Huge Trades But There Are No Absolute Favorites

“There will be no absolutely strong or weak ones.”

Baseball experts expect next season to be like that and to include unprecedented changes.

The most attractive teams at this point are Kia and Lotte now that Free Agent (FA) moves, big trades, and the signing of foreign players are almost completed.

Kia reinforced its weak batting strength and balanced batting and pitching by taking in Ma Hae-young from Samsung and Shim Jae-hak from Doosan. Ma Hae-young will lead a cleanup trio with Jang Seong-ho and Park Jae-hong, and Shim Jae-hak will take on the role along with Jang Seong-ho as the left-handed batter. Promising submarine pitcher Shin Yong-woon will fill in the gap as the closer despite Jin Pil-joong’s move to LG.

Lotte, the last place team for the past three years, got both a leadoff batter and ace pitcher together by accepting the best FA players, batter Jeong Soo-keun and pitcher Lee Sang-mok. Lotte’s position will be further strengthened if slugger Felix Jose, currently negotiating to join after removal of the restriction, signs with Lotte. However, Kyung-in Broadcasting’s baseball commentator, said, “It is true that Lotte has been upgraded to the big four, but it is not possible for them to aim for the championship right now.”

2003 champion, Hyundai, signed slugger Song Ji-man from Hanhwa, trading reliever Kwon Joon-heon. Hyundai is pleased to get Song Ji-man, who hit 38 homeruns last season, because sluggers such as Lee Sung-yong and Jeong Seong-hoon did not meet expectations, with the exception of Shim Jeong-soo.

Meanwhile, the absence of Lee Seung-yeop and Ma Hae-young seems serious. Ha Il-seong, the commentator of KBS, pointed out, “Samsung should change from a power baseball strategy to systematic baseball, based on batting for a team and fast running.” It is also interesting that Samsung has not signed any foreign players.

Commentator Ha mentioned LG as a dark horse contender for the championship. Ha said that LG has recovered its old capabilities with the return of Lee Byung-kyu and Kim Sang-hyun from injuries and the signing of the first full-time major leaguer Al Martin, even though LG didn’t get any new reinforcements beyond Jin Pil-joong.

Hwan-Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com