Coincidentally, however, he suffered an injury this season and failed to achieve his goal during this season.
KIA has caught the hot potato with its bare hands. Kiwoom is openly showing its willingness to give up the player to another club and set up a club in return for the benefit. The Korean team has even given up the right to hold off the players by saying it would not pay for the two foreign starters who topped the league this season, sparking controversy anew over its unique management method of trading players for the sake of the club's livelihood rather than performance.
KIA took that hand. It gave Kiwoom 1 billion won in cash and the right to nominate the 2026 rookie in the first and fourth rounds to recruit Cho Sang-woo.
Kia lost Jang Hyun-sik, a free agent, to LG last month, leaving a gap in its must-win pitching group. Under the policy of avoiding overpay, it could not catch Jang, and it was difficult to recruit outside players among the FA players. The team has been striving to recruit more foreign pitchers in order to reinforce its mid-term pitching with existing pitchers but prevent any gap in starting pitchers.
However, Cho eventually turned to the need for safety devices in the bullpen, and made a surprise trade. Cho will become an FA at the end of next year's season. He thus gave 1 billion won to two future rookies for a deal that could become a "one-year card." If he fails, he will suffer severe bleeding, and if he succeeds, he will be the perfect match.
The trade itself, such as gambling, is a direct declaration that it will eventually win in 2025.
Under Lee Bum-ho, Kia's new coach, this year won the title through a number of crises by banking on its strong batting lineup. After winning the title, the team renewed its contract with the coach through special treatment, to solidify its structure, but there is not long time to maintain its strength, which was the strongest in this season. At Kia, its main shortstop Park Chan-ho and outfielder Choi Won-joon will become free agents after the end of next year's season. Ace Yang Hyeon-jong is also in the last year of his four-year free agent contract, which he signed in 2022. Choi Hyung-woo, who signed a "one-plus-one-year contract" early this year, will also see his contract expire after next year's season. All of them are key players who made Kia the strongest team in this season. This is also why Kia has avoided overpaying in the free agent market.
The year 2025 will be the de facto last opportunity for the team to display performance with the current strongest capacity. Kia has added a "bomb-like" trade to the bullpen, which it was confident that even with its previous strength, there will be no significant gap.
Jang Hyun-sik, a midfielder in the past, was transferred to LG after receiving a four-year guarantee of 5.2 billion won (approx. Kia has replaced him as a more powerful pitcher. Instead, it gave up its future to Kiwoom and traded with Cho even though it knew that Cho might only be able to use the pitcher for one year. Some calculate that even if Cho, who will become A-level in the FA City, is given over to another team, it would not be a big loss to swap with a compensation player other than 20 players if he can win next year's championship.
Cho Sang-woo is an attractive pitcher that even teams with strong bullpen want to recruit him. However, Kia needs to produce next year's results immediately after returning from military service due to poor performance this year and injury, which poses a risk to the team. Above all, he held hands even at the risk of major loss in Kiwoom's underdeveloped situation.
Depending on the outcome, the trade will be evaluated extremely differently. It is quite fatal that Kia cannot fulfill its duty to fulfill its goal only to dream of success. All these efforts are contained in a single trade plan on how Kia will prepare for 2025.