Is it the top priority in negotiations with Kia, the number one pitcher who is unlucky, to take compensation other than 20 players
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This is the industry's cold assessment of bullpen FA Cho Sang-woo. Cho Sang-woo is A-class, so the scale of compensation is large. In order for the other team to recruit, it must pay 800 million won, which is 200% of this year's Cho Sang-woo's annual salary, one compensation player other than 20 protected players, or 1.2 billion won, which is 300% of this year's annual salary. KBO club officials are shaking their heads coolly when asked whether it is worth recruiting at the risk of such bleeding.
He is in the process of negotiations with his original team, the KIA Tigers. It is difficult to say that it is very smooth. That's the speed of negotiations. KIA has delivered several conditions to Cho Sang-woo's side, but has yet to reach an agreement with the player.
KIA put considerable effort into recruiting Cho Sang-woo. After last season, Jang Hyun-sik, a must-win group, agreed with the LG Twins on the terms of a four-year, 5.2 billion won guarantee and transferred, turning his eyes to recruiting Cho Sang-woo. Cho Sang-woo was the best seller in the trade market last year, and KIA embraced Cho Sang-woo by giving Kiwoom Heroes the first and fourth round of the 2026 rookie draft and 1 billion won in cash.
Since it was a recruitment that gave up the future, Kia had to win the title for the second consecutive year this year to call Cho Sang-woo a success. However, from the opening, MVP batter Kim Do-young left due to injury and key players such as Na Sung-beom, Kim Sun-bin and Kwak Do-kyu fell out due to injury, failing to recover and staying in eighth place. The Cho Sang-woo trade was a failure in terms of 'Winnow'.
Cho Sang-woo's personal performance alone was not bad. Rather, without Cho Sang-woo, it was difficult for KIA's bullpen, which collapsed to ninth place in ERA, to endure this much.
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KIA should immediately find a new face to take responsibility for 60 innings if Cho Sang-woo is absent. KIA is not known to be interested in recruiting left-hander FA Kim Bum-soo, and Hong Gun-hee, who applied for an opt-out and became a free body after being released from the Doosan Bears, is a question mark. Hong Gun-hee would want more conditions than that because he gave up his two-year, 1.5 billion won option and came to the market, but he is burdened with spending a lot of money this year with only 20 games, 16 innings and an ERA of 6.19.
Kwak Do-gyu will return from elbow surgery rehabilitation next year, but it is difficult to be with him from the opening and it is also a burden to be moderate. In addition to Jung Hae-young, Jeon Sang-hyun and Sung Young-tak, it is important for KIA to secure a little more must-win group.
KIA plans to continue negotiations with Cho Sang-woo for now. KIA collected nearly 2.5 billion won in compensation alone as internal FA Park Chan-ho (Doosan, 8 billion won for four years), Choi Hyung-woo (Samsung, 2.6 billion won for two years), and Han Seung-taek (KT, 1 billion won for four years) transferred. There is no overpay, but if you want to spend money, you can spend it.
KIA was active in preventing the pitcher from leaving this winter by signing a two-plus-one-year contract of 4.5 billion won with left-hander ace Yang Hyun-jong and three-year and 1.2 billion won with left-handed bullpen Lee Joon-young.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
