I'm sorry, it's my responsibility...Why did Lee Seung-yeop voluntarily resign

Jun 02, 2025

Dusan-Hanwha match held at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 13th. Manager Lee Seung-yeop is watching the game. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025..May 13/

A game between the Doosan Bears and the Hanwha Eagles at Jamsil Stadium on the 10th. Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop is watching the training. Jamsil = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.04.10/

"I'm sorry. It's my responsibility."

It was the first word that former coach Lee Seung-yeop uttered at the Doosan Bears office on the 2nd. Manager Lee expressed his intention to resign voluntarily to the club, and the club decided to accept it.

Former coach Lee's willingness to resign was firm. Doosan is in ninth place with 23 wins, 32 losses and 3 draws for the season. It was up to 6.5 games apart from the fifth-place KT Wiz and three games apart from the eighth-place NC Dinos. Amid the all-time mid-range battle, Doosan somehow held out until early May, but it was on the decline.

It was a season that didn't go as planned. Doosan set up a one-two punch with Colerbin and Zachlog and recruited Cave as a new foreign hitter. Colerbin and Cave had high expectations because they were players who had made some performance in the U.S. Major League Baseball, but the two were not using their power properly. Colerbin was 5-5 with 67 ⅓ innings and a 4.28 ERA in 12 games, and Cave was sluggish in 50 games with a batting average of 0.286 (59 hits in 206 at-bats), four homers, 25 RBIs and an OPS of 0.731.

Above all, the departure of Korean ace Kwak Bin was painful. As a matter of fact, Doosan has a thin domestic starter Debs, but Kwak Bin left due to injury just before the opening, creating a big hole. It was also a big negative factor that Hong Gun-hee, the core of the must-win group, left due to elbow pain. Two rookie pitchers this year, including Choi Min-seok and Hong Min-gyu, had to fill this vacancy.

The sluggishness of the main batters could not be ignored. Captain Yang Eui-ji is at the center with a batting average of 0.310, eight home runs, 35 RBIs and an OPS of 0.893, but players who have to support them in the central lineup, such as Kim Jae-hwan (0.243), Yang Seok-hwan (0.260), and Kang Seung-ho (0.217), did not do their part.

If the discovery of new faces such as infielder Oh Myung-jin and Im Jong-sung is a harvest, it is a harvest. Kim Min-seok and Kim Dae-han, who expected a generational change in the outfield, have yet to burst their full potential.

Above all, there are many stories that Doosan-like Energy is missing from the ground. Not only did the team color called Hustle Play disappear, but the atmosphere of the dugout without fighting regardless of victory or defeat was also mentioned as one of the problems.

Former coach Lee decided to put down the baton because he thought he needed a big turning point to change the team's atmosphere once.

Dusan-Hanwha match held at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 13th. Doosan won 4-3 after the 11th inning of extra time. Im Jong-sung, who hit the final hit in the top of the 11th inning, is welcomed by head coach Lee Seung-yeop. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025..May 13/

The Doosan-Hanwha match held at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 14th. Oh Myung-jin, who scored when Kang Seung-ho had a hit with two outs and third base in the top of the eighth inning, is welcomed by coach Lee Seung-yeop, coach Cho In-sung and coach Park Seok-min. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025..May14/

An official from Doosan told Sports Chosun "I think the coach had been worried all along while playing the season. As you always said, he said that he will take responsibility for all responsibilities from the first year of his appointment and that he will be criticized. Instead, the players asked to move more aggressively on the ground, but now that the results are not coming out and the team's atmosphere is not good. I think he said he would take responsibility for it."

Doosan signed a three-year contract with former coach Lee for a total of 1.8 billion won ahead of the 2023 season. Best treatment ever for a new coach. There were many voices concerned about how the former coach, who had no leadership experience, could lead the team, but in the end, he left the team without meeting the contract period.

Former coach Lee took charge of Doosan, which was ranked 9th in 2022, and led the team to 5th in 2023 and 4th in 2024. He made it to the fall baseball league for two consecutive years, but lost all three postseason games, losing his performance. Last year, he lost all two games in the wild card match against KT Wiz, which led to the disgrace of being eliminated for the first time in the history of fourth place teams.

When former coach Lee took office, he expressed his ambition to lead the team to the Korean Series within three years of his term, and this year was his last chance, but he stopped trying after 58 games in the season. He was faced with an unwanted ending of voluntary resignation, but former coach Lee left the office after saying his last greetings with the friendly Doosan front desk.

A Doosan official said, `Thank you for the hard work of coach Lee Seung-yeop who led the team for three seasons.'

Doosan decided to give coach Cho Sung-hwan QC as its acting manager from the match against the KIA Tigers in Jamsil on the 3rd. No decision has yet been made on whether to complete the season under the acting system of Cho Sung-hwan or appoint a new coach.

A Doosan official said "It hasn't been long since I told coach Cho Sung-hwan to take over as an acting coach. It is not at the stage of talking about whether to go to the end of the season or not. I plan to make a judgment while watching the situation."

A game between SSG and Doosan at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 21st, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop is watching the losing game in the top of the eighth inning. Jamsil= Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.05.21/

KBO League Kiwoom and Doosan held at Gocheok Dome on the 1st. Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop and the team preparing for the game. Gocheok = Song Jeong-heon Reporter songs@sportschosun.com/2025.06.01/

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.