‘No more rookie managers!’ The real reason Lotte fans are so excited about the Kim Tae-hyung signing rumor
He’s just one of the frontrunners. But it’s not often that you see a managerial candidate so welcomed by fans.
The Lotte Giants are taking it one step at a time. They want to reestablish leadership at the top of the organization and prepare for the new season with a new manager.
In the last 11 years, Lotte has only made the postseason once (2017). This year, after an ambitious start with three free agent signings, the team failed, marking the sixth consecutive year of disappointment. Their record in those six years is 7-10-7-8-8-7.
However, Lotte has a strange history with novice managers. Since the so-called “Royster era” (Royster and Yang Seung-ho), Lotte managers have been Kim Si-jin-Jong-woon-Jo Woo-Yang Sang-moon-Gong Pil-sung (acting), Heo Mun-ho-Larry Sutton-Jong-woon (acting). With the exception of Kim Si-jin and Yang Sang-moon, all of them are “newbies” in their first first-team managerial roles at Lotte.
Fans now want a manager with a proven track record of leadership and performance, preferably with a ‘winning’ record. If that experience is relatively recent, it’s even more welcome.
Kim Tae-hyung fits the bill. Not only did he accomplish the feat of reaching the Korean Series for the seventh consecutive year, but he also expressed his love for the game of baseball and his concern for the Lotte fans on numerous occasions during his year-long commentary. The fact that he is armed with intuition and charisma that goes beyond data is also a plus for Lotte fans.
Aside from Kim, the other candidates Lotte is pursuing don’t deviate too far from this standard. The final camp is scheduled to begin on the 23rd. Lotte hopes to have a new manager by the end of October.
Giants president Lee Kang-hoon said, “We were going to report (to the parent organization) at the end of this month and decide on a manager. They will listen to our opinions as much as possible, but there is no guarantee that the manager will respond just because we want him,” Lee said.
“We need to think a bit more about who we want to hire. Of course, former coach Kim Tae-hyung is on the list. However, 먹튀검증 there are still procedures to communicate with Lotte Holdings and make a decision,” he said, adding, “Looking at the current situation, I think we should appoint a coach a little faster. We will hurry up so that we can prepare the team as much as possible during the final camp.”
In particular, “I, as the CEO, reflect the most. This year’s performance and development were quite insufficient. I will appoint a good manager and prepare well for next year’s season,” he vowed.
Lotte, the original baseball team, has never won a regular season title in its 41-year history. They have only won the Korean Series twice. Both came under Kang Byung-cheol.
Lotte’s history is divided into three periods, beginning with Choi Dong-won’s first championship (1984), before and after Jong-seok Yeom’s debut and second championship (1992), and before and after Jerry Royster’s arrival (2008).
The 21st century is the only one of the three milestones that carries more weight. The period before Royster was the darkest period, known as the “8888577” password era, and the five years between his arrival and the next manager, Yang Seung-ho (2008-2012), were the first five consecutive years of fall baseball in Lotte’s history.
Can Lotte be different next year? A thousand miles starts with one step. The first priority is to appease the angry fans and prevent the players from becoming agitated.