An unparalleled amount of KIA why Park Chan-ho is staying in the white flag, and in fact, a full 8 billion won guarantee
Nov 18, 2025
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KIA Tigers general manager Shim Jae-hak deserved a sigh. KIA was willing to keep its main shortstop Park Chan-ho, but the Doosan Bears had no choice but to raise the white flag as they offered an unconventional condition that guaranteed the full 8 billion won.
Doosan announced on the 18th that it signed a four-year contract with FA shortstop Park Chan-ho for a total of 8 billion won. The down payment reaches 5 billion won, more than half of the total, and the total annual salary for four years is 2.8 billion won. The incentive is only 200 million won. In fact, it is safe to say that it is a full guarantee.
Park Chan-ho reigned as the biggest FA fish this winter. Doosan and KT Wiz, as well as the original team KIA, competed to recruit. It is true that the Lotte Giants were also interested, but they did not make an offer. That's how high the poet was.
According to the industry, Park Chan-ho's starting price was 8 billion won for four years. This is the background of the saying that 10 billion won will be possible if the recruitment battle is held.
How could Doosan sign Park Chan-ho at a price that did not rise at all. There was also an offer to extend the contract period to guarantee a slightly larger amount than 8 billion won, but this will increase the option. Park Chan-ho reportedly wanted the guaranteed amount to be large. Already, 8 billion won is the amount that can be controversial overpay, but the total amount did not rise further because they wanted almost full guarantees.
Another thing is that Park Chan-ho himself insisted on a four-year contract. This means that he is confident that he can sign another contract on good terms when he becomes an FA once more four years later.
With this contract, Park Chan-ho ranked second in shortstop FA history. The highest amount of shortstop FA in history is 12.4 billion won in total for six years for Oh Ji-hwan of the LG Twins. Doosan's Kim Jae-ho, Lotte's Noh Jin-hyuk, and Hanwha's Shim Woo-joon, who are tied for third, easily exceeded 5 billion won for four years.
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After signing Park Chan-ho, Doosan said, `Park Chan-ho is a professional shortstop who played shortstop in 994 games (91.4%) out of 1,088 games. His skills and durability have been proven by ranking first in shortstop innings (5481 innings) over the past five seasons. He took the center stage of the infield by boasting fast feet and wide defense range, and won two KBO League stolen bases (2019 and 2022), two defensive shortstop categories (2023-2024), and one Golden Glove shortstop category (2024)."
A Doosan official said, `Park Chan-ho is a shortstop with the best defense in the league and is a resource that can center the infield of many young players. As a leadoff, I expect him to have a role as well as an aggressive baserunning ability to revitalize the entire team.
Park Chan-ho said, `I dreamed of watching Doosan baseball when I was young. I'm honored and overwhelmed to wear the team's uniform. I would like to thank Park Jung-won, the owner of Doosan, for making a good contractWe thank KIA and Gwangju fans for their support for the past 12 years. I will never forget that love in the future."
KIA should now concentrate on finding the next main shortstop. It is being discussed to change the position of Kim Do-young, who was a special shortstop in high school, from third baseman to shortstop, and Kim Kyu-sung, Park Min, and Chung Hyun-chang are currently sweating to take the place where Park Chan-ho is missing in Okinawa, Japan.
General manager Shim said "The appointment of players is the coach's own authority," but "The coach will also have a lot of concerns." Kim Do-young also said, "I think he could be an alternative under the premise that he is healthy.'
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
