Kim Kang-min's transfer
November 25th, 2023
Lee Jae-won's release SSG completely takes off the image
In the second draft held on the 22nd, SSG failed to prevent Kim Kang-min (41) from moving to Hanwha by not tying him as a 35-member player or not marking him as a "scheduled retirement player" in the non-report section. In addition, on the 24th, catcher Lee Jae-won, who played as a one-club man for 18 years, was officially released. In addition to the news of the release of Lim Joon-seop, Kim Joo-han, and Yang Seon-ryul, Seo Dong-min's intention to retire has made it clear that he will further reveal the color of the SSG group.
As a result, only Kim Kwang-hyun (35), Choi Jung (36), and Han Yu-seom (34) remain in the remaining SK franchise stars at SSG. In response, Kim Kwang-hyun said on his SNS, "SNS is a waste of life, but I should do it today. I respect someone's choice, but I don't think 23 years should be ignored. Bye, bro. Oh, it's really cold today," he said, expressing regret over the transfer of Kim Kang-min. Han Yu-seom also expressed similar regret and posted a picture with Kim Kang-min.
As the remaining three are also in their mid-to-late 30s, they are now at an age when they should gradually think about the end of their active duty rather than the day they wear SSG uniforms. Therefore, Choi Kang-min's transfer also has a symbolic meaning of subtracting the color of the previous franchise.
After losing the playoffs, SSG replaced Kim Won-hyung, who led the team to the "Wire to Wire" championship in the previous year, recruiting new coach Lee Sung-yong, and recruiting Son Si-heon, who was training in Japan at NC, as the Futures coach, providing a lot of issues both inside and outside.