Lotte’s renewal and fresh start after head coach change resulted in ‘Eunsa’ reuniting with coach Bae Young-soo.
He ended his career on a winning note. As he contemplated retirement, he was reunited with Eunsa.
After a year as a commentator, Kim Tae-hyung took the helm of Lotte. He also reunited with his former students, who together formed the Doosan dynasty.
Lotte said goodbye to eight coaches on Nov. 22, including acting head coach Lee Jong-woon, Park Heung-sik, Jeon Jun-ho and Choi Kyung-chul. Together with former head coach Larry Sutton and coordinator Heo Sam-young, who resigned during the season, a total of 10 coaching staff members left the team at once. Even members of the 1992 championship team, such as Lee Jong-woon and Jeon Jun-ho, were not spared.
They were held accountable for this season’s fall baseball failure and made room for the ‘Kim Tae-hyung Division’ to be recruited. Coaches Kim Joo-chan, Ko Young-min, and Yoo Jae-shin will wear Lotte uniforms together.
They are also reunited with Lotte second team head coach Bae Young-soo, who remains with Lotte. Bae will continue to coach the Futures squad in the Education League. The team is preparing for a meeting with Kim on the 25th and the first training session of the final camp.
As a player, Bae was on the verge of retiring from the Hanwha Eagles after the 2018 season. But Kim held his hand, and he was honored to take the mound in Game 4 of the 2019 Korean Series when Doosan clinched the title.
Kim began his coaching career with Doosan. For three years, he served as an assistant pitching coach and bullpen coach.
Before this season, he received a call from Lotte. It was a strong call from former team manager Sung Min-kyu, 카지노사이트킴 who used all his connections from school. Kim was also leaving the team. He wanted to fulfill his dream in a new place. It was his first first-team pitching coach job after four years of retirement.
Immediately after his appointment, he received attention for his ‘intense’ training, but he was overly motivated. His enthusiasm needed to be tempered. Disagreements over the use of catchers led to infighting within the coaching staff. At the end of June, Bae was transferred to the second team manager position.
The team had run aground. Eventually, the team faced the reality of fall baseball failure for the sixth consecutive year. It was a disappointing result for the parent company, which invested 17 billion won in signing three free agents (Yoo Kang-nam, No Jin-hyuk, and Han Hyun-hee) and 9 billion won in extending the ace’s contract.
Lotte announced the hiring of Kim on the 20th. The contract is for three years, totaling 2.4 billion won, the highest for an active manager. At the same time, Sung Jeon, who coined the buzzword “process,” left the company. Rather than the front, the weight will be on the ‘field’ led by Kim.
Kim has spent 33 years in the KBO, but Lotte is his third team. From his debut in 1990 to his farewell with Doosan in 2022, he spent only three years (2012-2014, SK Wyverns) in a uniform other than Doosan.
Kim will take his first steps in the heart of Busan baseball with a press conference on Thursday. Lotte and Busan may be unfamiliar territory for the seven-time Korean Series champion. Bae, who arrived a year earlier, will help.
