On the 30th of last month, Lotte announced contracts with 60 candidates for salary negotiations. Among them, Han Dong-hee and Lee Hak-joo메이저사이트 (both infielders) chose performance option contracts.
Han Dong-hee, who received 172 million won in 2022, is guaranteed an annual salary of 192.6 million won, a 12.0% increase this year. In addition, when all sexual options are achieved, you can receive up to 266.8 million won. This is an increase of 74.2 million won from the guaranteed salary. Lee Hak-joo, who signed for an annual salary of 70 million won in 2022, is guaranteed 72 million won this year, and can receive up to 96 million won when the option is achieved.
Similar to the Samsung Lions, which introduced a new annual salary system in 2021, and the Hanwha Eagles, which allowed players with an annual salary of over 100 million won to select options for players with an increase compared to the previous year from this year, the annual salary contract system was changed.
An official from the Lotte club said, “We introduced it to bring out the challenging spirit of the players and motivate them.”
The fact that only two of the total 60 players chose the performance option is because not all players are eligible. An official from the club explained, “On the basis of pitching, we only offered about 10 people.” He added, “Anyway, it is not easy to raise the salary a lot if the team’s performance is in the lower ranks. By all means, the main players can lose money in salary negotiations, so we devised a performance option.”
When choosing a performance option, the guaranteed amount is lowered, but instead, the maximum annual salary that can be received including the option is greatly increased. It is a kind of ‘high risk high return’ strategy. Although he took the risk while accepting a decrease in his guaranteed salary, if he achieves the result, the salary he receives will increase significantly.
In the case of Han Dong-hee, options were set for the number of at-bats, home runs, and OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage). Han Dong-hee played in 129 games last year and achieved his first personal 300 batting average (0.307), and his OPS was 0.817, the highest since his debut. However, his April (batting average of 0.427, OPS of 1.249) did not last long. He left a little bit of regret, but he chose ‘challenge’ even in the annual salary system this season, which became more responsible with Lee Dae-ho’s retirement.
Lee Hak-joo, who moved from Samsung to trade last year, decided on a performance option to strengthen motivation while his position was narrowed due to the recruitment of free agent Noh Jin-hyuk.
In this salary negotiation, Koo Seung-min recorded the first place in the increase in the team. He signed for 248.6 million won this year, up 67.6 million won from the previous 181 million won. Usually, the annual salary is signed in units of one million won. There are very few cases where it is done in units of tens of thousands of won. An official from the club said, “Seung-min Koo did not choose the performance option. He achieved 20 holds for the first time in the club for three consecutive years, and showed exemplary performance as the best pitcher in the pitching team. In recognition of this achievement, the final salary was confirmed.”