Champion LG and 7th-place Lotte have similar player salaries this year

This team is ranked seventh in performance among the 10 teams in the KBO league this past season, but fourth in salary. This is the story of the Lotte Giants, a baseball team that failed to escape the 'high cost, low efficiency' situation this year.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) released the total amount of compensation (salary, options, and contracts) paid to the top 40 players on the team by the 10 KBO clubs on Wednesday. According to the data, Lotte invested a total of 10.646 billion won (approximately 8.17 million U.S. dollars) in these 40 players, and with 68 wins (76 losses), the team spent about 156.57 million won (120,000 dollars) per win. Compared to the 10-team average (138.9 million won or 106,700 dollars), this is over 17 million won (13,000 dollars) more.

The LG Twins, the winner of this year's combined KBO league championship, spent 10.795 billion won (8.29 million dollars) on its top 40 salaried players, the same as Lotte. Their regular season record was 86 wins, two ties, and 56 losses. Its cost per win was 125.5 million won (96,000 dollars), some 31.02 million won (19.8 percent) or 23,800 dollars less than Lotte's. This year, LG won its first KBO championship in 29 years since 1994, while Lotte failed to reach the postseason for the sixth consecutive year.

It was the KT Wiz, not LG Twins, that played the most ‘low-cost, high-efficiency’ baseball. KT, which finished second in the regular season (79 wins, three ties, and 62 losses), spent 9.483 billion won (7.28 million dollars) on its 40-man roster, the third-lowest of the 10 teams. That is about 120.03 million (92,100 dollars) per win. Only last-place (10th) Team Kiwoom Heroes (111.24 million won or 85,400 dollars) spent less per win.

The KBO customarily published each team's total salaries before the season's start. However, the data was released after the season ended because the salary cap system was implemented at the beginning of this year. This year, teams that spent more than 11.43 billion won (8.77 million dollars) on their top 40 players were subject to fines of sanctions. All 10 clubs have met the salary cap rules.


leper@donga.com