'80% reduction in annual salary' Son Ah-seop stays at Hanwha, but 'is he actually in the 2nd tier?' Why are you leaving for Il, not for the first team camp

*This content was translated by AI.

Son Ah-seop (38), who proved his presence in the KBO League as a hitting technician, hit a four-year 9.8 billion won jackpot in his first free contract (FA). Even after four years, he moved his team and spent 6.4 billion won for four years.

He was traded with the special name of driving the Hanwha Eagles to win, but in the third FA market, he suffered a bone-chilling wind. The worst was avoided. I successfully signed a contract with Hanwha.

Hanwha announced on the 5th that it signed with FA Son Ah-seop on the 5th. The terms of the contract are one year and an annual salary of 100 million won. Last year's annual salary reached 500 million won, which means an 80% cut.

Son Ah-seop is a teaching hitter representing the KBO League. He ranks fifth in all time with a career batting average of 0.319. Just by looking at his value as a veteran, such as his leadership on the ground and his attitude toward baseball, he can be evaluated as a player who is worth 100 million won.

However, the situation was not easy. Hanwha has spent up to 10 billion won for four years by recruiting Kang Baek-ho and is negotiating a non-FA multi-year contract with Noh Si-hwan, who is said to be worth more than 15 billion won and up to 20 billion won. There was no room in the competitive balance (salary cap).

He was a more burdensome player on the other team. It was covetable for teams that lacked hits or did not have experienced batters, but it was too bleeding to spend 750 million won in compensation for 150% of last year's annual salary.

In the end, Son Ah-seop demanded that he be released in a sign-and-trade, but Hanwha could not fulfill his terms without getting anything. The standard was lowered a lot, but no team came forward.

Son Ah-seop, who recently appeared on a YouTube channel, said, "My thoughts and views of the club may be different. Sometimes, there may be situations in which they are forced to retire," he said, adding that he was considering the worst.

Fortunately, I found a breakthrough. Even if the contract period of one year and the amount of 100 million won are not satisfactory, they will have an opportunity to restore their honor to revive their crumpled pride.

After signing the contract, Son Ah-seop said, "Thank you to the club for choosing me again," adding, "I joined the camp a little late, but I made my body well." I will do my best to help the Hanwha Eagles fly high again in the 2026 season," he said.

Hanwha explained, "We signed a contract believing that Son Ah-seop's rich experience and excellent hitting ability will help the team."

However, Son Ah-seop will join Kochi, Japan, a Futures camp, on the 6th, not Melbourne, Australia, where the first-team camp is set up.

Does it imply that he is actually classified as a second-tier force. This is an overstatement. Hanwha General Manager Son Hyuk, who contacted Star News immediately after Son Ah-seop's contract, said, "I've already finalized the contract, but I don't think it's meaningful to talk about the progress. He said, "I'm a very experienced player and a player who helps my offense," adding, "Because I'm a player with sincerity, I bought that part high and signed a contract."

Regarding the reason for heading to the second-tier camp, he said, "The first-tier players have been building their bodies from the beginning of the camp. There is also a risk that Son Ah-seop could join here late and get injured while following the pace, he said. "I internally judged that it would be much better to build up calmly in Kochi, where the camp has just begun."

It is obvious that Son Ah-seop, the main character of KBO's career most hits (2,618 hits), must have been hurt a lot during the negotiation process. Nevertheless, he eventually signed a contract, so Son Ah-seop, like general manager Son Hyuk, is bound to be cautious about his remarks.

Hanwha announced in advance that Son Ah-seop politely declined the interview ahead of his departure from Japan on the 6th. The reason was that he did not want to interfere with the team's atmosphere by paying attention to himself while the team was already training.

Hanwha said, "We will quietly devote ourselves to training so that we don't become a nuisance to the team's atmosphere, and then make sure to interview before the opening of the season."

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*This content was translated by AI.