The internal negotiations between Doosan Bears and Hong Gun-hee over their remaining in the FA seem to be running on an endless parallel. Amid Doosan’s stance that “We will continue to watch the atmosphere of the FA market,” chances are high that it will lead to a long-term game in the new year beyond the end of the year. Other teams’ interest in Hong Gun-hee should also be noted.
Doosan plans to stay with internal FA infielder Yang Seok-hwan and pitcher Hong Gun-hee in the FA market this winter. Doosan first led Yang to stay in the FA market by making aggressive moves. Doosan officially announced on Nov. 30 that it would sign a FA contract worth up to 7.8 billion won (6.37 million U.S. dollars) for 4+2 years with Yang.헤라카지노
However, news of the additional FA contract has not been heard for well over 15 days since Yang Seok-hwan’s contract. The same is true of the news of the negotiation table between Doosan and Hong Gun-hee.
Hong Geon-hee pitched in 64 games (61.2 innings) in the 2023 season and played a good role as a must-win group with 1 win, 5 losses, 22 saves, 5 holds and an ERA of 3.06 62 strikeouts and WHIP 1.48. Although the decline at the end of the regular season was a bit disappointing, Hong Gun-hee was recognized for his durability as a bullpen pitcher through 60 innings in four consecutive seasons since the 2020 season when he moved to Doosan.
Doosan set up its first negotiation table with Hong Gun-hee on Nov. 30 to engage in an exploratory battle. However, the team did not provide specific conditions.
“We didn’t have specific talks about the contract at the first meeting. We haven’t presented the team proposal to Hong yet. We want to continue the talks with Hong while looking into the atmosphere in the FA market. We haven’t made another appointment yet,” a Doosan source said in early December.
Even as the year-end holiday approaches, the internal FA negotiation table between Doosan and Hong Gun-hee remains unchanged. A Doosan source said, “We have yet to provide conditions to Hong Gun-hee. We will continue to listen to other teams and talk to them again.” “We are also trying to monitor the market atmosphere. We have discussed with each other about how to resolve the issue over time, and hence the negotiations could be prolonged,” he said.
The possibility of a change in the salary cap system, which could have been a variable in Hong Geon-hee’s negotiations, has virtually disappeared. Discussions on the salary cap system took place at the recent general manager’s executive committee, but no agreement has been reached that could make a big difference until 2025, when the amount of the existing salary cap is set. In other words, the possibility of more wallets for clubs that have already calculated salary caps has disappeared.
Other teams’ interest in Hong Gun-hee is also a variable. It is reported that the A club in the metropolitan area found out about Hong Gun-hee’s situation behind the scenes. Of course, it is still a mystery whether such interest will lead to actual proposals. Along with the salary cap, a big reward factor called “A grade” seems to be holding Hong Gun-hee back. Attention is focusing on when the internal FA negotiation table between Doosan and Hong Gun-hee will move forward even if it takes a step forward.