36-year-old catcher who was revised to "different from the three non-FA contracted" When will the decision be made... My colleagues toward Saipan have already stamped their stamp

*This content was translated by AI.

In the end, negotiations between KT Wiz and internal FA Jang Sung-woo (36) began again.

An official from the KT club told Star News on the phone on the 9th, "I met Jang Sung-woo once again yesterday. There is still a gap between the club and the player, so I think we need a little more time," he said.

Jang Sung-woo is one of the four remaining uncontracted players in the 2025-2026 KBO FA. Unlike the other three players, Son Ah-seop (38), Cho Sang-woo (32), and Kim Bum-soo (31), who have not been able to negotiate smoothly with the original team, KT has a strong will to catch Jang Sung-woo.

This is due to the perception that it is still a difficult resource to replace. Jang Sung-woo was the only catcher who met the regular at-bats last year, batting average of 0.247 (102 hits in 413 at-bats), 14 homers, 58 RBIs and 44 runs in 129 games, and an on-base percentage of 0.333 on-base plus slugging percentage of 0.380 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.713. There are not many homeowners who have the ability to hit double-digit home runs for six consecutive years in defense that pitchers trust and rely on.

Moreover, the player himself is attached to KT. After his first-team debut with the Lotte Giants in 2009, he played a full-fledged role after being traded to KT in 2015. He has been KT's main catcher for 11 seasons since then, leading the company to its first unified championship in 2021. He is also said to have led the team well last season as captain.

A case of showing that responsibility was the fan festival held after the end of last season. At that time, Jang Sung-woo attended the event with Hwang Jae-kyun (39), saying, "The captain should not fall into the squad's personnel."

KT also publicly mentioned Jang's stay as one of its goals this winter, as if responding to that sentiment. According to KT club officials, the contract, which has already been revised once in the initial proposal, has been presented to Jang Sung-woo. At the first meeting this year, we discussed this amendment again.

While the gap with Jang Sung-woo has not narrowed significantly yet, KT is completing the team's annual salary contract for now. KT, which will depart for Geelong, Australia, on Jan. 21 for the first spring camp, has recently completed contracts with most of its players. According to Star News' confirmation, Ahn Hyun-min, who had excellent performance last year, and So Hyung-joon, who had a successful full-time season after surgery, each received the top grade and completed salary negotiations.

A KT club official said, "All the players who went to Saipan have completed salary negotiations. Only one or two players are coordinated, and the other players are almost done. The results of the salary negotiations will be announced before the departure of the camp," he said.

The best scenario is for both Jang Sung-woo and KT to complete their pre-spring camp contracts and leave for Australia together. This year, KT aimed to advance to the semifinals by reinforcing FA on a large scale. Starting with catcher Han Seung-taek (32) at 1 billion won for four years, Kim Hyun-soo (36) was guaranteed for three years and 5 billion won, and Choi Won-joon (29) was brought in for up to 4.8 billion won (2.2 billion won in down payment, 2 billion won in total annual salary, 600 million won in incentives) for four years and spent 10.8 billion won on recruiting external FA alone.

Will KT be able to focus on Jang Sung-woo, its main catcher, before leaving for Australia.

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*This content was translated by AI.