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[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] In the 2021 KBO League, the average annual salary of the players decreased significantly.
According to the status of registration of 2021 KBO league players announced by KBO on the 4th, the average annual salary of 532 players from 10 clubs (excluding rookies and foreign players) was 12,273 million won, a whopping 15.1% decrease from 144.4 million won last year. In terms of the total annual salary, it was 6,290 billion won, a decrease of about 8.68 billion won from last year’s 7,374 billion won.
KBO explained the reason, “It is analyzed as a phenomenon that appeared as a number of high-paid players retired from the end of last season, and the stance of each team’s squad management shifted to rebuilding through internal training.”
The average annual salary for players in the KBO League exceeded 150 million won for the first time in 2018. After reaching a record high of 150.65 million won in 2019, it continued to decline for the second consecutive year following 2020.
In particular, the KIA Tigers and Lotte Giants are the teams whose squad’s annual salary has decreased significantly. KIA recorded 47.86 billion won, a 38.4% cut from the total annual salary of the previous year. Out of 10 clubs, it ranks ninth after Hanwha Eagles (4,237 million won). The ranking plummeted from fourth place last year. In the 2018 season, the total annual salary of the KIA athletes fell to a third level compared to 10.86 billion won.
The biggest reason is Yang Hyun-jong’s advance to the US professional baseball game. Yang Hyun-jong received 2.3 billion won in annual salary last year. It was number one among pitchers. This year, the annual salary that Yang Hyeon-jong received has decreased as it is. In addition, the annual salary of Hyung-woo Choi, who signed an FA renewal contract, has also decreased from 1.5 billion won to 900 million won. Kim Joo-chan, who had an annual salary of 400 million won last year, decided to retire and took over as a coach at Doosan Bears.
The situation is a little more complicated for the Lotte Giants. Lotte ranked first in the league’s total annual salary for the second consecutive year in 2019 (10,083 billion won) and 2020 (9,16 billion won). However, this year, the total annual salary was 5.22 billion won. The ranking plummeted to 8th.
First of all, the salary of Lee Dae-ho, the signboard hitter, was greatly reduced. Lee Dae-ho, who has maintained the No. 1 position with an annual salary of 2.5 billion won for the past four years, renewed the contract for a total of 2.6 billion won in January two years ahead of this season. This year’s annual salary was 800 million won, down 1.7 billion won from last year.
What attracts attention is the annual salary of Son A-seop and Min Byung-hun. The two players side by side signed an FA contract with Lotte at the end of 2017. Son Ah-seop, an internal free agent, signed a contract for a total of 9.8 billion won for four years, and Min Byeong-hun, an external free agent, signed a contract for a total of 8 billion won for four years. The two players’ annual salary last year was 2 billion won and 1.25 billion won respectively.
However, this year, the annual salary has decreased significantly to 500 million won, as if it had been promised. Compared to last year, the annual salary has shrunk significantly to 75% and 60%. The reason is that both players are in their last year of free agency. The two players, unfortunately, were the same agent.
If you transfer to another team after the free agency contract is over, it is a kind of anomaly to reduce the compensation as much as possible. As a result, Lotte’s total annual salary decreased by 3.95 billion won due to the change in the annual salary of the three members, Daeho Lee, Aseop Son, and Byunghun Min. Compared to 2019, when it exceeded 10 billion won, it fell to a third level in just two years.
From Lotte’s point of view, it may be nice that the total annual salary has fallen. However, the money is not as meaningful as it was paid first in the previous season. It’s like’Cho Sammosa’. I don’t know if it’s even more depressing to think of the past few years, when I spent a lot of money and didn’t get my grades.