SSG announced on Wednesday that Choo has signed a contract for the 2024 season with a minimum annual salary of 30 million won and will retire after the season. And he will also donate that annual salary of 30 million won, he added.
“Living Legend,” who was recognized as one of the best star players in the U.S. Major League Baseball, was surprised to hear that such a player would play for a season without receiving a penny. Come to think of it, it feels like Choo Shin-soo did the best trick.
However, Choo’s SSG career was not always rosy. He constantly played as a cleanup hitter, but his performance did not come out as expected. His batting average of the mid-2020s for three consecutive seasons. He hit 21 home runs and 25 steals during the 2021 season, but his performance in homers and stolen bases has plummeted since then. Given his expectations for the best player in the Major League and his expectations for annual salary, it was clearly not an individual performance that was too high for him.
He also publicly made remarks in support of Ahn Woo-jin (Kium), who was embroiled in controversy over “broadcasting.” He caused a huge backlash. Choo finished the season without making an apology or explanation.
However, Choo had strong will to play baseball in the fall. He lost in the fall baseball in vain this year. He must have wanted to overcome the pain in the next season. In addition, a love call from new manager Lee Soo-yong also shook Choo’s heart. 에볼루션 바카라사이트
If Choo Shin-soo insisted on 2.7 billion won in salary he received for the first two years and 1.7 billion won he received last season, he might have been suspected of the purity of his willingness to extend his active duty. The KBO League even has a salary cap system, which puts a lot of pressure on high-paid people. In the meantime, when Choo Shin-soo said he would play with the minimum salary, he couldn’t help but feel, “Oh, you really wanted to burn your passion for the last year as a player.”
Four years will be spent in Korea. Coincidentally, four years is the number of years that FA-qualified players sign contracts. If Choo had come as an FA when he came to Korea, he would have been paid over four years and 10 billion won. Lee Dae-ho was paid over four years and 15 billion won when he returned to the Lotte Giants after finishing a season with the Seattle Mariners in the Major League Baseball.
As a result, Choo Shin-soo became a player who received 7.13 billion won for four years. Considering the current trend of 10 billion won contracts being ridiculous, a new perspective of “beneficiary” contracts seems sufficient. It certainly contributed to the popularity of SSG, and the team even won the unified title last season. Choo Shin-soo’s leadership played an important role in it. When Choo Shin-soo came to Korea, the stadium environment improved, and many juniors reportedly followed him as he thoroughly took care of his body. There are several teams that invest tens of billions of won and do not win the championship.