Lotte Giants decided not to receive compensation for Ahn Chi-hong (33), who transferred to the Hanwha Eagles as a free agent.
Lotte announced on the 27th, ‘We have decided to receive compensation as compensation for FA Ahn Chi-hong’s transfer to Hanwha.’
By giving up the compensation player, Lotte received 1 billion won in compensation from Hanwha, which is 200% of Ahn Chi-hong’s annual salary of 500 million won this year. If you chose to be a compensation player, you could only receive 100% compensation, or 500 million won. 지울프-토토
Ahn Chi-hong, who was released as a free agent after his contract with Lotte ended at the end of this season, signed a contract with Hanwha for up to 7.2 billion won for 4+2 years on the 19th. The basic contract is worth KRW 5.5 billion, including a 4-year guarantee of KRW 4.7 billion and an option of KRW 800 million, and for the subsequent 2-year contract, a mutual option will be activated in which both the club and the player can choose. When the contract is extended, a total of 1.7 billion won is added, including a 2-year guarantee of 1.3 billion won and an option of 400 million won.
Hanwha, which recruited Ahn Chi-hong, drew up a list of protected players early on. Since Ahn Chi-hong was in grade B, up to 25 players could be protected. Hanwha worked on a list of protected players immediately after recruiting Ahn Chi-hong, and did so relatively quickly. The list of protected players was handed over to Lotte at 6pm on the 24th. It was sent one day ahead of the submission deadline on the 25th.
However, Lotte’s choice did not come out right away. It was not until 5:30 PM on the 27th, the last day, that the final decision was made to give up on being a compensated player and only receive compensation. The possibility of appointing a power pitcher immediately seemed high, but the resources that were not included in Hanwha’s protected players did not seem to appeal to Lotte. This also means that Hanwha has made a good list of protected players.
Although Ahn Chi-hong’s compensation player was given up, Lotte filled the infield void to some extent by naming infielders Oh Seon-jin and Choi Hang in the second draft. He then scratched the itch through trade. Before announcing the waiver of compensatory players, they successfully strengthened their bullpen by completing a trade to acquire veteran left-handed pitcher Jin Hae-soo (37) in exchange for transferring the 5th round pick of the 2025 KBO rookie draft to LG.
Jin Hae-soo, who came to his hometown team from Bukyung High School, is a left-hander with a physique of 187 cm and 85 kg. He began his professional career after being selected by KIA with the 50th overall pick in the 2nd 7th round in 2005. Jin Hae-soo, who was traded to SK in May 2013 and LG in July 2015, has a total of 788 games (573⅓ innings) over 16 seasons, with 23 wins, 30 losses, 2 saves, 152 holds, an ERA of 4.96, and 469 strikeouts.
He was ranked the 2017 hold king (24) and ranks third in the all-time career holds category, following Ahn Ji-man (177) and Kwon Hyuk (159). Ranked 1st among active pitchers. This year, he played in 19 games (14⅔ innings) with the first team and recorded an ERA of 3.68 with 2 holds. However, in his last appearance against Gocheok Kiwoom on June 7, he finished in the 2nd team due to LG’s thick bullpen. He pitched well in the Futures League with 27 games (22⅓ innings), 1 win, 1 save, 5 holds, and an ERA of 1.61.
Although there was no suitable position at LG, Jin Hae-soo was needed at Lotte, which lacked left-handed bullpen resources other than Shim Jae-min and Kim Jin-wook. Lotte general manager Park Jun-hyuk said, “The goal is to strengthen the depth of left-handed pitchers, and he is a player who can play immediately next season. He stated the reason for recruiting Jin Hae-soo, saying, “I highly praised the fact that he has accumulated a wealth of experience by participating in many games through diligent self-management.
