Ko Woo-seok, who entered the Major League after signing a “2+1 year” contract with the San Diego Padres, is expected to make his debut season as a setup man.헤라카지노도메인
ESPN reported on the 11th (Korea Standard Time), “San Diego General Manager AJ Preller said he would decide the positions of each pitcher in spring training, but Robert Suarez is likely to start the season with a finish.”
Ko Woo-seok signed with San Diego on the 5th for a two-year guarantee of $4.5 million. He received $1.75 million and $2.25 million in annual salaries this year and next year, respectively, and put a $3 million mutual option on the $500,000 buyout in 2026.
It contains incentives and salary increase clauses according to the number of games played.
The details are as follows.
First of all, if you fill 70 games this year, you will get a $100,000 bonus. In next year and 2026, you will get a total of $400,000 in bonuses, 100,000 dollars for every 40, 45, 50, and 55 games you fill. You will get a bonus of up to $900,000 over three years depending on the number of games played.
On top of that, they will be given an incentive to finish the job. In the end, each time a player throws 15, 25, 35, or 45 games, he or she will be paid 125,000 dollars in annual salary next season, a total of 500,000 dollars. If the conditions are met this year, the annual salary in 2025 will increase from 2.25 million dollars to 2.75 million dollars, and the annual salary in 2026 will increase from 3 million dollars to 3.5 million dollars. This year’s performance award will apply to salaries in both 2025 and 2026.
If the conditions are met in 2025, the annual salary in 2026 will increase by an additional $500,000. In other words, if more than 45 games are completed in 2024 and 2025 in a row, the annual salary in 2026 will increase to $4 million. If all of these conditions are met, Ko Woo-seok can receive a total of $9.4 million over three years.
Japanese pitcher Yuki Matsui, who signed a five-year guarantee of $28 million last month, also came up with an incentive clause with a closing position in mind.
Matsui is paid 3.25 million dollars this year, 5.5 million dollars next year, 5.75 million dollars in 2026, 6.5 million dollars in 2027, and 7 million dollars in 2028. On top of that, he will be paid a maximum of 1.4 million dollars in bonuses every year depending on the number of games he finishes between 2024 and 2027. If he finishes 15 games, he will be paid 250,000 dollars for every 25, 35, and 45 games he finishes, and 500,000 dollars will be added for the 55th game. If he finishes more than 55 games in a season, he will receive a total of 1.4 million dollars in bonuses. If Matsui collects all the bonuses for five years, the total will increase to 33.6 million dollars.
However, as ESPN predicts, it is extremely unlikely that Ko Woo-suk and Matsui will be put into the closing lineup right away.
San Diego manager Mike Shildt said on the day that he recruited Ko, “The good news is that we have a lot of quality pitchers,” adding, “It’s my task to solve how to use them in the right place.” Just like Freler, San Diego manager Mike Shildt said he has to compete in spring training.
However, it is reasonable to see that both have Suarez in mind as their closing priority.
There are two reasons. Suarez signed a five-year, $46 million contract in November 2022. This year’s annual salary alone amounts to $10 million. Ransom is much higher than Ko Woo-suk and Matsui. Major League Baseball’s important positions are determined in order of annual salary. It rarely deviates from this principle.
Second is Major League experience. Ko Woo-suk and Matsui are in their debut seasons. On the other hand, Suarez, who joined San Diego in 2022 after making 51 saves in four seasons with the NPB, has pitched in 71 games as a key bullpen for the past two years, recording 19 holds, one save, 2.99 ERA, and 1.00 WHIP. In particular, he has fastballs, which is a necessary requirement for a closer. Suarez threw four-seam fastballs at a maximum of 100.9 miles last year, an average of 97.7 miles.
It is ideal to use Suarez as the closing pitcher. If there is something wrong with Suarez, you can use Matsui and then Ko Woo-seok.
Meanwhile, Ko decided to wear the baton ’21’ in San Diego. The ’19’ that Ko used in the KBO is the baton number of the legendary San Diego batter Tony Gwynn and is permanently out of office.