Park Chan-ho → Yang Hyun-jong, Kia's aftermath after Choi Hyung-woo's departure, was spared mentioning…Tell the players not to get into an accident
Dec 01, 2025
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Yang Hyun-jong, chairman of the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (hereinafter referred to as the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association), attended the '2025 Comtus Professional Baseball Real Glove Award' held at Grand Walker Hill Seoul in Gwangjang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul on the 1st. Yang Hyun-jong is coolly an independent currently, but he did his best to fulfill his duties as chairman as there is also a general meeting of the players' association.
However, Yang Hyun-jong declined to comment when asked about the FA negotiations with his original team, the KIA Tigers. Because the situation is not good.
KIA only announced the result of 'failure' after the start of the stove league this winter. The main shortstop and this year's biggest fish Park Chan-ho signed a four-year, 8 billion won contract with the Doosan Bears. Backup catcher Han Seung-taek signed a four-year, 1 billion won contract with KT Wiz, and even veteran Choi Hyung-woo, who was the undisputed No. 4 hitter, has signed an FA contract with the Samsung Lions and is waiting for final coordination.
KIA's only achievement this winter is to sign a three-year, 1.2 billion won contract with left-handed bullpen Lee Joon-young. Now only two pitchers, Yang Hyun-jong and Jo Sang-woo, remain in the market.
KIA fans, who believed in KIA's stance that `there is no overpayment' and watched Jang Hyun-sik (LG Twins) and Park Chan-ho's departure over the past two years, are also unable to hold back their anger over Choi Hyung-woo's departure. In any case, both Park Chan-ho and Choi Hyung-woo were key players of the team, and they were not very active in negotiations at a time when they could not find a player to completely replace 100% right away, so complaints could build.
Yang Hyun-jong was well aware of this atmosphere, so he refrained from commenting on the negotiations.
"I'm doing an interview as the president of the Korea Professional Sports Association, so I'm a little cautious about personal interviews. I think it would be better to talk about representing the Korea Professional Baseball Association or the KBO," he politely declined.
Yang Hyun-jong was elected president of the Korea Federation of Players in December last year and will represent the players until 2026. While serving as chairman for the past year, I realized how important communication between KBO and the players' association is.
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While representing the players for a year, I felt the hardships of the former chairmen.
Yang Hyun-jong laughed, complaining, "'Personally, it was really hard.'" There was so much to do. Maybe it's because I've never lived in society, but the position of chairman was too heavy. Even when the players meet at the ballpark, it's inevitable and it's hard to do it as much as possible. I knew a lot of things I didn't know, and when I became the chairman, there were things I could see. This season was my first, and there were a lot of things I didn't know, but next season, I think I can think a little more and do it wisely without panicking.'
There was a request for the players.
Yang Hyeon-jong "I wish I didn't get into an accident. I was flabbergasted when I heard the news of the accident. If it's not the president, I don't have to be interested in other team players, but I get a lot of stress. How to talk to the Secretary-General about how to deal with the problem. I think it's a little better after a year, but I think it's best for our players to prepare well and show their best at the ballpark and sweat hard, and I think the fans visited the ballpark a lot and cheered for it because they feel cool. Rather than always warning the players to think and act one more time, I ask them to do so. If we are good at baseball, we will gain a lot of popularity, and I think it is natural as professional players to show humility accordingly," he stressed.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
