["( ) cannot be bought with money"]


It is a common expression used in many cultures around the world.

The most frequently used word in parentheses seems to be 'happiness'.

And the Beatles sang.

'Money can't buy me love'.



Even in the sports world, that expression often appears.

Parentheses usually contain 'victory'.

It is an expression that emphasizes that other factors such as teamwork, mental strength, and luck are also important, saying that you cannot become a strong team by collecting only expensive star players.



However, from a certain point of view, it can be seen that 'buying victory' is possible in sports.

Because there is a market where victory is bought and sold.

That's the FA market.




Yang Eui-ji, who became a free agent in the winter of 2018, signed a four-year contract with NC for 12.5 billion won.

What NC expected from Yang Eui-ji can be estimated as 'activities at the level of recent years'.

In other words, it can be assumed that he signed a 4-year contract 'looking forward to his performance over the past 4 years'.

Yang Eui-ji's WAR (contributed to victory over substitutes) in the four seasons prior to his signing was 19.9.

In other words, it can be seen that he invested 12.5 billion won in the expectation of creating about 19.9 wins over the next four years.



Roughly speaking, it can be expressed as 'I paid 12.5 billion won and bought 19.9 wins over the next 4 years'.

It is equivalent to 6278.3 billion won per win.

Let's call this the 'price of 1 win for Yang Eui-ji'.



Yang Eui-ji recorded a WAR of 23.04 for the next four years of the contract period.

It is equivalent to 542.53 million won per 1 WAR.

The 'performance' was better than the price described above, that is, 6278.3 billion won per win.

There is a basis for the joke that 'money is not worth the will'.

This winter, Yang Eui-ji signed a contract with Doosan, his home team, for up to 6 years and a total of 15.2 billion won.

Yang Eui-ji's WAR for the past six years was 32.49.

It can be said that Doosan invested 467.84 million won per 1 WAR, expecting similar performance for the next 6 years.

Much cheaper than 4 years ago.

Maybe it's because I'll be 36 next year.



If you average all FA contracts in this way, you can also estimate the 'average price of 1 free agent win'.

During the 8 years of the '10 team era', which began with KT's participation in the first team in 2015, each team spent a total of 579.815 billion won in the FA market.

The sum of WARs raised by players who signed free agency contracts during the previous season during the contract period is approximately 1169.1 WAR, which is 499.03 million won.

In other words, since 2015, the price of 'FA 1 win' can be seen as 499.03 million won, or about 500 million won.



However, this 'price of one win' changes every season.




The time when the 'price of victory' was the most expensive seems to be the end of 2017.

Pitchers such as Bong Joong-geun (1.19 billion won per win), Cha Woo-chan (1.03939 million won), Lee Hyeon-seung (750 million won), and Kim Gwang-hyeon (577.05 million won) were priced much higher than average for the "future victory". .

No wonder.

This was when the league's "pitcher drought" reached its peak.

From 2005 to 2009, when Seok-Min Yoon, Won-Jun Jang, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Gwang-Hyun Kim, and Hyeon-Jong Yang appeared, Korean baseball has not been able to develop an ace pitcher for nearly 10 years.

Of course, there was an extreme riding and pitching phenomenon, and each team was frantic to secure a pitcher.

This is why pitchers are worth gold.



Since 2018, the 'price of victory' has been on a downward trend.

During the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, the clubs' efforts to lower the players' ransom continued, such as trying to 'actually collude', saying, 'Let's not spend money on the FA market'.

The 2020 Corona 19 incident seems to have hit the FA market as well.



**If the 'Go to View' button is not pressed, try moving the address to the address bar and pasting it.