"KIA notification was terrible." But because of KIA, the reversal of life → the price of his body soared by 12 times! "Even with the loss of the salary adjustment...'

*This content was translated by AI.

Eric Lauer (31, Toronto Blue Jays), who joined the KIA Tigers at the end of the 2024 season and helped them win the integrated championship, faced the cold reality of losing his salary adjustment application. Still, he will receive a ransom of 12 times more than when he played for the KIA Tigers in the past. Obviously, KIA and the time spent in Korea served as the foundation, so it was a possible turnaround in life.

The official website of the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) MLB.com and Canadian media TSN Sports reported on the 12th (Korea time) that "Lauer lost the salary adjustment with the Toronto club."

According to reports, Lauer demanded $5.75 million (about 8.3 billion won) in annual salary for the 2026 season. Toronto insisted on paying $4 million (about 5.3 billion won). In the end, the distance between the two sides did not narrow, and the salary adjustment process began. And the salary adjustment committee eventually accepted the Toronto club's claim.

Lauer signed a contract with KIA in August 2024 with a total of $350,000 (about 500 million won) including a down payment of $50,000 and an annual salary of $300,000. At that time, KIA recruited another alternative foreign pitcher, Cam Aldred, when foreign pitcher Will Crow left due to an elbow injury. However, when Aldred did not perform well, Lauer was recruited.

Lauer moved his team to Milwaukee in 2020, when he made his debut with the San Diego Padres in 2018. He had his best time in the 2022 season, with 11 wins, 7 losses and a 3.69 ERA. However, in May 2023, the following year, Lauer, who suffered from right shoulder collision syndrome, was shaken greatly when inflammation was found in his left arm elbow. His big league performance in the 2023 season was 4-6 with a 6.56 ERA. Then, while signing a minor league contract with the Houston Astros, he was captured by KIA's radar network and moved to the Korean stage.

Lauer pitched in seven regular-season games on the KBO League stage, posting a 2-2 record with a 4.93 ERA. He pitched a total of 34 ⅔ innings, marking 37 strikeouts, 1.36 on-base allowed per inning (WHIP), and 0.259 hit rate. In particular, he took the mound as a starting pitcher in Game 3 of the Korean Series with the Samsung Lions. Although he used the yoke of defeat, he did his part by allowing five hits (two home runs), no four outs, eight strikeouts, and two runs in five innings. In the end, KIA won the Korean Series, and Lauer enjoyed the joy by dancing "Pippi Longstocking" with his teammates.

Lauer's relationship with Korea ended there. As KIA and Lauer's companion ended, he turned his eyes back to the U.S. And he signed a minor league contract with Toronto and entered the 2025 season.

And after being promoted to the Major League from the beginning of the season, he proved his ability by spraying his ball as much as he could. In the 2025 season, Lauer pitched in 28 games (15 starts) and posted a good record of 9 wins, 2 losses and 1 hold with a 3.18 ERA. While pitching a total of 104 ⅔ innings, he had 90 hits (15 home runs) and 39 runs (37 earned runs) with a ball of 26 walks and 102 strikeouts, a batting average of 0.227, and a WHIP of 1.11.

He also did his part in fall baseball. In Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, he was shaken by three hits and three runs in ⅓ innings. However, in Game 4 of the Division Series, he did his part with one walk and two strikeouts in one ⅔ inning, and in Game 2 of the Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners, he pitched one inning with one hit and two strikeouts. In the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he took the mound in two games as a bullpen and pitched 5.2 innings with two hits, five walks, and three strikeouts.

Lauer seemed to want to be recognized for this performance, and wanted to receive a higher amount than Toronto offered. In particular, Lauer received an annual salary of $5.075 million (7.3 billion won) in 2023 before coming to Korea. For Lauer, this amount may have been used as a reference point. On the other hand, the Toronto club would have considered Lauer's 2025 salary of $2.2 million (about 3.1 billion won). Toronto's offer of $4.4 million is twice the annual salary in 2025. As a result, his wishes did not come true. Still, he received $4.4 million anyway, earning more than 12 times the total amount at the time of KIA contract.

According to MLB.com , Lauer drew attention by confessing to the urgent situation when he joined KIA in June last year. "At the end of July, the KIA team came to me and told me to decide whether to go to Korea within 12 hours at the time," Lauer said. "At the time, my wife was pregnant with her first child, so the offer sounded frankly terrible." However, his wife Emily actively encouraged him to consider going to Korea, and the result was a happy ending. Lauer said at the time, "I said I didn't want to go to Korea right away. But the contract with South Korea was really good. I went to Korea and had a wonderful experience. I go around in Toronto saying I know how it feels to be Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He couldn't hide his joy, saying, "It was really the best."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.