How ‘hitting machine’ Lee Jeong-hoo (24, Kiwoom Heroes) advances to the American Major League (MLB). There is not only a posting system (private competitive bidding).
Lee Jung-hoo conveyed his intention to the club on the 19th, “I will challenge the MLB after the 2023 season.” The posting system is being discussed as a way to advance overseas. This is because when the season ends next year, they will be qualified to advance overseas through posting by filling up the ‘7 years of first-team registration days’. The posting system requires the consent of the club and a transfer fee is incurred according to the contract. But it’s not necessarily the only way. As a result of daily sports coverage, there is a possibility that Lee Jung-hoo will knock on the MLB door as a free agent (FA) after the 2023 season.
The key is the number of compensation days for international competitions. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) changed the free agency registration days compensation given to the number of days participating in the national team to the’point system’ at the 3rd board of directors’ meeting in September 2017. Basic points for participating in international competitions and additional points based on performance are compensated, and the player converts 1 point into 1 FA registration day and uses it.
Since his professional debut, Lee Jung-hoo has won a total of 105 free agency days (105 points) in four international competitions. Here, 25 days obtained from the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games (AG) in 2018, which received military service benefits, should be excluded. The KBO does not provide separate points (registration days) compensation for players who receive military service benefits in competitions where military service benefits are given. If so, the number of free agency compensation days for Lee Jung-hoo is 80 days, including 10 days at the 2017 Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC), 60 days at the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, and 10 days at the Tokyo Olympics held last year.
In professional baseball, the number of FA compensation days is divided by competition, so it can be filled with the insufficient number of first-team registration days. In the KBO League, the current first team registration days must be 145 days or more to be recognized as one season. In 2018, when Lee Jung-hoo was suffering from residual injuries, the number of days he registered for the first group was only 141. To make up for the lack of four days, you must use one of the 10-day free agent compensation days won at APBC or the Tokyo Olympics. Only then can you fulfill the ‘full-time 6 years’. 안전놀이터
If everything is subtracted, the number of days of FA compensation after Lee Jeong-hu is up to 105 days to 70 days (10 days + 60 days). If you win 75 free agent compensation days at the international competition to be held next year, you can be recognized as having played one season (145 days). In that case, FA acquisition can be advanced by two years instead of one year.
There are two main methods. If you win the championship (60 days) and the gold medal (25 days) at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) and Hangzhou AG scheduled for March and September next year, respectively, you can get a total of 85 days of FA compensation. If you win the WBC runner-up (40 days) and Hangzhou AG gold medal, the number of free agency compensation days is 65 days. If you go to the APBC held in November, you can get 10 days of compensation according to your participation and you can fit the 75 days.
APBC is for players under the age of 24 (born on or after January 1, 1999) in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia, or players who have been in the professional league for three years or less. Lee Jeong-hoo is not applicable, but it is possible to play as a wild card (three players) with no age limit. If the results exceed expectations in the WBC and AG, a decision can be made at the APBC, which is held late in the international competition.
Both conditions must meet the precondition of advancing to the WBC finals. The WBC started in 2006 as an international competition led by the MLB Secretariat. Unlike the Olympics or AG, the level of the competition is high as active major leaguers participate. Korea was eliminated in the first round in all 3 and 4 competitions, but won the semifinals in the 1st competition and the runner-up in the 2nd competition in 2009. Reaching the finals isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either.
For Lee Jung-hoo to go abroad as a free agent is the worst scenario for Kiwoom. You could lose a player and not be able to collect the transfer fee. A club official said, “We are aware of this part.”