The professional baseball Hanwha Eagles recently replaced their manager. Coach Carlos Subero, who was brought in as a ‘rebuilding expert’, was sacked, and Choi Won-ho, who led the Futures (second team) team, was appointed as the new command tower. The newly started Hanwha had a tight fight against the leader SSG Landers in three consecutive weekend games. After exchanging 1 win and 1 loss, in the game on the 14th, it was tied 3-3 after an extended game.
The biggest concern for Hanwha, which is promising a new start after welcoming a new coach, is the sluggishness of foreign hitter Brian O’Grady (31). O’Gredi went 0-for-5 during the bloody 12th overtime, which lasted 4 hours and 58 minutes. He entered the plate a total of six times and only got on base once with a walk in the top of the eighth inning. In particular, in the beginning of the 12th inning of extra time, Park Sang-eon’s hit made one out and first base turn into a looking strikeout. If Jae-Hoon Choi and In-Hwan Kim hadn’t hit consecutively after two outs, Hanwha would have been unable to score.
O’Grady came to Hanwha on the condition of receiving an annual salary of 900,000 dollars (about 1.2 billion won) this season. He came from Japanese professional baseball (Seibu Lions), so he thought he would adapt to Korean baseball soon, but the reality is the exact opposite. He played 9 games until the 15th, and he has a batting average of 0.125 (9 hits in 72 at-bats) and only 8 RBIs. During his opening 34 games, he did not hit a single home run.
Hanwha spent a lot of money (9 billion won over 4 years) to recruit free agent Chae Eun-seong last winter, but the effect was not 100% saved because O’Grady cut off the flow of other players.
Compared to Guillermo Heredia, the foreign hitter of the leading SSG, the record is more disastrous. O’Gredi’s OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) was 0.346, falling short of Heredia’s on-base percentage (0.427). Heredia saved the team by hitting a tying home run in the bottom of the 12th inning when Hanwha was leading 3-2. O’Gredi had a bitter taste in the dugout while Heredia roamed the grounds.
Hanwha stayed at the bottom for three consecutive years until last year. For the team to leap to the top, foreign players are desperately needed. However, this year, from the beginning of the season, it is foreseeing a ‘big bad harvest’. Pitcher Birch Smith, who signed a contract with an annual salary of 1 million dollars, threw only one game and packed up early due to an injury.
Outfielder O’Grady was excluded from the first-team entry on the 22nd of last month after a series of missed swings right after the opening. He stayed in District 2 for 18 days and returned on the 11th, but he still can’t find his senses. When he hit a double on the 12th, the day after his return, manager Choi Won-ho said “thank you” half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Hanwha fans are in a state of rage this year as the team stays in the bottom ranks and manager Subero suddenly resigns. 카지노사이트 Fans raise their voices, saying, “The time and timing of the announcement of the change of manager, as well as the method of replacement, were not appropriate for both the old and new directors.” Apart from the evaluation of coach Subero, it was pointed out that ‘Is it right to send out a manager who has signed a contract to rebuild because of his performance’? On the 15th, when there was no game, some fans sent an e-mail to the press and said, “We are planning a truck demonstration to express our protest.”
Fans are angry not only because Hanhwa has not performed well in recent years. This means that even the front desk, which has made mistakes in foreign player contracts every year, cannot be free from responsibility for poor performance.