*This content was translated by AI.
Hanwha Eagles recruited Kang Baek-ho (27) for four years and 10 billion won in the stove league and completed the composition of foreign players.
However, he has been spending a quiet winter without additional contract news until the year has passed since then. In Hanwha this winter, two internal free agents (FAs) Kim Bum-soo (31) and Son Ah-seop (38) were on the market, and Hanwha seems to be prioritizing non-FA multi-year contracts with Noh Si-hwan (26).
I can't help but think of a competitive balance (salary cap). Ahn Chi-hong (Kium) and Lee Tae-yang (KIA) left in the second draft, but Kang Baek-ho was recruited and a large contract is expected with Noh Si-hwan, so it seems difficult to proceed with Kim Bum-soo and Son Ah-seop contracts prematurely.
According to the total amount of the top 40 annual salary for each club in 2025 announced by KBO on the 18th of last month, Hanwha also did not have much time to spare. The upper limit of the competitive balance tax in 2025 was 13.7 billion won, while Hanwha had a margin of 1,058.19 million won at 1,2653.46 billion won.
On top of that, An Chi-hong received an annual salary of 500 million won and Lee Tae-yang received 270 million won as of last year. The two are expected to have set aside 1 billion won and 500 million won, respectively, including the down payment. By letting them go, it can be seen that there is a margin of about 1.5 billion won in the calculation of competitive equilibrium taxes.
Another system will also be introduced to give a breather. Starting this year, the exceptional player system (Larry Bird Rule) will be applied to the competitive equilibrium. However, it is not applicable to all players. In order to improve fan loyalty, the club decided to introduce an annual salary by selecting one franchise player designated by the club. The club may designate one of the players who has registered as a player for more than seven seasons as an exception every year. This allows the player's annual salary (including incentives) to be calculated at 50%.
In the case of last season, if Ryu Hyun-jin received an annual salary of 2 billion won and the club designated Ryu Hyun-jin as an exception player, it will be calculated as 1 billion won in the competitive balance. Kang Baek-ho signed a four-year contract for a total of 10 billion won, and in the competitive equal tax, the down payment and annual salary are calculated by dividing the contract period and the amount of options applied that year is added. It is calculated as 8 billion won excluding options and 2 billion won only in guaranteed amount, but Kang Baek-ho is excluded here because he is an external FA.
However, Roh Si-hwan is a variable. Roh Si-hwan, a former home run king who just turned 26 years old, is said to have a contract amount of up to 15 billion won and 20 billion won depending on the contract period, exceeding Koo Ja-wook (five years and 12 billion won), the highest amount of non-FA in history. Noh Si-hwan is a franchise star who has played seven seasons in Hanwha alone, and is expected to cost about 3 billion won per year, so if Hanwha signs a multi-year contract with Noh, he can be considered the No. 1 exception player.
Overall, the departure of An Chi-hong and Lee Tae-yang left a total of 2.5 billion won, about 1 billion won from last year's competitive equilibrium. However, Kang Baek-ho's joining increased his annual spending by 2 billion won and is expected to spend about 1.5 billion won if he signs a multi-year contract worth 3 billion won a year with Noh Si-hwan as an exception player. In other words, expenditures increased by nearly 1.2 billion won from last year's annual salary of 330 million won.
Although most of the players who will receive high grades, such as Moon Dong-ju (100 million won), Moon Hyun-bin (88 million won), Kim Seo-hyun (56 million won), and Jung Woo-joo (30 million won), are low-age players, they have performed well enough to advance to the Korean Series for the first time in 19 years, so the salary increase is expected to be significant.
The upper limit of the competitive balance tax will be raised by 5% every year for three years from 2026 to 2028, with an additional margin of KRW 680 million to KRW 1,439.23 million next year. Therefore, it seems that it can meet the upper limit of the competitive balance tax to some extent.
Son Ah-seop and Kim Bum-soo are forced to come as burdensome for Hanwha in terms of the contract itself, as it is difficult to set the standards for competitive equality. Therefore, the contract is bound to fail to speed up. Even Roh's contract with Roh has not been finalized yet.
Last year, Son Ah-seop received an annual salary of 500 million won, 200 million won if calculated only after moving to Hanwha, and Kim Bum-soo received 143 million won. If the contract is signed at the current level, including the down payment, Hanwha can ease its concerns. There is a possibility that Son Ah-seop will be matched at this level to some extent because he is old. However, the problem is Kim Bum-soo. Kim Bum-soo, who is only 31 years old, was a key bullpen pitcher for Hanwha last year and also has the advantage of being a left-handed pitcher.
Jang Hyun-sik, a pitcher of the same age who transferred from the KIA Tigers to the LG Twins last year and received a full guarantee of 5.2 billion won for four years, could be a reference point. However, in this case, it is necessary to invest about 1.2 billion won more per year than the current one. There may be ways to save money by not signing Son Ah-seop, and there may be ways to lower Kim Bum-soo's down payment through negotiations, but nothing is easy, which is why Hanwha's additional contract is not easy even after the year has passed.
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*This content was translated by AI.
