'Explanation of $3 million guaranteed' drastic move... Doosan wants to stop worrying about foreign players
'Explanation of $3 million guaranteed' drastic move... Doosan wants to stop worrying about foreign players
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The Doosan Bears have completed the formation of foreigners next season with three new players joining the KBO League. All of them are on the condition of a $1 million "guarantee" for the first year of the contract.
Doosan officially announced Wednesday that it signed a contract worth 1 million U.S. dollars (down payment of 200,000 dollars, annual salary of 800,000 dollars) for left-hander Col Irvin and right-hander Thomas Hatch. All three new players were given a "full guarantee" without any options.
It seems like a somewhat dangerous choice, but this shows how desperate Doosan was to secure stable foreigners. This year, Doosan was in deep agony as it replaced all foreign players during the season.
Raul Alcantara, who re-signed after playing the top of the KBO League in 2023, was announced on waivers in July, showing below-expectations with 2 wins, 2 losses and a 4.76 ERA in the first 12 games of the season. Brandon Waddell, another foreign pitcher, pitched 7-4 with a 3.12 ERA in 14 appearances through June, but failed to return until the end of the season after a shoulder injury.
Pitchers who were brought in to fill the void were also sluggish. Keisho Shirakawa, who joined Brandon as a substitute for short-term foreign player, successfully extended his contract once, but was out for the season due to ligament damage in his elbow with a record of 2-3 with a 6.03 ERA in seven games. Jordan Balazovic, who replaced Alcantara with Jordan Balazovic, was close to failing in 12 games with 2-6 with a 4.26 ERA.
Henry Ramos, a foreign hitter who started the season together, showed good performance with a batting average of 0.305 with 10 home runs and 48 RBIs in 80 games, but he left the team due to the controversy over the walk-esque.
Doosan, which had been competing for the top rankings until the end of the season, finished the regular season in fourth place, up one notch from last year, but suffered the humiliation of being the first "upset" in the wild card match against KT Wiz.
While Balazovic, the only foreign pitcher of Doosan Bears to take the mound, recorded four scoreless innings while KT's one-two punch Cuevas and Benjamin shut out six and seven scoreless innings in two games, respectively, which deeply felt the absence of foreign pitchers. The batter also wanted a foreign player who could complete a season without replacement. 메이저사이트
Doosan, which did not want to worry about foreigners anymore, formed a "complete" trio under the exceptional condition of guaranteeing 3 million dollars. Attention is focusing on whether they will be the main players of the team next season and solve the foreigners' concerns that have plagued Doosan for a season.