Six out of 10 professional baseball teams, more than half, have signed contracts for foreign players. There are clubs that have chosen stability by squeezing all three players, and there are also teams that have gone through a complete water change.
The Kiwoom Heroes announced on the 12th that they had renewed the contract with pitcher Eric Yokishi for a total of $1.5 million. After entering the league in 2019, Yokishi, who has reached 10 wins in 4 years, is celebrating his 5th year in Korea with this contract. He was rumored to return to the United States after the season ended, but in the end he chose to stay.
On the same day, Kiwoom also concluded a contract with infielder Edison Russell. The total amount is 700,000 dollars. Russell, who signed with Kiwoom as a substitute during the 2020 season, but only hit 0.254, 2 home runs and 31 RBIs in 65 games, later went through the Mexican and Dominican Republic leagues and returned to Korea. Earlier, on the 25th of last month, Kiwoom signed a contract with right-hander Ariel Furado for a total of $1 million. 안전놀이터
As a result, the number of clubs that have completed the composition of foreign players for next season has increased to six, including the KIA Tigers, who signed right-hander Adonis Medina over the weekend. The Samsung Lions and Lotte Giants kept their members the same last season. Samsung succeeded in capturing the league’s best mercenary hitter, Jose Pirella, David Buchanan, and Jose Suarez. Lotte also took advantage of Dan Strayley and Charlie Barnes’ outfielder one-two punch and outfielder Jack Rex.
On the other hand, Doosan Bears, which fell from 2nd to 9th in a year, tried to rebound by filling all three foreign players with new faces. Right-handed pitcher Raul Alcantara, who conquered the league with a fastball of 150km per hour and went to Japan, will wear the Bears uniform again after two seasons.
KIA and KT Wiz sought harmony between old and new. KIA renewed contracts with Socrates Brito and KT with Wes Benjamin and Anthony Alford.
The Hanwha Eagles are the only team that has yet to finalize a contract with any foreign player. While they caught Jang Si-hwan and recruited Chae Eun-seong, Lee Tae-yang, and Oh Seon-jin, they made wide strides in the free agent (FA) market, but they have not yet come up with a clear answer to the foreigner problem.