*This content was translated by AI.
Much attention is being paid to the future of Son Ah-seop (38), the only "free agent (FA) non-contractor." Despite the FA application, no team wanted him. In the end, for now, it is likely that Hanwha Eagles, the original team, will remain. Will Hanwha, who is loyal to Sahun, build a minimum of pride.
While all the main players of the 10 KBO League teams are working on their training schedules in spring camp, no news of Son Ah-seop's FA contract has been heard yet.
In fact, based on the name of Son Ah-seop alone, I did not expect the market's response to be this cold. An official familiar with Hanwha's situation pointed to Hanwha's recruitment of Kang Baek-ho as a point. "In fact, applying for the FA should be considered to have taken a break-up with the original team," the official said. "Hanwha's recruitment of Kang Baek-ho would have affected Son's future to some extent. It is the same as the case of recruiting Shim Woo-joon last season. At that time, as Shim Woo-joon of the same position was recruited, internal FA Ha Joo-seok was greatly affected," he said.
In fact, the situation is strangely similar to a year ago. On January 8 last year, Hanwha officially announced that it signed an FA contract with Ha Joo-seok, an internal FA at the time, for a total of 110 million won, including 90 million won in guarantees and 20 million won in options for one year. It was Ha Joo-seok who knocked on the door of the FA market for the first time in his life, but the reaction of the market was cold. In the end, Hanwha signed Ha Joo-seok to a one-year contract with him, with sign-and-trade not available.
In that year, Ha's FA rating was B. The team recruiting Ha Joo-seok had to pay Hanwha "one compensation player + Ha Joo-seok's 2024 salary (70 million won)" or "200% of 2024's salary (140 million won)." In the end, there was no other club that wanted Ha Joo-seok, and he stayed at Hanwha.
Unlike Ha Joo-seok, Son Ah-seop's FA grade is C grade. Therefore, the team that is pushing Son Ah-seop can even avoid bleeding reward players. However, last year's annual salary was 500 million won, which is a big difference from Ha Joo-seok. The team that wants Son Ah-seop has to hand over 750 million won, or 150 percent of his annual salary, to Hanwha. For other clubs, if it is burdensome, it can be said to be a burdensome amount.
As a result, Hanwha raised Ha Joo-seok's annual salary by 20 million won prior to last season. Perhaps it is a humiliating situation as Hanwha's franchise star without being subject to any restrictions on the FA application. Still, Hanwha showed the appearance of setting up a minimum amount of pride by giving a contract worth billions of won along with an annual salary increase.
An official familiar with the transfer market recently told Star News, "Hanwha presented the '2nd Plan (Plan B)' to Son Ah-seop." I understand that the second proposal was proposed to partially accept Son Ah-seop's requirements, reflecting that part," he said. The ball is now passed to Son Ah-seop.
Son Ah-seop signed a four-year 9.8 billion won contract with Lotte after the 2017 season and a four-year 6.4 billion won contract with NC after the end of the 2021 season, respectively. A total of 16.2 billion won was earned through two FA rights exercises. The recent FA contract period with NC was four years, with a total of 6.4 billion won, including 2.6 billion won in down payment, 3 billion won in annual salary, and 800 million won in incentives. It received an annual salary of 1.5 billion won in 2022 and 500 million won every season from 2023 to 2025.
Hanwha acquired Son Ah-seop through a trade with NC in July last year. At that time, Hanwha paid NC one third-round pick of the 2026 KBO Rookie Draft and 300 million won in cash. It was the value Hanwha put on Son Ah-seop, who was recruited at the end of last season for the autumn baseball game. If Hanwha's view of Son Ah-seop has not changed significantly from the time of the trade acquisition, there is a possibility that it will be valued at this level. Now, with the Lunar New Year holiday approaching, what choices will Son Ah-seop and Hanwha make.
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*This content was translated by AI.
