▲ Kim Jae-ho signed an FA remaining contract for a total of KRW 2.5 billion for 3 years Ⓒ Doosan Bears
Doosan completed an important internal free agency contract and recruiting foreign players in one day.
In a press release on the 8th, the Doosan Bears Club announced that it had signed an FA contract with infielder Kim Jae-ho, who obtained the second free agency status in his life, for a total of 2.5 billion won (down payment of 900 million + annual salary) for three years. Kim Jae-ho, who finished the contract, said, “I am happy to have my second free agency contract with Doosan.”
Meanwhile, Doosan announced on the 8th that it had acquired right-handed Andrew Walker Rocket from the United States for a total of $1 million prior to signing Kim Jae-ho. Rocket debuted in the big leagues at the San Diego Padres in 2018, and went through the New York Mets and the Seattle Mariners in 20 games in his career, recording an ERA of 2-4 losses and an ERA of 7.67. With this, Doosan has completed the formation of three foreign players this season with right-handed Rocket, left-hander Ariel Miranda, and beast Jose Miguel Fernandez.
Field commander of the Doosan infield chosen as the’Life Doosan Man’
Kim Jae-ho, who won the Golden Gloves in the shortstop category for two consecutive years along with Doosan’s second consecutive victory in the Korean Series in 2016, signed an FA contract with Doosan for a huge amount of 4 years and 5 billion won before the 2017 season. However, there were many opinions that Kim Jae-ho’s golden glove award included a’winning premium’ as there was a shortstop who had better personal performance such as Kim Ha-seong (San Diego) at the time. Therefore, Kim Jae-ho’s 5 billion free agency contract was evaluated as a rather excessive investment.
However, as a result, Doosan’s investment in Kim Jae-ho was never in vain. This is because during the four years of Kim Jae-ho’s FA contract, Doosan has never missed a Korean series stage. Kim Jae-ho missed 53 games in the first year of his contract due to back and shoulder injuries, and was sluggish with 10 at-bats without hits and 2 errors in the Korean series against the KIA Tigers. However, Kim Jae-ho played in 131 games in 2018, batting average of .311, 16 homers, 75 RBIs, and 78 points.
In 2019, when Doosan achieved V6, Kim Jae-ho again stagnated with a batting average of .268, 4 homers, 48 RBIs and 51 points, but with a high on-base ratio of .379 and only 10 errors as a shortstop, he played his role. Kim Jae-ho contributed to Doosan’s 6th consecutive year in the Korean series, batting 289, 2 homers, 39 RBIs and 48 points in 120 games in the season ahead of his second free agency. Kim Jae-ho also played a big role in the Korean series with batting average of .421, 1 home run, 7 RBIs and 3 runs.
Kim Jae-ho, who turned 37 in Korea this year, is the second oldest of the 10 clubs’ centerline infielders after Park Kyung-soo of kt Wiz. However, Doosan used utility resource Ryu Ji-hyuk (KIA) as a trade card in the middle of last season, and Park Gye-beom, who was recruited as a reward player, has not yet been active in full-time. Therefore, in Doosan’s infield, veteran shortstop Kim Jae-ho, who can lead juniors and play a central role, is indispensable.
Kim Jae-ho expressed his wishes ahead of last year’s postseason, “I want to win one more championship because it could be the last fall baseball played by this member.” However, Doosan could not cross the wall of NC Dinos in the Korean series, and after the season was over, Choi Joo-hwan (SK Wyverns) and Oh Jae-il (Samsung Lions) each chose to transfer. Due to the transfer of core FA and foreign pitchers, Doosan’s power was clearly weaker than last year, but Kim Jae-ho, who led the era of Doosan’s dynasty, chose the’Life Doosan Man’.
Can’Ground Pitcher’ Rocket Become Doosan’s New Ace?
Calvin Jimenez in 2010, Dustin Nippert in 2011-2017, Josh Lindblom (Milwaukee Brewers) in 2018-2019, Raul Alcantara (Hanshin Tigers) in 2020. For the past 11 years from 2010 to last year, Doosan has had a strong foreign ace. The foreign aces were firmly guarding the starting line, so other native pitchers such as Yoo Hee-gwan, Jang Won-jun, Lee Yong-chan, and Lee Young-ha were able to achieve good results in the shadow of foreign aces.
However, after the end of last year’s season,’fall hero’ Chris Flexen signed a deal with Seattle in the major leagues, and even 20-winner Alcantara moved to Hanshin in Japanese professional baseball. In addition, unlike the winter of 2017 and 2019, when they brought Lindblom instead of Nippert and Alcantara instead of Frankoff, none of the foreign players who failed to renew their contract this winter were good enough to pursue the recruitment of Doosan in the 2020 season.
In the end, Doosan recruited left-hander Ariel Miranda, who was active in the Taiwanese League on December 23 last year. Miranda doesn’t show much of her performance in Taiwan, but she has a’winning DNA’ enough to experience winning the Japan Series for two years in a row when she was active at Softbank Hawks in Japan. In the remaining seats, after a long transfer negotiation, he recruited a 26-year-old young right-handed pitcher Rocket and filled two foreign pitchers with only new faces.
Walker, who has a sturdy physical condition of 196cm102kg, has an average restraint of 140km/h in the second half, but is not a’power feature’ that shoots and presses opponents with a powerful pitch like Flexen. Walker, a ground-ball-guided pitcher who throws two-seam, cutter, and knuckle curves, can be more powerful with the help of Doosan infield defense. Therefore, in order for the rocket to perform well, the defense of the players who will newly take the first and second base positions instead of Oh Jae-il and Choi Ju-hwan is very important.
For foreign pitchers Rocket and Miranda, who will be active in Doosan uniforms in 2021, it is difficult to expect Nippert and Michael Bowden, who collaborated 40 wins in 2016, and Lindblom and Frankoff, who jointly made 33 wins in 2018. Therefore, support from domestic pitchers is desperate for Doosan to continue to be a strong team this season. This means that Doosan’s 2021 should not be a season of’depending’ on foreign pitchers, but a season of’coexisting’ with foreign pitchers.
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