Last December, when the KBO’s last executive committee for 2023 was held, the end was a bit noisy because of a single system that was not even on the agenda. Some clubs have brought up the revision and supplementation of the salary cap system, and several clubs have reportedly agreed on it. As it is not an official agenda, it has not been expanded to any specific story, but there is an atmosphere in the baseball community that “what has come is here.”
Now the clubs are clamoring, but ironically, the salary cap was driven by the will of the clubs, who felt burdened by the ever-rising team salaries. The KBO board of directors began to introduce the system in December 2019, and after discussions, it was decided to implement it in 2023 after a grace period. Even at that time, there were conflicting opinions that it was an inevitable choice to reduce the operating burden of clubs and that it violated the autonomy of clubs. However, at that time, the former logic came first, and compliance with the salary cap emerged as a big topic for the entire league.
The salary cap standard is set at 11.4 billion won (110.4 million U.S. dollars), 120 percent of the salary cap, referring to the average of the top 40 players (excluding foreign and rookie players) paid by 10 teams in 2021 and 2022. They agreed to implement the cap for three years first and then re-set the standard afterwards. They also voted for a penalty of paying 50 percent of the excess amount for a violation, and a penalty of lowering the ranking of the excess 100 percent for a violation in the first round and the ranking of the following year’s first-round nomination by nine notches.
Most teams said they could afford to exceed one inning, but tried not to exceed two consecutive times. As a result, a number of issues that can be regarded as strategies or tricks have emerged ahead of the implementation of the salary cap. Some teams hurriedly renewed their contracts with key players in their teams, and reduced the burden by driving a significant portion of the total contract amount to the team in 2022 before the implementation of the salary cap. Some teams chose an even-numbered system. One player who has a high annual salary is paid in an odd year, while the other player in an even year is paid in an even year. Some teams decided to lower the current salary and pay him a lot of money after the contract period. Various ideas were mobilized according to each team’s circumstances.
In fact, some clubs complained ahead of its implementation. Not only was the salary cap standard low, but it was also a clamor for whether salary cap was the right system for professionals with investment strategies. This was a complaint mainly made by clubs that did not have much room for salary caps. No clubs violated salary caps in the first year of 2023, but some clubs were almost full of limits. Some clubs said, “It is not easy to trade high-salary workers because of salary caps.” As a result, the nomination trade became a trend in the league.
Currently, the league is divided between the opinion that the salary cap should be maintained for the promised three years and the opinion that the salary cap should be repaired. Not many people insist on abolishing it in an extreme way as it is a set promise, but many clubs voice that they should come up with measures to be free from the burden of salary caps in any way, whether they raise the cap or give some exceptions. With discussions on salary caps expected to take place in earnest at the January executive committee, it seems clear that the system is shaking after a year of implementation.
Attention is also focusing on whether there will be a case of salary cap violation under this circumstance. Currently, SSG is the only team that has completed all salary negotiations in 2024. Other clubs even say, “SSG ended salary negotiations too quickly.” SSG is known to have room for salary cap in 2024. Whether the players achieve incentives or not will determine the final team’s salary in 2024, but the possibility of violation is not high. Other clubs are also devising strategies for negotiating annual salaries and FA under the premise that they will not violate salary cap. 랭크카지노
Therefore, agencies say that there are cases where annual salary negotiations are idle. There are also basic complaints of players, but since it is limited to the extent that it does not violate the salary cap, the rise of players with salary increase factors is being limited. Salary cap is a word that comes up more often than expected at the negotiation table. Not a few tables are known to suffer a lot. On the other hand, players are also paying attention to the possibility of any change in salary cap at the January executive committee.
Analysts say some teams could fail to keep their salary cap. LG, the winner of last year’s Korean Series, is drawing attention. After the end of last year’s season, LG tried hard to fill in the team’s salary by eliminating some players including Song Eun-bum, and traded for Jinhae as well. On top of that, Ko Woo-suk, who earned an annual salary of 430 million won (approx.
However, it remains to be seen whether LG will be able to keep the salary cap as many people are eligible for a raise after winning the Korean Series last year. As of 2023, LG’s combined annual salary for the top 40 players amounted to 10.797.5 billion won, leaving only 628.88 million won to the salary cap standard. Even considering the players who went on the tour, experts say that it is not easy to keep the standard given last year’s performance. Some speculate that LG is preparing a strategy to ensure that the company can keep its salary cap in 2025, while bracing for violation once in 2024.