The cold baseball stricken baseball became hot again.

Lotte hired free agent infielder Chi-hong Hong yesterday. The terms of the contract were unprecedented in Korea.

Lotte and An Chi-hong signed an FA contract with a two-year guarantee period, with a guarantee of 2 billion won (deposit 1.42 billion won and annual salary of 580 million won). The grade-based option included a maximum of 600 million won, including 600 million won outs.

The next contract is rather interesting: after the end of the 2021 season, Lotte and An Chi Hong can choose to accompany and break up respectively. LOTTE will propose an extension contract of up to KRW 3.1 billion for a period of two years, requesting 'accompaniment'. An Chi Hong can then choose to extend his or her free contract status. If Lotte chooses 'breakup', it will pay Ahn 100 million won of buyout. In other words, Lotte and An Chi Hong's contract size ranges from 2.1 billion won for two years to 5.6 billion won for up to four years.
The 'interesting' contract, which is not found in professional baseball, can be summarized into three keywords.

First, the value of 'second baseman' An Chi Hong. Ahn Chi-hong, who made his debut at the KIA in 2009, has maintained second base in Gwangju Stadium for the past 10 years. He is now the second best baseman in the league, winning three Golden Gloves. An Chi Hong, however, was anxious in his defense at second base last year. Defensive efficiency remained at the bottom of the second baseman after 80 league games (Source Stats). To make matters worse, even the blow grade fell. Not adapting to a less-repelled ball, Ahn Chi-hong hit .15 (362 at 114 hits), 5 home runs and 49 RBIs (105 on-base percentage + 0.792 batting average) in 105 games in 2019. When the FA market opened, the KIA club underestimated the value of second baseman An Chi Hong. No wonder the negotiations were sluggish.

Lotte, on the other hand, needed very much second baseman An Chi Hong. Lotte has not found its owner since the second round. Jung was unable to take his place, and even foreigners such as Burns and Asuahe did not see the effect. Overlapping with anxiety, Lotte weakened the center line, which is half of the team's power, which was directly related to sexuality. As the FA market opened, Lotte manager Sung Min-gyu planned to sign 'second baseman An Chi Hong' to strengthen his power.
But An Chi Hong's priority was 'KIA Residue'. An Chi-hong hoped the KIA team would suggest specific terms. The KIA team, however, did not offer the terms of the deal until mid-December. At the time, officials said, "It's not easy to narrow down because of the vehicle, but we are trying to stay."

On December 20, a contract was delivered to the frozen FA market. FA infielder Oh Ji-hwan has signed a four-year residual agreement with Won team LG. Oh's contract became the benchmark for KIA. The KIA team, which was in tune with the internal opinion, proposed to Chi Chi Hong over 4 billion won in four years. An official said, "The coverage is less than the ring, but the total amount is more than the ring."

After confirming the KIA proposal, An Chi-hong negotiated with Lotte. As long as he is on the free market, An Chi Hong chose to take a risk over stability. Lee Hyun-Rang, who made Kim Hyun-soo, Park Byeong-ho and Kang Jung-ho into the major leagues, proposed a contract with major league-style clauses such as opt-out and buy-out that were not found in KBO. Sung Min-gyu, who has worked in the major leagues, immediately understood the proposal from Chi-hong, and the negotiations were in full swing.

According to the contract, An Chi Hong's contract terms for the first two years are low, but if he succeeds in resurrection, he can be `` free of compensation '' through opt-out. And when he is 33 years old, a baseball player, he can get another chance by transferring. LOTTE FC has secured a safeguard to end the contract if An Chi-Hong struggles for the next two years. More interestingly, Ahn Chihong admitted the 'player option' to choose to break up. An official from Lotte said, "We haven't hired An Chi-Hong's second-class second baseman at an annual average of one billion won for two years. If that's the case, we decided it was okay to give the player a choice."

After contacting the contract, An Chi-hong expressed 'thank you' to KIA and 'confidence' to Lotte. "I am very grateful to KIA clubs and fans for helping me grow in the last decade. Two wins will be an unforgettable memory of my baseball life." Afterwards, "I will eat as much as I start and prepare for this season. I want to show you what I expect from Lotte. I will do my best to not worry about second base."

▶ FA An Chi Hong, blitz Lotte A lot of 'MLB terminology' in the contract