In this file photo from Oct. 1, 2024, Choi Jeong of the SSG Landers heads to first base after hitting a solo home run against the KT Wiz during a fifth-place tiebreaker game in the Korea Baseball Organization at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Choi Jeong, the career home run leader in South Korean baseball, headlines the list of 20 free agents this offseason.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Tuesday that 20 out of 30 players eligible for free agency this offseason will test the open market. Starting Wednesday, they are free to sign with any team in the KBO or in overseas leagues.
Choi, 37, has spent his entire career with the SSG Landers/SK Wyverns franchise, starting in 2005. The Landers have already hinted that they will retain Choi with what could be his final multiyear contract, and the announcement is expected Wednesday.
Choi became the league’s new all-time home run king in April with his 468th homer. He finished the season with 495 after hitting 37 dingers.
The 2024 champions Kia Tigers have three free agents, including reliever Jang Hyun-sik, who tossed five scoreless innings in relief while appearing in all five games of the Korean Series.
The 34-year-old third baseman Heo Kyoung-min will hit free agency for the second time. He has only played for the Bears in his 13-year career. Heo batted .309 this season, his highest average in five years.
Prior to the 2021 season, Heo signed a four-year deal with an option for three more years worth 2 billion won (US$1.45 million) in total. Heo declined that option and will now see if he can command more money than that over a longer period of time.
Right-hander Kim Won-jung is a first-time free agent, after having spent the past 10 seasons with the Lotte Giants. He has recorded 132 saves since becoming their closer in 2020 — the second-highest total in the league in that span.
KBO free agents are split into three classes depending on their salaries over the past three seasons, and different compensation rules apply to each class.
In this file photo from July 30, 2024, Heo Kyoung-min of the Doosan Bears hits an RBI single against the Kia Tigers during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Players ranked in the top three in salary on their team and top 30 in the league are in Class A. If a team signs a free agent from that class, the team must pay his previous club twice the amount of that player’s previous salary and send a player not on its protected list, or pay the team three times the amount of the player’s previous salary.
Players whose salary placed them between fourth and 10th on their clubs, and 31st and 60th in the league end up in Class B. The compensation rules for acquiring these free agents are as follows: the same amount of the player’s previous salary and a compensatory player, or double the amount of that salary without a compensatory player.
Class C features players whose salary put them below 11th on their teams and 61st in the league. Players who become free agents for the first time at age 35 or older automatically end up in this group. Teams signing a Class C free agent only have to pay up to 1.5 times the amount of the player’s previous salary, with no need to send any player the other way.
Because there are fewer than 21 free agents, clubs can each sign a maximum two free agents from outside.
(Yonhap)
