The SSG Landers have been in professional baseball for three seasons now, and while they’ve made a lot of noise in that short time, they’ve had a tumultuous year. The team seems to be losing its identity and faltering. How much does this reflect the intentions of owner Jung Yong-jin, and what are the recent developments?

November 8, 2022. SSG defeats Kiwoom in four games to two to win the Korean Series. They took the top spot from the opening game of the regular season and never dropped it until the end of the season. With the combined victory, SSG lifted its first Korean Series trophy two years after taking over the organization. Owner Jung Yong-jin celebrated the victory with the SSG players.

However, after the victory, SSG spoiled the festivities themselves. On December 12, 2022, head coach Ryu Sun-kyu resigned. The organization claimed that Ryu resigned voluntarily, but it was for cause. There were no signs of resignation until a day earlier, when the team held a “fan festival” with SSG fans to celebrate their unified victory. Never before has a front-man left a team so soon after winning a championship, 먹튀검증 and not even for a higher position.

The sudden resignation of the head coach sparked controversy, and within two days

SSG named Kim Sung-yong, head of the Futures R&D Center, as his successor. Kim joined SSG in November 2021 after serving as the head coach of Yatapgo, and within a year, he was promoted to head coach.

The owner, who usually actively communicates with fans on his personal social media space, showed his discomfort during the resignation and replacement process by posting emotional posts on social media, deleting them and blocking the comment section as fans raised complaints and suspicions.

In the 2023 season, SSG finished third in the regular season and entered the semi-playoffs, where they were eliminated in an upset by fourth-place NC in three games on October 25. On October 31, SSG announced that it had “terminated the contract with head coach Kim Won-hyung.” It was a surprise.

In the middle of last year’s Korean Series, SSG surprisingly announced the re-signing of Kim Won-hyung as a way to empower him, only to dismiss him a year later. Kim Won-hyung signed a two-year contract through 2021, and SSG surprisingly announced his re-signing an hour before Game 5 of the Korean Series last year. The team re-signed Kim Won-hyung for a total of 2.2 billion won ($700,000 down payment, $500,000 annual salary). He was fired with two years left on his contract.

However, the reason for the coach’s dismissal revealed by SSG was huge.

SSG said, “We decided that we needed to make changes and innovations, such as changing the overall team operation and player generation. Changes were inevitable in order to renew the team and transform it into a stronger team that is more loved. The changes went beyond the initial player and coaching staff changes to include a change in on-field leadership. It was a difficult and painful decision. It was a difficult and painful decision.”

The reason given for the firing of the head coach was not performance, but generational change and innovation, which I didn’t understand at first. Generation change and innovation should be the responsibility of the front office, not the head coach. The head coach’s priority is to produce first-team results. After winning the unified title in 2022, the team went through a wave of head coach changes. Kim Sung-yong was appointed as the head coach from the head of the Futures R&D Center because he was recognized as a development expert.

At the time, SSG said, “Kim Sung-yong, the new head coach, has been praised for establishing the foundation for SSG to become a prestigious club by establishing a systematic development system while overseeing the Future Team this season. In particular, he contributed to SSG’s victory this year by establishing a system that allows players to quickly grow into first-team players through player-centered thinking, player-led growth, and customized development strategies based on smooth communication with the players.”

In the recent secondary draft, the SSG organization was criticized by fans for its botched handling of the draft.

It failed to tie franchise star Kim Kang-min, who played 23 seasons with the organization since 2001, to a protective contract, and he left the team after being drafted by Hanwha.

SSG had internal discussions about extending Kim’s contract or retiring him after the season. However, they didn’t put him on the reserve list and didn’t indicate the fact that they discussed his retirement in the remarks section. When Kim was named, he responded with a surprising statement, “I didn’t expect to be picked by another team.”

Kim has been a one-club man for 23 years, and at over 40 years old, he’s still a first-team player in the offense. He was also the MVP of the Korean Series in 2022. In response to the criticism from SSG fans, SSG even staged a skit calling for Kim to retire.

Instead of retiring, Kim decided to play next season in a Hanwha uniform. On April 24, Kim visited the Hanwha club office and announced that he would play for a team that needed him. 메이저 토토사이트 On the 25th, SSG announced that Kim Sung-yong was changing his position to head of the R&D center to take responsibility for the recent controversy over the manager and coach appointments and the secondary draft process.

It was the end of November last year. Manager Kim Won-hyung and Korean Series MVP Kim Kang-min visited media outlets for a unified victory greeting. The honorees of the first wire-to-wire championship left the team side by side just one year later. SSG no longer has a winning captain, no longer has a winning manager, and no longer has a winning MVP. SSG appointed a new head coach, Lee Sung-yong, as “the right person for performance and development”. Will he be able to do that?