The FA negotiations between veteran infielder Seo Geon-chang (35) and his original team KIA Tigers are showing signs of prolonging.메이저놀이터

KIA mostly achieved its 2024-2025 offseason goals on the 26th by signing Patrick Wisdom (33), a right-handed slugger with 20 home runs for three consecutive years in the Major League Baseball (ML) for a total of $1 million (down payment of $200,000, annual salary of $800,000).

It started when he re-signed a total of $1.8 million (down payment of $400,000, annual salary of $1.2 million, option of $200,000) on the 27th of last month with foreign ace James Nail (31), who had been his top priority. Subsequently, on the 16th, he brought Adam Oler (30), an active Major League starter, for a total of $1 million, including $200,000 in medicine, $600,000 in annual salary, and $200,000 in option, and completed the composition of a one-two punch for foreigners.

Lim Ki-young (31), who was one of the three internal FA players, remained. Jang Hyun-sik (29), who played the role of a must-winner and a key player, left after receiving good treatment as the LG Twins, but set the original all-weather pitcher Lim Ki-young on the 21st. It was a three-year contract period with a total of 1.5 billion won, including a down payment of 300 million won, an annual salary of 900 million won, and an option of 300 million won.

KIA's general manager Shim Jae-hak said in a phone call with Star News after recruiting Wisdom on the 26th, "We are leaving all possibilities open, but we are not discussing anything about trading or recruiting FA right now."

Only one thing left is negotiation with Seo. After returning to his hometown team KIA before this season, Seo enjoyed his best year as he successfully rebounded and won his first Korean Series title. He played 248 at-bats for 94 games during the regular season, mostly as pinch-hitters and log-base hits, recording a batting average of 0.310, one homer, 26 RBIs, 40 runs and three steals, and an on-base percentage of 0.416 slugging percentage of 0.404 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.820 and declared himself an "FA" after the season.

Negotiations were not smooth. Kia was concerned about the salary cap limit due to players' salary increase due to winning the championship, and there was no reason to rush to the position as it already had many substitutes in Seo's position. At the Major League Winter Meeting (Dec. 10-12), Kia's general manager Shim Jae-hak met with Seo's agent and exchanged conditions.

Currently, there is a clear temperature gap between Kia Tigers and Seo Geon-chang. "We want to win Seo Geon-chang. However, the amount proposed by the agent itself is not an easy condition for us," said an official from the Kia team.

The negotiations, which had been suspended for a while, will resume in earnest from this day (27th). Seo Geon-chang left for his honeymoon with Park Jong-mi on the 14th, and Shim Jae-hak, the general manager, postponed the contract negotiations for now. "I understand that Seo Geon-chang will come in on the 27th after his honeymoon. Still, we didn't talk about the contract at all because we thought it would be better to relax during that period of honeymoon since it is a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon," Shim said. "We saw each other quite often before the honeymoon, but we haven't found any agreement yet," he said, explaining the reason for delaying the negotiations.

For Kia, it would be helpful if Seo remained at a reasonable price. Wizdom, a full-time major leaguer, comes to the first base, which was used occasionally this year, and gives opportunities to other players including Hwang Dae-in (28) and Byun Woo-hyuk (24). In fact, there is a possibility only for backup and substitute hitter at second base. However, considering the physical strength of Kim Sun-bin (35), the main second baseman, and backup infielders who are not yet reliable, the presence of seasoned Seo Geon-chang is certainly helpful.

However, if the gap between the two sides does not narrow, Kia should boldly give opportunities to potential promising players. Currently, backup candidates for second base include Kim Gyu-seong (27), Park Min (23), and Yoon Do-hyun (21). Among them, Kim and Park are receiving favorable reviews in defense, while Yoon Do-hyun (21), who was called Kim Do-young's rival during his high school years, left a strong impact in batting average of 0.407 (11 hits from 27 times at bat), one homer, eight RBIs, and one OPS in six games at the end of this season.