The SSG's main goal this offseason was to improve its catcher's lineup. So far, SSG had three catchers, Lee Jae-won, Kim Min-sik and Lee Heung-ryeon, who had been the team's main catchers for a long time, wearing masks. Jo Hyung-woo, the team's top catcher, was added to the list. In the last five years, four catchers have been sitting at home plate for most of the time. However, there has been a big change this year.

Immediately, Lee Jae-won, the team's main catcher and former franchise star, left the team. Lee Jae-won was suffering from continued decline in performance, performance, and performance. His position in the team has weakened. His position in the team was so narrow that he only played 27 games in the first team last year. Sensing this trend clearly, Lee Jae-won asked the club to release him after the end of the season. He wanted to move to a team where he could have more opportunities and spark his last flame. After much consideration, the club accepted the offer, and Lee Jae-won is moving to Hanwha to prepare for the new season.

On the 11th, Lee Heung-ryeon also took off his familiar mask. SSG said on the 11th, "Lee Heung-ryeon will end his professional baseball career and start anew as an analyst at the club's away team." "Lee Heung-ryeon has chronic shoulder pain, and after agonizing over his retirement and extension of his active career after the end of the 23rd season, he announced his intention to retire to the club in December." In response, SSG officially announced that it highly appreciated Lee's understanding of baseball and his exemplary and sincere attitude, and suggested an away team analyst, and will start working at the front desk in the 24th season."

The exclusion of the two players from 2024 was expected to some extent. However, it was a gap that the team could not take lightly. Although their contribution to the first team was insufficient last year, two veteran catchers who could have used them quickly disappeared. They say that SSG, which had to think about the operation of catchers in the second division, instead of the first division, needs to at least add more catchers. SSG, which was not satisfied with its catcher's ability and did not receive high praise for its catcher development, had to reorganize the game.

Among them, SSG picked two catchers in the second draft, which was held in November last year. Initially, SSG was not interested in players in positions other than catchers. It had in mind the three catchers that were drafted in the second draft. One of them was picked by another team, and Park Dae-on (former NC) in the first round and Shin Beom-soo (former KIA) in the third round, reinforcing the two catchers. The team made efforts to strengthen its catcher position by spending 600 million won (622,000 U.S. dollars) as compensation for the two players. On top of that, it included Cho Hyung-woo, one of the most promising catchers in the team. All three players were evaluated as having a "determined future" as they all had their own strengths.

Until then, however, he was not even thinking about breaking up with Kim Min-sik, the team's main catcher. Anyway, the centerpiece of the team's catcher was Kim Min-sik's decision. Right now, Kim Min-sik was the team's undisputed main catcher who played 122 games last year. His batting performance was not unusual, but he led the pitchers well as the team's main catcher, and he was evaluated to be above average in blocking or stealing bases. The rest of the catchers, including Park Dae-on, Shin Bum-soo and Cho Hyung-woo, had no experience playing full-time in the first division. It was too much of a adventure to trust them and go for a season. This is why SSG participated in the FA negotiations for Kim Min-sik. 스포츠토토

However, the negotiations did not go smoothly. After some exploration after the FA market opened, the two sides sat at the negotiating table from December. They reportedly held about three rounds of negotiations. However, there were not a few disagreements at first. None of the terms of the contract, the total amount, or the guarantee ratio were agreed upon. As a result, negotiations ground to a halt, and at the end of December, no special negotiations were reportedly held at all.

In the meantime, SSG Chairman Kim Jae-hyun was appointed, and there were expectations that negotiations with Kim Min-sik would accelerate. Soon after taking office, Kim said, "Kim Min-sik is a necessary player," expressing his willingness to continue negotiations. SSG also did its best to narrow the differences in negotiations. In December last year, it made and delivered two proposals that were more advanced than the original security, and the total amount increased accordingly. As Kim Min-sik's side reportedly expressed its intention to make concessions at the initial request, there was a prospect of a final settlement last week. Nevertheless, the final disagreement has yet to be narrowed. It is now difficult for SSG to stick to Kim Min-sik any longer.

Until last week, SSG sat at the Kim Min-sik negotiation table and exchanged terms. However, it finally broke down. SSG accepted part of the part that the agency wanted and delivered it at the end of December, but the agency backproposed a slightly higher amount last week and failed to reach a final agreement on the same day. As it was their final draft and they thought it would be stamped on it, but failed to reach an agreement, SSG seems to have concluded that it would be easier to trade Lee instead of Kim Min-sik's FA contract at this point. On the contrary, in the case of Lee Ji-young, she was positive about going to SSG and did not have much greed for her salary.

"I wanted to join our team as well," Kim Jae-hyun, general manager, explained. In response, the team started to match Kiwoom's cards this week. Kiwoom was asking for the right to name its players anyway, and SSG didn't have enough cards to play. In 2025, he sent 250 million won (222,000 dollars) in cash and the third round pick. Lee completed a two-year FA contract with Kiwoom for a total of 400 million won (422,000 dollars) before the trade, and all sign-and-trade procedures were completed as the trade was finalized on the day.