an annual salary of one million dollars. His performance is three wins and five losses ahead of the first half of the first half. At the current pace, he is likely to remain in six wins, let alone 10 wins, when he plays the full-time season.
Lotte recruited a new foreign pitcher named Dan Straily ahead of the 2020 season. Straily pitched in 31 games in his first season of debut and played 194⅔ innings, and played 15 wins, 4 losses, and a 2.50 ERA, including 205 strikeouts. The advent of “Ace”. Lotte naturally renewed its contract with Straily, and recorded 10 wins, 12 losses, and a 4.07 ERA in 31 games the following year.
His performance fell noticeably from his first year on the KBO League stage, but it was an unwavering achievement to harvest double-digit wins for the second consecutive year. However, Straily decided to end his trip with Lotte after the end of the season and return to the U.S. for his dream of advancing to the Major League.
In the United States, the results were not significant. After signing a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Straily competed 토토꽁포인트 fiercely for a spot in the starting rotation at spring camp. However, in the exhibition game, Straily left only regrets, and he was in a situation where he moved to the minor leagues after the regular season began.
Lotte, which had been fiercely competing for the fifth place in the 2022 season, was struggling with a series of sluggish foreign pitchers, but it again contacted Straily and expressed “sincere” by guaranteeing the contract period until the 2023 season, including the 2022 season. Straily, who returned to the KBO League, eventually failed to lead Lotte to the postseason, but showed off his robustness with 4 wins, 2 losses, and a 2.31 ERA in 11 games.
But Straily’s appearance this year is so unfamiliar. In two exhibition games, Straily lost one and had a 6.43 ERA, which led to the regular season. Straily struggled with two losses and a 5.82 ERA, failing to record a quality start (less than three earned runs in six innings) in a total of five appearances in April. In particular, some even voiced that alternative players should be considered, given that the speed has fallen significantly.
Coach Larry Sutton expressed his expectation that Straily’s repeated slump would show improvement, citing that he was born in 1988 along with a “slow starter.” And Straily showed a rebound with a 2-2 ERA of 2.31, recording three quality starts in four appearances in May. In his first game in June, he also pitched the best pitch of the season with two runs (two earned runs) in seven innings against the KIA Tigers.
But the good momentum didn’t last very long. Straily showed disappointment at the beginning of the season again from his second appearance in June, but has not been able to record a quality start for six consecutive games. Of course, every appearance is not a pity. Of the last six games, there have been three games that have blocked five innings within two runs. However, this is not what Lotte expects from Straily.
Currently, it is not easy for Straily to exceed five innings. The player who should play the role of the “Ace” has not been able to properly block even five innings. In 16 appearances, he has only four quality starts and only five pitches in six innings. Considering 144 long-term races, it is certainly fatal to all bullpen pitchers as their ability to digest innings decreases.
According to the baseball statistics site Statistics, Straily’s WAR (contribution to victory over substitute players) is only 0.71. 59th among all pitchers. In “Sports to I,” it is 0.83, a little higher than “Statties,” but it is not even listed in the top 30. Despite being an advantageous starting pitcher to build a WAR, the two statistics sites are below Kim Won-joong, a “long-haired closure.”
In an interview with reporters after turning the “return point,” coach Larry Sutton cited “advance to the Korean Series” along with “advance to the semifinals” as the goal of the remaining 72 games. In other words, it is a position to do ‘winnow’. But if there is no change, it doesn’t seem likely to come true. This is because Lotte is at the crossroads of defending and collapsing with a 50% winning rate, with all the momentum at the beginning of the season dampened. If Lotte is truly aiming to advance to the postseason for the first time in six years since 2017, it is time to draw a sword.
Of course, the current situation in the foreign market is very bad. It is necessary to bring in foreign players from the independent league, the Mexican league, and the Taiwanese league. However, it may be better to expect a new player with relatively less analysis than to expect a revival of Straily, who rarely rebounds. This is because it is not very rare for substitute players to succeed even in a bad market every year.
In the case of the KBO League, the annual salary of alternative foreign players is up to $100,000 (about 130 million won) based on a month. As time goes by, the maximum annual salary that can be paid to players will inevitably decrease. The chances of bringing in a good player with a small salary are not very high. What kind of decision will Lotte make ahead of the end of the first half.