Catcher Kim Min-sik, who is on the free agent market, is having difficulties in free agent negotiations with his original team, SSG Landers.
The SSG club acquired another free agent catcher Lee Ji-young through a sign-and-trade,
completely changing the atmosphere of negotiations with Kim Min-sik. The LG Twins and Doosan Bears,
who are in need of a backup catcher, are attracting attention as new destinations for Kim Min-sik, who has emerged in the free agency market, but the salary cap is expected to be another obstacle.
On January 12, the SSG club officially announced, “We acquired catcher Lee Ji-young through a trade with Kiwoom Heroes in exchange for 250 million won in cash and a 3rd round rookie pick in 2025.” 먹튀검증사이트
On the same day, the Kiwoom club also said, “We signed a free agent contract with Lee Ji-young, who is qualified as a free agent (FA), for a total of 400 million won (annual salary 350 million won, option 50 million won) for a two-year contract period, and then signed a free agent contract with the SSG club for 200 million won. “We made a trade in exchange for 50 million won and a third-round pick in the 2025 rookie draft.”
In the end, Kim Min-sik, who had been leading the internal FA negotiation table with SSG, seemed to have collapsed in the middle.
Kim Min-sik was ranked C in the FA market this winter and was negotiating with a focus on remaining in the SSG club.
The SSG club also continued negotiations with Kim Min-sik to remain with the opening of the free agent market. There was a gap between the two sides from the beginning of the negotiations.
Although there was an atmosphere of narrowing things down little by little, the period of stagnation in negotiations was rather long.
SSG presented revised contract terms to Kim Min-sik at the end of last year by increasing the guaranteed amount.
Two contract options were also presented depending on the contract period. After much deliberation, Kim Min-sik provided feedback on the terms of the club contract in early January.
The proposal was to increase the coverage amount further.
However, the SSG club recently stated that ‘overpaying is difficult’ regarding the contract conditions proposed by Kim Min-sik.
After the announcement of Lee Ji-young’s recruitment, Kim Min-sik said, “When we presented our proposal during the negotiations in the first week of January,
we expressed our strong desire to successfully conclude the contract with SSG Landers.
I am embarrassed that this situation suddenly occurred.”
Regarding this, the SSG club said, “When the club judged the player’s final offer last week,
we judged that there was a fairly large gap in the guaranteed amount, so we expressed our opinion early this week that it would be difficult with those conditions. The player contacted us to meet again this week,
but it was difficult to immediately coordinate due to the negotiation staff’s business trip schedule. “
In the process, Lee Ji-young’s negotiations, which started in early January, progressed and were announced,” he explained.
The SSG club did not reveal that negotiations with Kim Min-sik to remain were broken down.
However, the conditions last presented by the club are expected to no longer be valid.
It is highly likely that conditions that are significantly reduced from the final conditions will be delivered in the next possible negotiation.
In the end, with Lee Ji-young going to SSG, Kim Min-sik also found himself in a situation where he had to think more deeply about transferring to another team.
The problem is that this winter’s free agent market is a very harsh environment for small and medium-sized free agent players.
Most clubs have tightened their wallets due to the salary cap. There is no atmosphere to easily recruit external free agents.
Among the 10 teams in the KBO League, the team most in need of a veteran catcher is the Kiwoom Heroes, from which Lee Ji-young left.
However, it is known that Kiwoom plans to focus on nurturing Kim Dong-heon, a promising internal catcher,
without external reinforcement. Hanwha Eagles, who needed a veteran backup catcher, recruited Lee Jae-won, who was released from SSG.
In fact, the remaining options are LG and Doosan. LG used another veteran catcher, Heo Do-hwan, as a backup for starting catcher Park Dong-won.
As Kim Ki-yeon transferred to Doosan through the KBO’s second draft in November last year, concerns about backup catcher resources are continuing.
Doosan is also working to find a backup catcher who can support the defensive innings of starting catcher Yang Eui-ji.
The recruitment of Kim Ki-yeon is part of this.
If Kim Min-sik transfers to another team, there is a possibility that he will move to LG or Doosan.
However, a big variable is that both LG and Doosan are teams with the tightest salary caps. LG must calculate annual salary with the FA,
keeping in mind that it has already violated the salary cap once.
It is reported that Doosan also does not have enough salary cap space under the assumption that it will capture internal free agent pitcher Hong Geon-hee. The presence of Kim Ki-yeon,
who must guarantee first-team playing time, is also a factor that inhibits Doosan’s movement.
Now, Kim Min-sik is expected to either choose to remain in the team under the conditions proposed by the SSG club in the future,
or consider considering a transfer to another team through a longer-than-expected ultra-long-term campaign.
A situation could arise where a veteran backup catcher is urgently needed, but there is no guarantee when that time will come.
With spring camp starting soon approaching, attention is being paid to what moves and decisions Kim Min-sik will make.