Kwon Hee-dong (33), the only beast uncontracted free agent, remained with the original team NC Dinos.
On the afternoon of the 27th, NC officially announced that it had signed a contract with outfielder Kwon Hee-dong, a free agent (FA), for a one-year contract period and up to 125 million won (annual salary of 90 million won and an option of 35 million won).
Kwon Hee-dong joined NC with the 84th overall pick in the 9th round of the 2013 rookie draft, when NC first participated in the first team league. He has recorded 645 hits, 81 home runs, 381 RBIs, a batting average of 0.259, and an on-base percentage of 0.353 in 857 regular league (first team) matches so far this year.
Neither Kwon Hee-dong nor NC was an unscheduled contract.
To Kwon Hee-dong and Lee Myeong-ki, who obtained free agent qualifications, NC manager Kang In-kwon at the time advised, “Look closely at the market situation and apply.” It was an advice considering the team situation where 8 FA qualified players were crowded together.
Applying for free agency soon meant breaking up with his team, NC.
In fact, when Kwon Hee-dong and Lee Myeong-gi applied for free agency, NC, which had no power to sign a contract, quickly started looking for an alternative. He prepared for a void by recruiting outfielder Han Seok-hyun from the Futures League free agent market. The last bastion of remaining in the original team was naturally blocked.
However, market conditions did not turn in their favor for the veteran outfielder.
Being born in 1990, he had only one advantage, such as his relatively young age, rich experience, defensive ability that allowed him to play not only in the corner but also in center field, and his one-hit slugging ability and clutch ability.
Class B was the shackles.
Kwon Hee-dong, whose annual salary in 2022 was significantly reduced to 110 million won amid the Corona 19 political situation, initially expected a C grade that would make it easy to transfer because there was no compensation player. However, when he was on the market, the label attached to him was grade B. NC actively helped Kwon Hee-dong’s transfer, saying that he would even consider signing and trading. But there were no real offers. The Hanwha Eagles weighed Lee Myeong-gi and Kwon Hee-dong internally for a while, but it wasn’t a hot courtship.
If he had been a C-class free agent as Kwon Hee-dong wished, would the situation have been different?
When there is a gap in the existing outfield, there are few outfielders in the market who can fill the gap as imperceptibly as Kwon Hee-dong. It’s also a great card as a pinch hitter. However, his transfer was blocked when he was narrowly rated B grade.
NC, who was saddened, began to consider signing a contract with Kwon Hee-dong when Lee Myung-gi moved to Hanwha through a sign-and-trade. Two were burdensome, but one was able to afford to remain.
In the end, an agreement was reached when Kwon Hee-dong accepted Baek Ui-jong’s contract.
Relatively, for the original team NC, it was possible to secure an experienced franchise star as a backup agent at a low price. As long as we prevent the decline of the motivation of middle-class players who are aiming for a leap, such as Han Seok-hyun and Kim Seong-wook, we can expect the effect of gaining various options.
Lim Seon-nam, general manager of the NC Dinos, said, “I am happy to renew the contract with Kwon Hee-dong, who has been with us since the beginning of the game. 카지노사이트
Kwon Hee-dong, who returned to his parents’ home from the edge of the cliff, predicted an active performance in earnest.
He said, “I am happy to continue playing baseball. It is true that I had a lot of trouble thinking that I might quit baseball in a situation where I did not know how it would go. It was difficult, but it was a precious time for me. I am grateful to NC for giving me the opportunity, and I will prepare well and come back in a good way.”