Only Doosan Bears, SSG Landers, and Kiwoom Heroes finished negotiating...
Applications for KBO annual salary arbitration will not be made for the fourth consecutive year. "In accordance with Article 75 of the Baseball Code [Application for Arbitration] 2, the application for annual salary arbitration was closed at 18:00 on the 10th. I would like to inform you that there have been no teams or players that have applied for it," the KBO said on the 9th. It has not been held for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025 since the 2021 KT Wiz.
In 2021, Sovereignty was the last player to apply for annual salary arbitration with the KBO. At the time, KT Wiz offered 220 million won, while Sovereignty demanded 250 million won. The KBO's annual salary arbitration committee ruled in favor of Sovereignty after comprehensively judging Sovereignty and the claims and grounds of KT's club.
It was unusual. In the 43-year history of the KBO, annual salary arbitration committees were not held often. There were only 21 occasions. More players applied for annual salary arbitration applications at the deadline. However, there were many cases in which they agreed before the arbitration committee was held. The reason is simple. There was no other player other than Ryu Ji-hyun of the LG Twins in 2002 and Sovereignty in 2021.
In the past, the logic of the players was poor compared to the heavily armed clubs with vast and detailed data. Clubs specialize in preparing and proceeding with player contracts. It was difficult for players to beat. As for this season, only three clubs, Doosan, SSG and Kiwoom, have completed annual salary negotiations at this point. Doosan was the only club that closed last year.
The remaining seven teams are still negotiating their salaries. However, the players of the seven teams have decided not to borrow the power of the KBO. There is little chance of winning even if they go to the annual salary arbitration committee, and, crucially, players nowadays leave the annual salary negotiations entirely up to their agents. Experts meet and negotiate anyway, so there is no reason to borrow the power of the KBO.
In the past, players directly negotiated with teams for annual salary. These days, however, players engage in individual training during off-season. Most players leave annual salary negotiations to agents. Agents are also experts. They have the power to negotiate with teams professionally. There is no reason to use the power of the KBO.
In addition, if the agent and the club agree, an agreement can be found as much as possible. On the other hand, if you go to the 안전놀이터 KBO Annual Salary Arbitration Committee, you can clearly determine victory or defeat without an agreement. To be precise, there is a high probability of losing. Therefore, it can be judged that there is no need to borrow the power of the KBO as a player. It should be considered that this trend is reflected in the non-application for annual salary arbitration for the last four consecutive years.
Still, I wonder if a player will be able to beat the club again if the case of sovereignty comes out again in 2021. Four years ago, the agent of sovereignty also persuaded the KBO professionally and was able to win the logic battle against KT.