It was August 25, 2012. Already 10 years have passed.
At that time, the Lotte Giants held a ceremony to seal the ‘time capsule commemorating the 30th anniversary of the founding of Lotte’ at the Giants Museum in Sajik Stadium, Busan, prior to the home game against the Doosan Bears.
Lotte invited first coach Park Young-gil and starting pitcher Noh Sang-soo for the opening game in 1982, the first year of the pro league. Busan Mayor Heo Nam-shik also attended. Lotte CEO Jang Byung-soo, general manager Bae Jae-hoo, coach Yang Seung-ho, and player representative Kim Sa-yul participated in the event.
In the time capsule, major historical materials that show the history of the Lotte club from its foundation to 2012 were selected and put into it. The uniforms were sealed and put into a time capsule, and the time capsule is stored in the Giants Museum. The time capsule plans to open on August 25, 2032, the year of its 50th anniversary.
Lotte is a team that has been participating since the first year of the pro, and won the Korean Series twice in 1984 and 1992. Unfortunately, it is the oldest team in the KBO League that has won its last title. No championship in 30 years. 1999 was the last year to advance to the Korean Series. Lotte is the only team that failed to advance to the Korean Series in the 2000s. It is dishonorable.
It has been 10 years since Lotte held the time capsule event, but they are still unable to advance to the Korean Series. Advancing to the postseason twice. 4th place in 2012 to playoffs, 2017 3rd place to semi-playoffs.
The grades for the last 10 years are 5th – 7th – 8th – 8th – 3rd – 7th – 10th – 7th – 8th – 8th. In recent years, field leadership has changed almost every year.
Prior to the 2013 season, head coach Kim Si-jin, who came to the Lotte command tower with a 3-year contract, resigned after 2 years, and his successor, manager Lee Jong-woon, signed a 3-year contract, but was sacked after leading the team for only one season in the 2015 season. 토토사이트
After the 2017 season ended, he signed a 3-year contract extension with coach Cho Won-woo, who led him to the semi-playoffs, but was fired after just one year when he was sluggish in 7th place in the 2018 season. Coach Yang Sang-moon, who returned to Lotte in the 2019 season, fell to the bottom and resigned in disgrace in the middle of the season. Head coach Heo Moon-hoe, who took office as the command tower for the 2020 season, resigned due to poor performance after 30 games after the start of the 2021 season. Since then, head coach Larry Sutton has led the team to this day.
At the end of the 2019 season, after general manager Seong Min-gyu took office, he aimed for a rebuilding route. After several trades, the middle layer disappeared and the depth became thin. The results of the training of the second group are difficult to come out right away.
As a result, even while the team’s key players such as Lee Dae-ho, Son Ah-seop, and Jeon Jun-woo were present, their grades fluctuated in the lower ranks. Ahead of the 2022 season, franchise star Son Ah-seop and FA negotiations could not be reached, and he was sent to NC.
Last year, Lee Dae-ho performed at an all-time high in his retirement season and even won the designated hitter Golden Glove. Lee Dae-ho had excellent individual results, but Lotte failed to seize his last postseason opportunity, finishing only in 8th place. Lee Dae-ho’s retirement season also ended in a dreary manner.
Lotte, which has reduced the salary of the players and organized the player base for the past three years, has embarked on a large-scale reinforcement of power this winter. First, he tied up with local ace Park Se-woong in the team before becoming a free agent with a multi-year contract for 5 years and 9 billion won.
As the salary cap system was introduced in the KBO League just in time, Lotte, which had room for team salaries, actively recruited free agents from other clubs that were caught in the salary cap. Catcher Yoo Kang-nam (up to 8 billion won in 4 years), shortstop Roh Jin-hyeok (up to 5 billion won in 4 years), and pitcher Han Hyun-hee (up to 4 billion won in 3+1 years) were recruited one after another to strengthen the team’s weaknesses in turn.
A large number of players who released a sense of power immediately, such as Cha Woo-chan, Kim Sang-soo, Shin Jeong-rak, Yoon Myeong-jun, and Lee Jung-hoon, were also recruited. Last year, Charlie Barnes, Dan Straley, and Jack Rex, who performed well, also signed new contracts with three foreigners.
Lotte, which invested 26 billion won, must advance to the final 5 right away this season. How will you make it in the next 10 years? In 2032, at the event of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the time capsule, can Lotte talk about the memories of winning the 3rd Korean Series?