‘Expectation for fall baseball’ 50 billion won over 3 years… Eagle looking higher

Hanwha’s ‘new stadium next year’ Shim Woo-jun and Eom Sang-baek KRW 12.8 billion free agents… Proved by the results

Woojun Shim | Sangbaek Eom

For the past three years, Hanwha has been a ‘big player’ in Stove League. However, at the end of the season, we were always ‘empty-handed’. Hanwha, which is betting on fall baseball in 2025, opened its wallet again. Over the three years until this year, close to 50 billion won was spent on external recruitment. It seems that ‘advancing’ to the postseason should be revised as Hanwha’s minimum goal next season.

On the 7th, Hanwha signed a free agent (FA) contract with former KT shortstop Shim Woo-jun for a total of 5 billion won over 4 years, and on the 8th, they signed a 4-year contract with sidearm starter Eom Sang-baek for a total of 7.8 billion won. Just three days after the FA opened, it spent 12.8 billion won and exited early.

This is a recruitment that will definitely help Hanwha, which has been in the bottom tier for a long time. Shim Woo-Jun has definite strengths in defense and base running. It also fits the baseball culture of Hanwha coach Kim Kyung-moon, who prefers players with good base running ability. Eom Sang-baek is one of the league’s best native starters in his 20s who has completed his military service. Although he is capable of both starting and bullpen work, he filled all regulation innings this year and achieved 13 wins. He has the ability to strengthen Hanwha’s starting lineup, which was ‘Ryu Hyun-jin‘.

However, contracts larger than expected are also evaluated as ‘overpayment’. This is not just a story limited to this year. After the 2022 season, Hanwha signed Chae Eun-seong for 6 years and 9 billion won, and after last year’s season, infielder Ahn Chi-hong was signed as a free agent for 4+2 years and 7.2 billion won. Although he added the ‘consistency’ that was lacking in Hanwha’s batting lineup, there was controversy over overpayment even at the time.

Hanwha began rebuilding its squad by entrusting the baton to coach Carlos Subero in 2021, but the atmosphere changed in 2023, the final year of the three-year project. To avoid the disgrace of being ranked last for four consecutive years, 11.9 billion won was spent on recruiting external free agents, including Chae Eun-seong.

As there was no sign of escaping from the bottom despite two years of rebuilding and an investment of more than 10 billion won, Coach Subero was dismissed, and then Futures (2nd team) coach Choi Won-ho was appointed as the new head coach. Hanwha, which finished the 2023 season in 9th place, set its sights on this year’s fall baseball by signing an 8-year, 17 billion won contract with Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned from the major league following Ahn Chi-hong.

However, this year, with 24.2 billion won spent, it only ranked 8th in the regular season. Midway through the season, they fired coach Choi Won-ho and appointed coach Kim Kyung-moon, showing greater ambition, but they did not even make it to the semifinals. This time, Hanwha also focused on external blood transfusion. Over the past three years, 48.9 billion won has been spent on recruitment alone.

Hanwha opens an ‘new stadium era’ next season. Hanwha’s top priority, having failed to advance to the postseason for six consecutive years, is fall baseball. High-intensity training is underway at the Japanese finishing camp, with veterans such as Chae Eun-seong and Ahn Chi-hong all participating, except for Ryu Hyun-jin. Regardless of the external evaluation, the desired reinforcement of power was successful. All that remains is to overcome repeated failures and prove the generous investment with results.

Since a large amount of money was spent, the standard has no choice but to rise further. If we are empty-handed next fall, it will be close to an ‘accident’. From the moment Ryu Hyun-jin was recruited early this year, Hanwha’s clock has sped up. Ryu Hyun-jin, who is in his late 30s, should run for president when he is at least a year younger. As always, it is ultimately performance that determines the success or failure of aggressive investments. Now even the goal can no longer remain at ‘advancing’ to fall baseball.