Cha Myung-seok, general manager of the LG Twins, showed his side as the ‘negotiation king’ in the FA contract one after another. LG signed three FA players in the team ahead of Christmas. Oh Ji-hwan, who already agreed to a multi-year contract in January, has finalized detailed terms of the contract.
Cha Myung-seok, the team’s general manager, drew an exceptional contract that accounted for nearly 50 percent of the options in the FA contract between Lim Chan-kyu and Ham Deok-ju. Lim Chan-kyu has an option of 2.4 billion won from a total of 5 billion won. Of the 3.8 billion won, 1.8 billion won is an option for Ham Deok-ju. LG signed contracts with the two players for 8.8 billion won, with an option amount of 4.2 billion won. At 47.7 percent, it is close to half. The club has created a “stabilization mechanism” to prevent players from “stopping,” and if players consistently perform well, they can collect all options.
“Thanks to the player for understanding (the importance of options). The club has stabilized itself. If a player does well, the team is in good shape. I hope he does well and gets all of the options,” Cha said. If a player performs well enough to receive all of the options, his team’s performance will improve as well. If a player fails to receive all of the options due to injury or sluggish performance, someone else will have to fill the vacancy, which means the overall team’s strength will weaken.
LG announced on the 24th, “We signed a four-year contract with Ham Deok-ju, a free agent (FA), for a total of 3.8 billion won (down payment of 600 million won, annual salary of 1.4 billion won, and incentive of 1.8 billion won).”월카지노
Ham joined the Doosan Bears in the fifth round (43rd overall) of the 2013 rookie draft. He joined the LG Twins through a trade in 2021. He pitched in 57 games this year, recording four wins, four saves and a 1.62 ERA, as a left-handed bullpen pitcher. He contributed to LG’s overall win by posting one win and a 2.70 ERA in four games in the Korean Series.
So far this year, he has recorded a total of 397 games (30 starts) in 11 seasons, 35 wins, 21 losses, 59 saves, 49 holds, and a 3.50 strikeout and 515 ERA in 501 ⅔ innings.
“Ham Deok-ju is a pitcher with a lot of experience, including his national team experience. In the 2023 season, he recovered his health and performed his role as a member of the team’s must-win team. I hope he will continue to be healthy and throw balls for the team,” the team said.
After signing the contract, Ham Deok-ju said, “I feel lighthearted because I can finish the contract before the end of the year. The team performed the best this season, and I’m glad that I was able to help the team a little by throwing without injury. I felt happy that I could throw it in good health once again. I will do my best to help the team continue to be a strong team with a consistent appearance without getting sick.”
Earlier on the 21st, LG announced, “We signed a four-year contract with free agent (FA) player Lim Chan-kyu for a total of 5 billion won (down payment of 600 million won, annual salary of 2 billion won, incentive of 2.4 billion won).”
Lim Chan-kyu played for LG for 11 seasons from 2011 to 2023, recording a career-high 298 games (1075 ⅔ innings) 65 wins, 72 losses, eight saves and five holds with a 4.62 ERA. He started the season as an intermediate pitcher in the 2023 season, but when the starting lineup was sluggish at the end of April, he turned the starting rotation and recorded the most wins (third overall) among domestic pitchers in the league with 14 wins.
“He is an essential player as he represents the team. He has led the team’s younger juniors well and played a big role in helping the team win the unified championship due to his positive influence. Notably, this season marked career highs, making the team look forward to the next season even more. He will not only lead the team in a good direction but also lead the team in a good direction,” the LG Twins said.
Lim Chan-kyu, who finished his contract, said, “I’m glad that Elin can continue to wear a striker uniform that I’m proud of as a native. I didn’t think about other clubs. I wanted to continue to be a player for the LG Twins, but I thank the club for signing me a good contract. Thanks to the fans who always cheer me on, I think I was able to achieve the best results of this season. I could feel the power of our fans once again, and I’ll prepare to bring good results next year and the year after next so that they can always smile,” he said after completing the contract.
Cha has drawn a stable contract with almost half of the options, which is unfavorable to players. Ham Deok-ju has had “injury history” in recent years, and Lim Chan-gyu posted career high performance this year, but lacked “steadiness.” During the four-year contract with the FA, the way to compensate for a player’s shortcomings was to increase the portion of options.
Ham Deok-ju was traded from Doosan to LG ahead of the 2021 season. At that time, LG had an injury variable in the starting lineup just before the opening of the game, and hired Ham, who has experience in both starting and bullpen. However, Ham did not show any trade effect due to injury during the two seasons of 2021 and 2022. He was sluggish with 16 games, 1-2 and 1 hold with a 4.29 ERA in 2021, and a 2.13 ERA without 13 wins or losses in 2022.
Just one month after the opening of 2021, he was out of power due to an elbow injury. He left around May due to an elbow injury. Instead of surgery, Ham returned in September after more than three months of rehabilitation, but his elbow injury recurred at the end of the season. Finally, he underwent surgery to remove bone fragments in his elbow at the end of the season. In 2022, he went to the second division to change his position from bullpen pitcher to starting pitcher, but failed to return to the first division early due to his injury.
After suffering from injury for two years, Ham showed confidence in healthy physical condition since this year’s spring camp. He has also made a perfect comeback as a bullpen pitcher. He garnered four wins, no losses, 16 holds, four saves, and an earned run average of 1.62 in 57 games (55 ⅔ innings). He was the best performance among the winning teams in the league, but had time to rehabilitate due to an elbow injury in late August. He pitched only 33 ⅔ in the first division for the past two years, but he pitched more than 55 innings this year, accumulating arm fatigue.