[일요신문] This year’s professional baseball KBO league’salary king’ is Shinsegae Choo (39), an outfielder of the Shinsegae Baseball Team (SSG Landers). Choo Shin-soo, who came to Korea after playing 16 years in the major leagues, signed an annual salary of 2.7 billion won with the Shinsegae Baseball Team, which acquired SK Wyverns. In 2021, he surpassed the highest salary player and broke the record for the highest salary in the KBO League.
At the same time as Choo Shin-soo entered the KBO League, he rose to the position of’League Salary King’ with an annual salary of 2.7 billion won. Photo = Reporter Choi Joon-pil
According to the annual salary of this year’s squad, which KBO released on March 4, the average annual salary of 532 players (excluding rookies and foreign players) from 10 clubs was calculated to be 12.72 million won. This is a 15.1% decrease from 144.4 million won last year. The total annual salary also reached 6.58 billion won, which is 8.68 billion won less than last year (73.74 billion won).
The average annual salary of KBO League players was 15.65 million won in 2019, the highest ever since, and has been on the decline for the second consecutive year. It seems that in recent two seasons, several high-paid players retired or advanced overseas, and they were greatly influenced by leaving the league.
#Shinsoo Choo-Daeho Lee Contract made a change of perception
With the advent of Choo Shin-soo in the KBO League, there was a change of perception in various indicators related to annual salary. Choo Shin-soo, who holds the record of the largest number of home runs (281) in major league Asian players, is a big star that symbolizes the new start of the Shinsegae Baseball Team, which has just stepped into the KBO league. It is symbolic that Lee Dae-ho of the Lotte Giants, who maintained the No. 1 position in KBO’s annual salary for four years from 2017, handed over the crown to Shin-soo Choo.
Lee Dae-ho finished his professional baseball career in Japan and the U.S. and returned to his parental team and signed a contract for a total of 15 billion won (a contract fee of 5 billion won and an annual salary of 2.5 billion won) for four years. This year, when he became a free agent (FA) again, he signed a total of 2.6 billion won (deposit 800 million won, annual salary each 800 million won, and options each 100 million won) for two years and fell to eighth place.
According to the contract results of the two players, the highest-paid players for each position have also changed. Of course, Choo Shin-soo is the number one outfielder in annual salary. LG Twins Kim Hyun-soo (1 billion won), who ranked second in the outfielder category, is 1.7 billion won less than Choo Shin-soo. Lotte Son A-seop, who ranked first with an annual salary of 2 billion won last year, fell to 500 million won this year and fell to 8th place in the outfielder division. The big cutback is Son Ah-seop’s strategic choice. He, who reacquired FA qualification at the end of this year, deliberately reduced his salary for the last season of the contract to reduce the burden of compensation when transferring.
Third place in the outfield was Choi Hyung-woo (900 million won), who signed a free agent contract with the KIA Tigers. It came down one step from second place last year. Na Seong-beom (780 million won), who gave up entering the major leagues and left in the NC Dinos, is in fourth place. By the end of this year, Doosan Bears Kim Jae-hwan, who is getting free agency status, got a’preliminary free agency premium’, contrary to Son Ah-seop. From the team’s point of view, Kim Jae-hwan’s annual salary must be raised to the maximum in order to receive a lot of financial compensation when transferring to another club. Kim Jae-hwan, who received 760 million won, entered the top five outfielder’s annual salary for the first time. LG Park Yong-taek, who was ranked fifth (800 million won) last year, retired and immediately took over an empty spot.
Excluding the outfielder, the annual salary of the first place player in all positions was lower than last year. The number one infielder’s annual salary is Kiwoom Heroes Park Byeong-ho, who receives 1.5 billion won. As Lee Dae-ho fell a tie for fourth in the infielder category, last year’s second place Park Byeong-ho naturally rose to the top. Although it was reduced by 500 million won from last year (2 billion won), it still boasts the highest annual salary among infielders in the entire club. Shinsegae Baseball Team’s signature hitter Choi Jeong-eun rose from 3rd to 2nd place, receiving 1.2 billion won the same as last year.
The most prominent figure in the infielder’s annual salary is Doosan Heo Gyeong-min. He was 13th in infielder last year (480 million won), and he jumped to third place this year (1 billion won). This is the result of signing an FA contract with Doosan, the parent team at the end of last year, for up to 8.5 billion won in 4+3 years. Beyond Kim Jae-hwan, he became the team’s highest salary player, and pushed out NC Park Seok-min, who was 5th in the infielder last year, and climbed to the new top 5. It looks like Heo Kyung-min opened a new heyday as a professional baseball player. KT Wiz Hwang Jae-gyun, who was tied for third place with Choi Jeong with 1.2 billion won last year, was also cut annually to 800 million won according to the contents of the FA contract. Still, he is still the team’s highest-paid player. He tied for fourth place in the infielder with Lee Dae-ho.
According to the terms of the FA contract, Yang’s annual salary fell from 2 billion won last year to 1.5 billion won this year, but it remained the No. 1 position in catcher’s annual salary. Photo = Reporter Lim Joon-seon
#Catcher positive, but maintains the top position in salary
Shin-soo Choo and Dae-ho Lee and their classmates, Seung-Hwan Oh of Samsung Lions, receive the highest annual salary among KBO league pitchers at 1.1 billion won this year. Oh Seung-hwan signed a contract for 100 million less than last year’s annual salary of 1.2 billion won, but the pitcher’s annual salary rose from 2nd to 1st. As Yang Hyun-jong, who received an annual salary of 2.3 billion won from the KIA last year, signed a split contract with the Texas Rangers (a contract that differentiates between the major and minor league salaries) and leaving for the United States, Oh Seung-hwan’s ranking also climbed one step.
The second place in pitching salary is Jung Woo-Ram (800 million won), who finished Hanwha Eagles. Despite maintaining the same amount as last year, the ranking rose from fourth to second. LG Twins Chau-chan, who was third in pitching last year with 1 billion won, fell to fifth place. This is because after the four-year free agency contract was over, the company signed a remaining contract at 300 million won, which was reduced by 700 million won this year. NC Won Jong-Hyun, Doosan Yu Hee-Kwan, Shinsegae Kim Sang-soo and Moon Seung-won received the same annual salary as Cha Woo-chan this year, and formed a joint fifth place.
Finishing Kiwoom Cho Sang-woo ranked third in pitching salary. The amount is 330 million won, a difference of 470 million won from Jung Woo-ram, the second place. Shinsegae Baseball Team Park Jong-hoon (320 million won) follows. It is also noteworthy that the bullpen pitchers are all the first and third places in pitching salaries after the national ace pitchers left abroad. Park Jong-hoon, fourth place pitcher, is the highest salary among starting pitchers.
The catcher is the only position in which the face of the highest-paid player has not changed. NC Yanguiji maintains the undisputed first place with 1.5 billion won. Yang Eui-ji is also tied for second in the batter’s annual salary after Choo Shin-soo with Park Byeong-ho, the number one infielder. The catcher position is the same as last year, even for the second and third place in annual salary. Shinsegae Baseball Team Lee Jae-won (1.1 billion won) in second place and Samsung Kang Min-ho (500 million won) in third place maintained the ranking for the second consecutive year. Kiwoom Lee Ji-young (300 million won), who was in fourth place last year, was tied for fourth place as LG catcher Yoo Gang-nam received 300 million won this year.
#Influence of Shinsoo Choo on Shinsegae Salary
The Shinsegae Baseball Team was counted as the team with the highest average annual salary out of 10 clubs this year. The average annual salary of 61 players registered in the club is 174.2 million won. This is an increase of 20.3% from 144.8 million won last year. It is the highest rate of increase in all clubs, and is about 52 million won more than the average annual salary this year.
Above all, this year, the average annual salary of the eight clubs excluding the Shinsegae Baseball Team and KT has decreased compared to last year. Even the NC, which was the first to win the integrated championship, the average annual salary decreased by 10.2% from 165.81 million won to 148.89 million won. KIA, where Yang Hyeon-jong left, fell 38.4% from 14657 million won to 90.3 million won, while Lotte (163.9 million won → 13.35 million won / 37.6% declined), LG (161.4 million won → 100 million won). 28.89 million won, a 20.1% decline) and Hanwha (11.98 million won → 79.94 million won, 28.6% decline) also fell sharply. Only about KT, which has successfully entered the first postseason after its foundation, has only slightly increased from an average of 140 million won last year to 11.11 million won (6.7% increase) this year.
Therefore, the average annual salary increase rate of the Shinsegae Baseball Team, which was ranked 9th in the regular season last year, seems to be the only effect made by’Choo Shin-soo’s 2.7 billion won. In fact, the average annual salary of 55 players of the Shinsegae Baseball Team, excluding Choo Shin-soo, is only 129.29 million won, which is 17 million won lower than last year. The total annual salary of the squad is no different. Of the 10 clubs, only the Shinsegae Baseball Team is approaching 10 billion won in total (97.56 billion won). The number of registered players is 56, much higher than that of the same NC (8.343 billion won) and Samsung (73.57 billion won). This figure is also the’Choo Shin-soo effect’.
#How far is the highest annual salary march for Lee Jeong-hoo?
The’Beijing Kids’ are still advancing at a terrifying pace. Kiwoom Lee Jeong-hoo, who is considered the best star among KBO League players in their 20s, receives an annual salary of 550 million won this year, which has been in her fifth year. The top salary player in the previous five years was Kim Ha-sung, a team senior who joined the San Diego Padres in the major league this year. In 2018, when he was in his fifth year, he received 320 million won.
Lee Jung-hoo’s pace is steeper than Kim Ha-seong. In the fourth year, last year, he already received 390 million won, surpassing the record for the highest annual salary in Kim Ha-sung in his fifth year. This year’s annual salary is also more than twice as high as Kim Ha-sung’s previous highest amount. He is already walking through the’Dongil’ without competitors. Like Hyun-jin Ryu (then Hanwha and the current Toronto Blue Jays) during the KBO League, Lee Jeong-hoo is also breaking the highest annual salary every year. Only the 2nd year salary record was given to the one-year junior Kang Baek-ho (KT), and from the 3rd year (230 million won) to the 5th year, they are all ranked first.
As long as there are no unexpected variables such as injuries, the highest annual salary records for the sixth and seventh years have already been obtained. The highest annual salary for the sixth year was 400 million won for Ryu Hyun-jin in 2011, and the highest annual salary for the seventh year was 550 million won for Kim Ha-seong last year. Lee Jung-hoo’s annual salary this year is already the highest in his seventh year and a tie. However, the record after that is unknown. If Lee Jung-hoo plays for 7 years in the KBO League, he will be eligible for overseas advancement. Many baseball officials are predicting his overseas expansion. Lee Jung-hoo also did not give a definite answer, but he has a mindset that “if you are ready, you can challenge” With the performance of his best friend, Kim Ha-sung, there is a good chance that his mind will turn to the major leagues for the remaining three seasons.
Of course, if Lee Jung-hoo stays in Korea to play the eighth season, the annual salary record march could continue to eat away. The highest annual salary in the eighth year is also 550 million won, the same as that of Lee Jeong-hoo (Na Seong-beom, NC in 2019). Lee Jung-hoo is already on that notice.
Reporter Bae Young-eun, JoongAng Ilbo