The team that really recruited the FA's biggest fish is Lotte?

Lotte failed to advance to the postseason last year as well. It is the sixth consecutive year that the fall baseball has been frustrated. A change was needed. And it made a bold decision.

He has joined hands with Kim Tae-hyung, 57, the "master general" and the "winning contractor." Who is Kim Tae-hyung? As soon as he became the head coach of Doosan in 2015, he led Doosan to win the Korean Series and raised its stock price by leading Doosan to win the Korean Series in 2016 and 2019. Above all, Doosan has made history as it advanced to the Korean Series for seven consecutive years from 2015 to 2021.

Lotte, however, was far from a "fancy winter" even though it brought in the "winning contractor." Lotte, which had grabbed franchise star Jeon Joon-woo, who was an internal FA, and Ahn Chi-hong, another internal FA, signed a contract with Hanwha for a total of 4.7 billion won (approx. Ahn Chi-hong wore Hanwha's uniform for a 4+2 year contract with a total of 7.2 billion won (approx.

Although Lotte reinforced infield resources such as Oh Sun-jin and Choi Hang through the second draft and traded for veteran left-hander bullpen Jin Hae-soo and veteran infielder Kim Min-sung, it was a quiet move compared to last winter when it recruited three outside FA players including Yoo Kang-nam, Noh Jin-hyuk and Han Hyun-hee at once. He had to consider the salary cap, and he had to be careful in writing "real bullets" in that Kim Won-joong and Koo Seung-min, the core of the bullpen, will qualify as FA side by side at the end of this season.

Although Lotte did not recruit outside F.A. with just one of its two internal F.A. players, it is assessed that it has already recruited the "biggest FA player" just by appointing Kim Tae-hyung as its manager. In fact, manager Kim Tae-hyung's future was one of the biggest concerns in the baseball community last year. Manager Kim Tae-hyung, who broke up with Doosan at the end of the 2022 season, transformed into a commentator last year, drawing keen response from fans with his sharp commentary that pointed out the point. It was widely expected that even if he remains as a commentator, teams that need "masterpieces" will soon stage competition to recruit him.

Lotte moved quickly. After finishing seventh in the regular season despite a meteoric rise until early June last year, Lotte had to appoint a new head coach, and held Kim Tae-hyung, the biggest fish in the managerial market, in his arms, and Lotte fans couldn't help but rejoice at the news of the great leader.

Lotte cannot be evaluated as a team with superior power yet. There are more than one or two positions that a coach needs to look into. Kim Tae-hyung, who said he would quickly grasp the team as soon as he took the helm of Lotte, has been drawing the blueprint for this season by fully mobilizing his "hawk eye" since last year's closing training. Among fielders, only Jeon Joon-woo, Yoo Kang-nam and Yoon Dong-hee have been selected as key players, while the rest of the seats will be in unlimited competition. Of course, there are some players who are highly likely to be on the starting lineup, including Noh Jin-hyuk and Kim Min-seok, but the fact that he has not nailed it as a clear starting pitcher can be interpreted as the coach's message that he should show better performance this year.

Still, as pitchers include two proven foreign pitchers including Charlie Barnes and Aaron Wilkerson, and native ace pitchers such as Park Se-woong and Na Kyun-an, the situation is better than other teams in that the starting pitchers are outlined. However, it is worrisome that left-hander Shim Jae-min, one of the five starting pitchers, could not join the spring camp due to his shoulder injury. So is the bullpen. Set-up men including closer Kim Won-joong, Kim Sang-soo and Koo Seung-min are in place, but they have to solve the remaining puzzles.

Now the spring camp is about to begin in earnest. It is time for the coach to make a final plan ahead of the opening of the regular season. Attention is already drawn to which players will catch the eye of the "master general."

Coach Kim Tae-hyung maintained his top-notch performance even when key players such as Yang Eui-ji, Kim Hyun-soo, Park Gun-woo, Min Byung-hun, Oh Jae-il, Lee Won-seok, Choi Joo-hwan and Lee Yong-chan were transferred to the FA when he was with the Doosan Bears. What will he do at Lotte? As soon as Kim Tae-hyung came to Lotte, his main player An Chi-hong was transferred to the FA, creating a big gap. As Kim Tae-hyung led his team to the top without making any excuses every year when he was with the Doosan Bears, expectations are high on what kind of players Lotte will discover and "clear the traffic." 안전놀이터

Meanwhile, Lotte's Korean team entered Guam, the site of its first spring camp, on the night of June 31, Korean time. On the first day of the spring camp, the team will conduct half-training in the afternoon.