The proportion of options in the KBO League FA market is increasing. The market atmosphere has changed as each club focused on providing safeguards. Now, there are many contracts that contain nearly half of the total amount of contracts.

On the 24th, LG announced a four-year contract with internal FA pitcher Ham Deok-joo for a total of 3.8 billion won. The guaranteed amount is 2 billion won, with a down payment of 600 million won, an annual salary of 1.4 billion won, and incentives of 1.8 billion won. The contract terms account for 47.4% of the options expressed as incentives.

Earlier on the 21st, LG also signed a four-year contract with internal FA pitcher Lim Chan-kyu for a total of 5 billion won 600 million won in down payment, 2 billion won in annual salary, and 2.4 billion won in incentives, with a guaranteed amount of 2.6 billion won, accounting for 48.0% of the options. Lim Chan-kyu and Ham Deok-joo, LG's general manager Cha Myung-seok, who drew a contract with two pitchers and nearly 50% of the options, were given the modifier "God of Negotiation."

Although LG has a particularly high percentage of options, other teams are also increasing the portion of options in FA contracts. Until now, many options have been given to ambiguous semi-class players or veteran players, but it seems that it has become a trend in the FA market to the extent that even big fish players have at least 10% of options or 30% of options.

LG shortstop Oh Ji-hwan 6 years, 12.4 billion won, who signed the highest contract among FA this winter, also has an option of 2.4 billion won, accounting for 19.4%. Doosan infielder Yang Seok-hwan 4+2 years, 7.8 billion won who won the next largest contract also had an option of 1.9 billion won, 24.4%, and Hanwha infielder Ahn Chi-hong 4+2 years, 7.2 billion won also had an option of 2.5 billion won, accounting for 34.7%.  메이저 토토사이트

The total amount of contract for KBO FA players in 2024, which was signed until the morning of the 25th, is 48 billion won. Among them, options are 13.2 billion won, accounting for 27.5 percent of the total. The ratio of options, which has risen to around 10 percent since 2019, has risen to 20.9 percent in 2023. Some players, like Lotte pitcher Han Hyun-hee 3+1 year: 4 billion won, have more options 2.2 billion won than guarantees 1.8 billion won. With the FA market stagnant due to salary cap, clubs are taking the lead in negotiations, and the ratio of options to the total amount of FA contracts is likely to surpass 30 percent for the first time this year.