He is just one of the leading candidates. However, it is rare to see a director candidate welcomed by fans like this.
The Lotte Giants are careful with each step. This is to re-establish the leadership of the club’s leadership and prepare for the new season with a new head coach.
In the past 11 years, Lotte has advanced to the postseason only once (2017). This year, after an ambitious start by recruiting three free agents, failed, marking the sixth consecutive year of frustration. The ranking over the past 6 years is 7-10-7-8-8-7.
However, Lotte has a strangely close relationship with the novice director. After the so-called ‘Royster era (Royster-Yang Seung-ho)’, Lotte’s head coaches are Kim Si-jin, Lee Jong-un, Cho Won-woo, Yang Sang-moon, Gong Pil-seong (acting), Heo Moon-hoe, Larry Sutton, and Lee Jong-un (acting). Except for Kim Si-jin and Yang Sang-moon, all of them were ‘beginners’ who were in charge of the first team at Lotte for the first time.
Now, fans want a head coach with proven leadership and performance, and preferably even a ‘championship’ experience. It is even more welcome if the experience is relatively recent.
Former coach Taehyung Kim fits the bill perfectly. He achieved the feat of advancing to the Korean Series for 7 consecutive years, and expressed his love for baseball itself and interest in Lotte fans several times through a year of commentary. The fact that there is no coaching division to speak of and that he is armed with intuition and charisma that goes beyond data is also a favorable factor for Lotte fans.
In addition to former coach Kim, the candidates Lotte is working on also do not deviate significantly from this standard. The finishing camp is scheduled to begin on the 23rd. Lotte Club hopes to appoint a new head coach by the end of October.
Giants CEO Lee Kang-hoon said, “We were planning to report (to the parent company) at the end of this month and decide on a manager. We will listen to our opinions as much as possible, but there is no guarantee that the manager will respond just because (we) want it.”
He continued, “We need to think a little more about who to hire. Of course, former coach Kim Tae-hyung is also among the candidates. However, there are still procedures to communicate with Lotte Holdings and make a decision.” He also said, “I will hurry so that I can form a team as much as possible during the final camp.”
In particular, he repeatedly pledged, “As the CEO, I reflect the most. This year’s performance and training were quite poor. I will appoint a good coach and prepare well for next season.”
Lotte, the first professional baseball team, has never won a regular season championship in its 41-year history. They have only won the Korean Series twice.먹튀검증 These are all achievements achieved by Director Kang Byeong-cheol.
Lotte’s history begins with the first championship (1984) gifted by Choi Dong-won, is divided into the period before and after Yeom Jong-seok’s debut and second championship (1992), and before and after former coach Jerry Royster took office (2008).
In particular, Royster, the only one of the three branches in the 21st century, has a special weight. The period before Royster was the worst dark period known as the ‘8888577’ password era, and the five years between his appointment and the next head coach, former manager Yang Seung-ho (2008-2012), were the first five consecutive years of fall baseball in Lotte history.
Will Lotte be different next year? A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The top priority is to appease angry fans and prevent the players from becoming upset.