*This content was translated by AI.
The center of professional sports is always 'money'. Professional baseball is no exception. After the regular season and postseason, the FA (Free Agent) market will open immediately. From this point on, professional baseball begins to move to the 'language of money' in earnest. When the FA contract is completed, the team's annual salary contracts for each club will be announced one by one.
In professional baseball, where the flow of money is so clear, what is the most powerful means to control it. The answer chosen by the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) over the past decade has been clear. It's the 'right to nominate new people'. During this period, KBO took out the cards of deprivation or decline of rookie nomination rights in common in the process of supplementing major systems such as prohibiting merit (victory allowance), prohibiting behind-the-scenes contracts, and sanctioning salary cap. It was literally a "legendary report."
Ten years ago, on January 12, 2016, the KBO Board of Directors established a specific sanction clause to ban the so-called "merit." Previously, the harm of merit has been steadily pointed out, but it was not easy to get rid of it. This is because there were few devices that had as immediate an effect as merit as a means to induce victory in a fierce ranking fight.
But the side effects were obvious. Sharing the merits with other team players increased the burden on the clubs and the competition was overheated. In some cases, the morale fell after hearing the size of the opponent's team's merit before the game. The more intense the ranking fight went toward the end of the season, the more heated the merit became.
In the end, the heads of 10 clubs reached a big agreement at the winter meeting in December 2015, and in January of the following year, KBO pulled out its sword. The key was the 'contents' of the sanctions. Article 83 of the existing baseball protocol (payment of down payment in violation of KBO regulations) only stipulated that the governor could impose "appropriate sanctions" if he violated Articles 81 (down payment) and 82 (down payment). However, the newly established rules specify deprivation of the right to nominate the second round and a fine of 1 billion won.
Since then, Merit has completely disappeared from the KBO. When I was working as the front desk of a professional baseball team, I thought the merit would never disappear. But the merit disappeared in an instant to the point where the conviction was overshadowed. The penalty of 1 billion won is also a considerable amount, but what was crucial was the deprivation of the right to nominate the second round of nomination. The moment the nomination rights were touched, the effect appeared immediately.
The deprivation of nomination rights and sanctions of 1 billion won reappeared two years later in 2018. On Nov. 17, the KBO announced a ban on back-side contracts. Sanctions were 1 billion won in sanctions and deprivation of nomination rights for the first round (current rookie draft first round) of the following year. When banning merit, it was stronger than this, as it was deprived of the right to nominate in the first round of the second nomination and a penalty of 1 billion won. The effect was immediate as well. The behind-the-scenes contract, which had been publicly carried out in professional baseball, disappeared in an instant.
Previously, there were frequent cases where the announced amount and the actual payment were different in the player contract. The larger the amount, the greater the burden on both players and clubs, and there was a practice of announcing the amount low to avoid it. In particular, there were not a few such cases in FA contracts. When signing the FA contract, the announcement amount was adjusted in consultation with the player.
Sanctions in a similar context appeared in 2020, although they are not deprived of nomination rights. With the introduction of the salary cap system, sanctions have been established to lower the nomination rights in the first round of the following year by nine levels if the upper limit is exceeded for two consecutive times, and to pay 100% of the excess as a sanction (current baseball development fund). Although it was not deprived of the right to nominate, the fact that the right to nominate in the first round fell nine steps was considerable pressure on the clubs. Even if one excess was tolerated, two consecutive violations were an issue that could lead to the front accountability theory.
However, on September 23, 2025, the KBO Board of Directors relaxed this regulation. The nine-step decline in the first round of nomination rights and the 100% payment rule for excesses were changed from two consecutive times to three consecutive times.
This change immediately affected the FA market in November of the same year. The FA market quickly overheated. The salary cap existed, but the pressure felt was noticeably reduced. Regulations remained, but the deterrent was weakened.
After all, the answer to institutional changes over the past decade is clear. The most powerful means of control in professional baseball is not "regulation limiting money," but "sanctions that touch the future." Rookie nominations are not just an option. The club's mid- to long-term competitiveness, player development, and rebuilding strategies are all condensed assets. Therefore, the moment the team deprives or lowers the designation right, the club faces a difficult situation.
As clubs are extremely sensitive to rookie nomination rights, the first-round rookie nomination rights have also been transferred three times as nomination rights have been allowed since 2020. In the first round of the 2024 rookie draft, Kiwoom Heroes won the right to nominate Jeon Joon-pyo (LG Choi Won-tae, hereinafter trading player), 2025 Kim Seo-joon (NC Kim Hwi-jip), and 2026 Park Han-kyul (KIA Cho Sang-woo).
Considering the cases of banning merit, prohibiting behind-the-scenes contracts, and sanctioning salary caps, the right to nominate a rookie in the first round is by no means a light choice for the club. When putting together the final puzzle to win the season, it is a decision that is only possible when there is a judgment that it will take all the risks internally.
In the process of pursuing the recruitment of starting pitchers in 2021, when I was also the general manager, I was asked to trade the first nomination right next year. At that time, a starting pitcher was desperately needed, but he did not accept the request. As such, it is not an easy choice to give up the first round of rookie nominations.
In the future, the right to nominate rookies is likely to remain the strongest "report of the previous" in the KBO baseball rules. It is more valuable than the sanctions, and the negative impact of public opinion is also formidable. So, more than any sanctions, the club's behavior can be changed immediately. Over the past decade, the KBO has proven that fact over and over again. You can use the expression "scariest than compatible Mama" at times like this.
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*This content was translated by AI.
