San Diego, which has dominated the major league transfer market for the past three years, is having a gloomy winter. 

He is doing his best to reduce the team’s salary, which has skyrocketed in the blink of an eye. Active recruitment is not even a dream. 

Rather, ‘cost-effectiveness’, which had not been suitable for San Diego until now, has become important. And the word ‘trade’ came to mind.

Dennis Lin, a San Diego reporter for North American sports media outlet ‘The Athletic’, analyzed San Diego’s 40-man roster for 2024 on the 2nd (Korean time) and pointed out what the team needs. 

Lin said that San Diego has a hole in the outfield and is in need of a left-hander

while also citing whether or not to trade an infielder as a matter of interest.

San Diego’s infield roster selected by Lin includes six players: Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Ha-seong Kim, Jake Cronenworth, Matthew Batton, and Tucupita Marcano.

In fact, it cannot be said that there is that much of a difference from 2023. But there is one variable. This is the possibility of trading infielders.

The possibility of a trade for Machado or Bogaerts, whose contracts are so large

is close to zero, but it is a different story for Ha-Sung Kim and Cronenworth.

In fact, the two players’ names are constantly being mentioned in trade rumors this offseason. There are even evaluations that he is a so-called ‘trade rumor all-star’.

Ha-seong Kim, who signed a four-year contract with San Diego in 2021, now has one year left on his contract.

In theory, this is a time when the possibility of a trade could be discussed. However, Cronenworth is a player who signed an 8-year contract and is in a different position from Kim Ha-seong.

Lin paid attention to these variables. In other words

he is diagnosing that there may be some changes to the roster before the season opens.

However, Lin emphasized that trading Kim Ha-seong must be cautious.

Lin said, ‘If you move Ha-Seong Kim this offseason, you could get a lot of money in return, and you probably need to approach it cautiously.

Ha-seong Kim has shown great performance over the past two years and has now become one of the league’s leading central infielders. 카지노사이트랭크

In 2023, he was the National League Utility Gold Glove winner and a finalist for second base.

His offensive production has also been above league average the past two years.

Regarding Kim Ha-seong, Lin said, ‘He is entering his final year before becoming a free agent.

He predicted that it would likely take a nine-figure contract to sign the Gold Glove winner.

The 9-digit number literally means billions. It is said that more than $100 million is needed to catch Kim Ha-seong, which emphasizes that San Diego’s finances are not easy to handle or that they may be lost in a battle with other teams.

However, Lin cited two reasons why the Kim Ha-seong trade should be proceeded with caution.

Lin said, ‘Aside from the fact that (Kim Ha-seong) is very popular with fans, Kim Ha-seong can provide great value to the team in 2024 as well.

Kim Ha-seong’s average annual salary is $7 million, and he can earn more than that even if he just spends one more year.

Second is the health of starting third baseman Manny Machado, who underwent elbow ligament joint surgery.

Lin believed that Machado would be able to hit until the season opens, but he expressed skepticism about whether he would be able to throw and defend.

Lin said, “I may not be ready to play third base until the end of March,” and added, “As it happens

Ha-seong Kim has considerable experience in Machado’s position (third base).

He pointed out that San Diego, which needs a solution for the designated hitter

can solve (Machado) as a temporary solution in the first few weeks of the season.

To define Lin’s logic, it is as follows. If you want to trade Kim Ha-seong, it is better to do it now rather than in the summer of 2024. 

Because he can get paid more. In addition, it appears that more than $100 million will be needed to renew Kim Ha-seong’s contract, and if so, it is impossible to guarantee whether San Diego will be able to keep Kim Ha-seong down.

 If you look at it up to this point, a trade seems like a natural thing. 

However, Ha-seong Kim is a key infielder for the team and can provide attractive value relative to his salary that is too good to let go, and considering that third base is unstable at the beginning of the season due to Machado’s surgery, Ha-seong Kim’s value shines even more.

It’s all about money. San Diego has been pouring money into the market recently, recruiting superstars without hesitation and signing long-term contracts with existing key players one after another. 

Players who have signed contracts worth more than $100 million include Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove.

In fact, San Diego’s 2023 team salary reached approximately $256 million. 

This was third in the major leagues, following the New York Mets (about $343.6 million) and the New York Yankees (about $278.65 million). 

They spent more than the LA Dodgers (approximately $240 million), who are the biggest rivals and own the market. When the water came in

it was an ambitious plan to go beyond the National League West Division and even win the World Series through active investment.

However, many people expressed concern about San Diego’s actions. This is because it was unclear whether the company had the basic stamina to make such an investment.

Although the team’s income is generated from the stadium, broadcasting rights fees ultimately account for a large portion.

And the broadcasting rights fee tends to be proportional to the club’s reputation and tradition as well as the size of the behind-the-scenes market.

Unfortunately, San Diego is not a very large market.

In fact, San Diego’s financial resources were temporarily blocked when the broadcasting rights company went bankrupt last year. 

The Major League office is actively trying to solve the problem, but the problem is not easily resolved. 

There were also reports that San Diego even received a bank loan to put out the fire at the end of the 2023 season.

Meanwhile, with the death of owner Peter Seidler, who led the club’s investment, the issue of leadership in investment also arose. To make matters worse.

According to local reports, San Diego is trying to lower the team’s annual salary below $200 million. There were great sacrifices in the process. 

Juan Soto, the team’s key hitter and the best hitter in the Major League, was eventually traded.

For Soto, 2024 is the last year of salary adjustment. An annual salary of more than $30 million is certain, but this was also burdensome for San Diego.

It was a typical move to reduce payroll.

Team options for pitchers who performed well this year, such as Seth Lugo and Michael Waka, were not exercised. This is also to reduce team salaries.