Son Hyuk (50), who was appointed as the general manager of the professional baseball Hanwha Eagles in October last year, spent two hectic months playing Stove League as soon as he took office.
“It’s a different feeling from the coach, and the time passed too quickly,” said General Manager Son in a phone call with Yonhap News on the 10th, explaining the direction of the All Stove League as ‘inducing internal competition’ and ‘recruiting a dugout leader’.
It is interpreted as an attempt to correct the problems that arose due to the rebuilding stance of the former general manager Jeong Min-cheol.
He pointed out the lack of competition within the team as young players filled the vacant positions of veterans.
After the 2020 season, Hanwha released veteran players in their mid-30s or older, such as Lee Yong-gyu, Choi Jin-haeng, Song Kwang-min, and Kim Hoe-seong. Kim Tae-gyun is retired.
General manager Sohn analyzed, “Of course, the current players must have won their positions through competition, but there is a feeling that they naturally took their place as senior players left.”
At the same time, he said, “I want players to compete with each other in each position,” and emphasized, “That way, they know the value of the seat and try not to lose it, and as a result, the depth of the squad can be strengthened.”
This is the reason why they recruited an outside free agent (outfielder Chae Eun-seong) for the first time in 7 years in the Stove League, and brought in Lee Tae-yang (pitcher) and Oh Seon-jin (infielder) in turn shortly thereafter.
Even if you are a newcomer who is attracting attention like Kim Seo-hyun, the first overall pick in the 2023 rookie draft, you cannot avoid internal competition.
General manager Sohn said, “I don’t believe in the rookies who came in this year that much.” Emphasized.
The second keyword was ‘Dougout Leader’.
In the previous rebuilding process, the dominant evaluation was that the dugout leader was missing as veteran players were all out at once.
General manager Sohn said, “I came to Hanwha and felt, ‘The players are good, but it would be better if there were senior players who lead them. “I looked back.
It is for the same reason that Hanwha brought back franchise stars Lee Tae-yang and Oh Seon-jin, whom they had sent out through trade in the past.
General Manager Son said, 메이저놀이터 “I know that the two players have offered good conditions in other teams, but they are players with a strong royalty for Hanwha,” and said, “I think young players will learn naturally if they play the role of veterans.”
At the same time, Lee Taeyang looked at Choo Shin-soo and Kim Gwang-hyun, who had been in SSG Landers for a while, and said, ‘I had to show you that side of me when I was at Hanwha. He also said that he once said, “I will do it when I go back someday.”