"We just happen to have two FA this year and two FA next year. I hope all four of them will join me."

This is what manager Kim Tae-hyung said at the inauguration ceremony of the Lotte Giants head coach at the end of October last year.안전놀이터

It was a word of affection and request for both the club and the FA players. No coach would be happy about the power leakage caused by the FA.

Last year, he succeeded in catching 'Captain' Jeon Jun-woo, but An Chi-hong missed it. This year, he succeeded in sinking both A-list FA Kim Won-joong and Koo Seung-min.

The total contract amount for the three internal free agents is 12.2 billion won (based on four years). In addition, the annual salary of the existing 17 billion trio (Yu Kangnam Noh Jin-hyuk and Han Hyun-hee) is concentrated in the third and fourth years.

The salary cap has already reached its peak. Lotte ranked fifth among the 10 teams with annual salary of 11.85 billion won (11.18 billion U.S. dollars) this season. The competition balance tax of 11.42 billion won (11.42 million dollars), which was the standard amount for salary cap, was only 276.2 million won (270.2 million dollars).

The LG Twins and KIA Tigers ranked first and second, followed by the Doosan Bears, a regular in fall baseball, and the Samsung Lions, who successfully advanced to the Korean Series this year. Notably, LG is the only team that exceeded the salary cap, and will pay 1.21489 million won (1.1 billion U.S. dollars), or 50 percent of the amount, to the baseball development fund (luxury tax). Lotte, on the other hand, ranked fifth overall after failing to advance to the fall baseball league for seven consecutive years.

However, the KBO board of directors increased the standard amount by 20 percent in 2025, giving a breakthrough. The standard for equal competition in 2025 is 13.7 billion won (approx. 2 billion won) more than before.

Still, the team is tight. Lotte has yet to complete its contract for the 2025 season. After completing its work for this season on January 13, Lotte plans to resume its work on January 2 next year and begin negotiations on the remaining salaries.

Fortunately, there is not much difference. There will be no problem starting the first spring camp on January 24 next year. However, let alone participating in the 7.8 billion Um Sang-baek or 5 billion Shim Woo-joon recruitment race, it is hard to give a business card to a C-class FA. This is because he also needs a reserve amount of money to recruit players to be released or to trade during the season.

Manager Kim Tae-hyung is now in a position to make inroads into the fall baseball league without making any "FA gifts" for the second consecutive year. There is no other choice but to lament that he is making the team rebuild by bringing in the winner's contractor.

Nonetheless, the team put more weight on fostering the team. It has recruited one after another coaches who shared the honor with Kim Tae-hyung. The team has been reshuffled at the request of Kim Min-jae, senior bench coach Kim Kwang-soo, Kim Min-ho, Joo Hyung-kwang, Lim Hoon, Go Young-min, Yoo Jae-shin, and Jeong Sang-ho.

Through active trade, the team recruited players. Jin Hae-soo, Kim Min-sung, and Son Ho-young were added to the list of promising players, including Kim Min-soo and Woo Kang-hoon. Even after the season, he gave up Kim Min-seok, Choo Jae-hyun, and Choi Woo-in, and recruited Jeong Chul-won and Jeon Min-jae. Now that Son Ho-young, who Kim Tae-hyung named himself, has made a big hit, many expectations are also paid to Jeong Chul-won and Jeon Min-jae.

During the season, Kang Sung-woo, a battery coach, was urgently recruited, and Cho Won-woo, a senior coach, and Kim Sang-jin, a pitching coach, were added after the end of this season. Even after the end of the season, an unscheduled overseas closing camp was established. Lee Min-seok and Jung Hyun-soo were dispatched to Chiba Lotte's first-team camp and played defense camp mainly with young players.

During this season, manager Kim Tae-hyung said, "Last winter, I focused on the batting lineup, believing that the pitching staff could afford it. Contrary to expectations, the bullpen has collapsed," expressing regret. Now that the rebuilding of the lineup represented by "Yoon Go-na Hwang-son" has been done, it is time for the pitching staff. Lotte is dreaming of another "Kim Tae-hyung Magic."