It was even more meaningful because it was a victory without a “winning contractor.”
The KIA Tigers were frequently mentioned as major customers in the trade market in July. It was an urgent task to fill the vacancy of closer Jung Hae-young as he was excluded from the first team entry on June 24 due to inflammation of his right shoulder rotator muscles. It was widely believed that Cho Sang-woo, a former Kiwoom Heroes closer, was put up for sale in the trade market just in time. Cho Sang-woo is a fireballer who made 33 saves in 2020. The key was the price of recruitment.
Infielder Kim Hui-jip, who was traded from Kiwoom to the NC Dinos on May 30, had two picks for the first and third rounds of the 2025 rookie draft. To recruit Cho Sang-woo, he had to endure more bleeding. It was because his value soared as multiple teams, who were unstable in the back door, jumped into the recruitment of Cho Sang-woo. At the time, a club official said, “We should be prepared to give up the first round of the rookie draft like NC.”
KIA had the experience of recruiting pitcher Kim Se-hyun as its “winner contractor” when it won the 2017 integrated championship. The team made bold moves at the trade deadline (July 31) to strengthen its bullpen. However, the team suffered severe bleeding. In exchange for Kim’s recruitment, the team passed over left-handed pitcher Lee Seung-ho, who was named the fourth overall pick in the second round of the 2017 rookie draft, to the Nexen Heroes (currently Kiwoom). After the transfer, Lee has become a key resource for Kiwoom by winning eight games in 2019 and making 10 saves with 10 holds in 2022. Some expressed regret that Kia achieved its goal of winning the championship overall, but gave up its future resources.
Last season, the LG Twins acquired starting pitcher Choi Won-tae in a trade and successfully won the title. Instead, they had to give up Lee Ju-hyung (the 13th pick in the second round of the 2020 rookie draft), a promising big hitter. Since then, Lee Ju-hyung has been called the “second Lee Jung-hoo” at Kiwoom and has jumped to the starting lineup of the first team.
If the “winning contractor” is brought in like this, the team will inevitably change accordingly, but KIA did not move after much consideration. Kim Tae-hyung, a promising pitcher of Deoksu High School, was selected as the first round pick of the rookie draft that could be used as a trade item on the 11th. It also strengthened the farm system by recruiting Kim Tae-hyung, who was called the “Big 5 High School Pitcher.”
Jung Hae-young has been playing the rest of the game without leaving again since returning on the 6th of last month. He did not recruit Cho Sang-woo and avoided overlapping investments. Since he has secured a promising player to win the regular season, there is no better scenario. 토토사이트