30 Baseball Free Agents Eligible for Free Agency...Pitchers Uhm Sang-baek, Choi Won-tae, and Jang Hyun-sik are in the spotlight
30 Baseball Free Agents Eligible for Free Agency...Pitchers Uhm Sang-baek, Choi Won-tae, and Jang Hyun-sik are in the spotlight
Blog Article
A total of 30 players have become eligible for free agency in the 2025 Korean Professional Baseball Organization (KBO).
The KBO announced the list of players eligible for free agency in 2025 on Feb. 2.
Players who are eligible for free agency have four days to apply to the KBO for approval to exercise their free agency rights, and the KBO will announce the approved players on the fifth.
From the 6th, domestic and foreign clubs are free to negotiate with free agents.
The KBO categorizes free agents into A through C based on their salary ranking within the club, overall salary ranking, and age.
A club that acquires an A-grade player from another club must pay one compensation player (other than 20 protected players) and 200% of the previous year's salary or 300% of the previous year's salary to the original team.
Tier B compensation is 1 compensated player (25 protected players) plus 100% of the previous year's salary or 200% of the previous year's salary, and Tier C is 150% of the previous year's salary with no compensated players.
In 2025, there will be 3 Class A free agents, 15 Class B free agents, and 12 Class C free agents.
There are 13 first-time free agents, 9 re-qualified players, and 8 players who have already earned free agency but did not apply for free agency approval.
By club, KT WIZ has the most free agents with five, followed by NC Dinos with four, KIA Tigers, Doosan Bears, SSG Landers, Lotte Giants, Hanwha Eagles, and Kiwoom Heroes with three each.
The Samsung Lions had two free agents and the LG Twins had one.
While 30 players are eligible, the number of players who actually file for free agency is significantly lower.
Some players have already announced their retirement, such as Park Kyung-soo (KT) and Kim Kang-min (Hanwha), while some veteran players have decided to waive their free agency rights and sign short-term contracts with their original clubs.
In addition, players who have not performed well this season are looking for 'free agency luck'.
Free agency is a highlight of the KBO storyline.
It's one of the best ways to improve a team in the shortest amount of time.
Among the players who are eligible for free agency in 2025, the biggest name is Choi Jung (SSG Landers), who leads the KBO in career home runs (495).
Choi signed a four-year, 카지노사이트 $8.6 billion contract with the SK Wyverns (SSG's predecessor) in November 2014, a free agent record at the time.
In December 2018, he signed another free agent contract with SK for up to 6 years and 10.6 billion won.
This time, Choi was virtually guaranteed “more than 10 billion won for a four-year contract.
SSG has set a goal to sign Choi to a “non-free agent multi-year contract” before he hits the free agent market and has been meeting with him on a regular basis.
Both SSG and Choi have been closing the distance out of respect for each other.
“We're trying to finalize the contract before the announcement of free agency,” said an SSG official.
If Choi finalizes his deal, he will set a new KBO record for the highest total value of a multi-year contract in history, surpassing the 27.7 billion won that Doosan Bears catcher Yang Yang-ji earned in two free agency deals (four years for 12.5 billion won with the NC Dinos in 2019 and six years for 15.2 billion won with Doosan in 2023).
If he receives more than 10.8 billion won, he will also enter the “30 billion won multi-year contract era.
If Choi fails to close the 'fine gap' and enters the free agency market, he could become the 'eye of the storm' in this market.
Choi will be classified as a 'C-grade' player as he exercises his third free agency right, meaning that the club that signs him will have to pay SSG 1.5 billion won in compensation without providing a compensatory player.
Pitching is one of the positions that many teams are looking to strengthen in this free agency market.
Side arm Uhm Sang-baek (KT Wiz) and right-handed orthodox Choi Won-tae (LG Twins) will be eligible for free agency.
Uhm went 13-10 with a 4.88 ERA in the regular season this year, while Choi went 9-7 with a 4.26 ERA.
While not “first-round picks,” they are coveted by teams in need of starting pitching reinforcements.
Among the relievers, Lotte Giants closer Kim Won-joong, set-up man Koo Seung-min, and key bullpen arm Jang Hyun-sik of the defending champion KIA Tigers stand out.
SSG Noh Kyung-eun, who led the league in holds (38), is also eligible for free agency.
Doosan third baseman Heo Kyung-min is also noteworthy.
He signed a seven-year, $8.5 billion contract ahead of the 2021 season.
He signed a 4+3-year contract at the time, but if he chooses to stay with Doosan, he will receive 2 billion won over three seasons from 2025 to 2027.
If Heo does not opt for the “+3-year contract,” he could become a major player in this year's free agency market.
KT infielder Shim Woo-joon, Samsung infielder Ryu Ji-hyuk, and NC outfielder Kim Sung-wook are other free agents who could attract interest from other teams.
On the same day, the KBO also announced 11 “pending free agents” - players who have signed non-free agent multi-year contracts and existing free agents who have newly acquired or re-acquired free agent status by exercising their contract extension options, but whose contracts have not ended this year.
Kim Tae-gun, Choi Hyung-woo (KIA), Koo Ja-uk (Samsung), Kim Hyun-soo (LG), Jeong Soo-bin (Doosan), Ko Young-pyo (KT), Kim Sung-hyun, Moon Seung-won, Park Jong-hoon, Han Yoo-seom (SSG), and Park Se-woong (Lotte) are the pending free agents.