Shim Woo-joon of Hanwha Train is excited even by KT and Doosan...Now it's KIA V12's salt Jang Hyun-sik's turn? 10 bullpen FA players 'listen'
Shim Woo-joon of Hanwha Train is excited even by KT and Doosan...Now it's KIA V12's salt Jang Hyun-sik's turn? 10 bullpen FA players 'listen'
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Recently, KT Wiz, Hanwha Eagles, and Doosan Bears caused a series of reactions with FA contracts, drawing attention. It happens often in the FA market, but it is interesting every time I see it. Hanwha led the way. Shim Woo-joon signed a four-year contract of 5 billion won on the 7th, and Um Sang-baek was recruited for four years and 7.8 billion won on the 8th.스포츠토토
Hanwha has its main shortstop Lee Do-yoon this year, and veteran Ha Joo-seok is also in good shape. However, judging that his team's average defense capability is low, it boldly recruited Shim Woo-joon who has good defense capability. Native starters led by Ryu Hyun-jin and Moon Dong-ju are also good, but they increased their depth to Um Sang-baek. He is committed to going to the postseason in time for the opening of the new Daejeon Stadium.
KT has caught veteran Woo Kyu-min, but the damage caused by his loss of Shim Woo-joon and Um Sang-baek is quite serious. Instead, it hired Heo Kyung-min on Friday at a four-year price of 4 billion won. KT was interested in Heo Kyung-min, who declared an opt-out from Doosan regardless of Shim Woo-jun. However, with Shim losing, it seems that we cannot ignore the more earnest betting. Now Doosan has to fill the void left by Heo Kyung-min well.
However, something similar could happen again right away. This time, let's switch positions to pitchers and positions to bullpen sessions. As many as 10 out of 20 players in the free agent market are professional bullpen sessions. Industry watchers say that Jang Hyun-sik (29) is the de facto biggest fish among them. Koo Seung-min and Kim Won-joong, who declared free agent with the Lotte Giants in the first place, were considered the biggest fish, but the two were rated A. On the other hand, Jang was rated B and contributed greatly to his team.
Jang had 32 wins and 36 losses with seven saves and an ERA of 4.91 out of 437 games. He pitched 592 innings. Early on, he was a starting pitcher, but played mostly as a bullpen pitcher in his career. After being traded to the Kia Tigers during the 2020 season, he became a must-win pitcher. A combination of slider and splitter with a core of around 150 kilometers.
Jang has been the most consistent bullpen pitcher in the league for four years from 2021 to this year. He only slightly exceeded the three-point ERA by 4.06 in the 2023 season. He posted an ERA of three points in all other three seasons. Notably, he pitched in 75 career games this season. He pitched 75.1 innings.
After the 2022 season, he underwent surgery to remove bone fragments in his elbow. Prior to that, he had minor injuries, but he has been on the mound healthy for the past two years. This season's ball power is back to what it used to be. At this point, KIA is doing its best to stay, and other clubs are also strongly sending love calls. There is also a prospect that it will exceed 5 billion won.
It can be interpreted that Jang Hyun-sik's most stable performance in the league over the past three to four years is paradoxically time for the graph to drop. The bullpen is the least continuous part. It is vulnerable to fatigue because we have to prepare at all times. The risk of injury is also high. Nevertheless, since there is a lot of demand, it is an environment in which Jang Hyun-sik does not have to lower the requirements.
For KIA, I don't want to imagine it, but if Jang Hyun-sik moves to another club, he may turn to an external FA. Shim Jae-hak is reticent about this. They say that the remaining of internal FA is the priority. Jang Hyun-sik held all the knives. Depending on Jang Hyun-sik's move, it can cause a chain reaction not only to other clubs but also to the entire bullpen FA market.