The Samsung Lions are the only team to quietly spend the Stove League in preparation for the 2023 season. I didn’t pay attention to FA, and all foreign players finished with renewal contracts.
Kim Sang-soo and Oh Seon-jin, who were approved as internal free agents, did not care whether they moved or not. In the end, Kim Sang-soo moved to KT Wiz and Oh Seon-jin to Hanwha Eagles.
Even after signing a formal coaching contract with manager Park Jin-man, who acted on behalf of manager Heo Sam-young, who retired during the 2022 season, he did not turn his eyes to the so-called gift (?) external free agent to the new manager.
Foreign players re-signed with the same players for two consecutive years. Samsung is the first case in which a foreign player has signed a contract renewal for two consecutive years without a replacement in the middle since the possession of three foreign players was allowed as a full-scale match in 2014.
Ace David Buchanan is in his 4th year, the longest in Samsung’s foreign player history, and batter Jose Pirella is in his 3rd year. After serving as the 4th hitter for 3 consecutive years from the 2017 season to the 2019 season, it is the second longest hitter after Darin Ruff, who was exported back to the San Francisco Giants in the major leagues.
Albert Suarez, who wore a Samsung uniform for $1 million in the 2022 season, also only won 6 wins due to lack of success, but rather, his salary was raised to $1.3 million and remained.
Lotte Giants also renewed the contract without replacing foreign 스포츠토토 players in the 2023 season, but last year Dan Straley and Jack Less were substitute players.
Samsung once had a reputation as the team with the strongest aspirations to win the Korean Series. Although he was the only one to win the Korean Series without playing the Korean Series, ranking first in both the first and second half of 1985, he never had a chance to win the Korean Series until the new millennium.
Then, in the 2002 Korean Series, he won his first championship by winning 4 wins and 2 losses over the LG Twins, and then won the championship for 4 consecutive years from 2011 to 2014. The 4th consecutive victory in the Korean Series was the second after the 4th consecutive defeat (1986-1989) of the Haitai Tigers, the predecessor of the KIA Tigers.
Since then, Samsung has been in a dark period for five consecutive years with ‘9-9-6-8-8’, and in the 2021 season, it rose to a tie for first place in the regular league (losing in the tiebreaker with kt and finishing in second place in the regular league), but last year I sat down again in 7th place.
Looking back, it was a time when Samsung did not put much effort into reinforcing its power through external FA recruitment during Samsung’s dark period.
In 2015, Kwon Hyuk moved to Hanwha, and in 2016, Park Seok-min moved to NC. In 2017, Cha Woo-chan and Choi Hyung-woo moved to LG and KIA. During this time, only outside recruits were Lee Won-seok in 2017 and Kang Min-ho in 2018. At least in 2018, when they ranked 6th, it was when they recruited Kang Min-ho. 스포츠토토
Then, in 2021, Oh Jae-il was recruited for a total of 5 billion won over 4 years, and it seemed to end the dark period by hitting second place at once. However, after Park Hae-min became a free agent last year and moved to LG for 6 billion won, it fell back to 7th place.
Although it is Obi-Rak, the year when the internal power was leaked strangely, the grade fell, and the year when the power was reinforced by external recruitment, the grade rose.
For the 2023 season, Samsung has the least risk for foreign players. Conversely, no external reinforcement was applied.
I cannot help but wonder if I will face another period of darkness or whether I will be able to clear the darkness through internal training. Another point of observation of the 2023 KBO League.