Over $1 Million for the "Old Town Hall"
All 10 clubs have completed the formation of foreign players, with the KIA Tigers' new foreign pitcher James Neville announcing the contract on the 19th.
One of the characteristics of foreign players in the 2024 season is their old style. Fifteen players, or half of the total 30, renewed their contracts and stayed. This is two more than the 13 players who are eligible to renew their contracts in the 2023 season.
As it became difficult to recruit competitive players from overseas leagues such as Major League Baseball (MLB), minor league Triple-A, and Japanese professional baseball, each club chose stability over adventure.
Excluding the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions, who replaced all three players, eight clubs continued to accompany one or two foreign players who played in the 2023 season.
The LG Twins have secured pitcher Casey Kelly and batter Austin Dean, who led the team win last year. KT Wiz, which advanced to the Korean Series after staying at the bottom of the league in the early 2023 season, also renewed contracts with William Cuevas and Wes Benjamin, the "one-two punch" who combined for 27 wins last year.
Doosan Bears (Raul Alcantara, Brandon Waddell), Lotte Giants (Charlie Barnes, Aaron Wilkerson), and Hanwha Eagles (Felix Peña, Ricardo Sanchez) also hired two foreign pitchers like KT.
SSG Landers (Roenis Elias, Guillermo Heredia) and Kiwoom Heroes (Ariel Furado, Ronnie Dawson) renewed their contracts with one pitcher and one batter. KIA has decided to accompany Socrates Brito, who ranks second in RBIs and fifth in runs scored, for the third year.
Initially, NC and Samsung also sought to renew contracts with Eric Peddy, who won three regular season pitchers and MVP last year, respectively, and David Buchanan, who won double-digit wins for four consecutive seasons, but negotiations broke down.
Some foreign players leave the KBO league and play again. KT recruited Mel Rojas Jr., the 2020 regular season MVP, and Doosan also joined hands with Henry Ramos, who was released from KT in 2022 after failing to display his skills due to injury.
As foreign players, who account for 30 percent of a team's performance, have become more important, teams have also increased spending. LG and KT invested 3.8 million dollars, the largest amount, followed by SSG (3.5 million dollars), Doosan (3.33 million dollars), Lotte (3.25 million dollars), and KIA (3.15 million dollars). NC, Samsung, and Hanwha both spent 2.8 million dollars, while Kiwoom, which has the smallest annual salary for its players, spent 2.7 million dollars.
A total of 18 foreign players are paid more than one million dollars. Kelly, Cuevas, Alcantara, and Heredia tied for the highest foreign player ransom with 1.5 million dollars.
Most of them sign contracts worth more than 800,000 dollars. Two foreign players are Sanchez of the Hanwha Eagles with 750,000 dollars and Dawson of the Kiwoom Heroes with 600,000 dollars. When Sanchez and Dawson joined the team as substitutes for foreign players in the middle of last season, the contracts amounted to 400,000 dollars and 85,000 dollars, respectively. The two who renewed their contracts are clearly treated better than a year ago.