With the resignation of Lotte Giants manager Larry Sutton due to health reasons, fans and the baseball world are wondering who the new manager will be. Will ‘the one’, the No. 1 manager that fans want, really come?
Lotte announced the news of Sutton’s voluntary resignation on the 28th,카지노사이트 and said that head coach Lee Jong-woon will take over as acting manager and lead the team through the rest of the season. This means that a new coach will be appointed after the season ends.
As of the 28th, Lotte has lost seven straight games and is in seventh place with 50 points and 58 losses. They are 5.5 games behind the sixth-place Doosan Bears. With 36 games remaining, an ailing captain has stepped off a sinking ship that is taking on water.
It is unknown whether Lotte will continue to sink under Lee Jong-woon or rebound and jump back into the top-five fight. The coach’s resignation will certainly change the atmosphere.
However, fans are already showing interest in Lotte’s new manager. SBS commentator Kim Tae-hyung, a three-time champion who has led the team to the Korean Series for seven consecutive years, will be the new manager of Lotte.
Fans on the internet have been calling for a managerial change whenever Lotte’s performance has dropped, with many calling for Kim Tae-hyung to be the new manager, praising his charisma and ability to get the best out of his team and lead them to the Korean Series.
After Lotte announced Sutton’s resignation, many Lotte fans have been calling for Kim to join the team.
Lotte has hired 14 managers since Kang Byung-cheol led them to their second championship in 1992, with the only two times they hired a manager with championship experience being in 2002 with Baek In-chul (who won the 1990 LG title) and again in 2006 with Kang. Since then, they have hired more new managers than veterans.
Lotte, which hasn’t won a championship in 31 years since winning the title in 1992, is now calling for a manager with championship experience. Among those with championship experience, Kim is considered the most qualified.
Kim has the kind of resume that would make him a top candidate for any team looking to change coaches. For eight years, from 2015 to last year, he managed the Doosan Bears, leading them to the Korean Series for seven consecutive years, with the exception of last year. They were one of only two teams to reach the Korean Series despite being told “it’s going to be tough this year” as free agents left. The team has only won three regular-season titles (2016, 2018, and 2019), with the other four coming through the semifinals and playoffs. In 1149 career regular-season games, they have 645 wins, 19 draws, and 485 losses for a winning percentage of 5.7/1. In the postseason, from the Wild Card Game to the Korean Series, the team went 36-24 in 60 games with a winning percentage of 6%. In the playoffs, the team went 11-4 in four playoff appearances, all of which were in the Korean Series. He has plenty of regular season and postseason experience.
Who will Lotte hire to lead them to their first championship in 32 years? Will it be Kim, the man everyone is talking about, or another veteran manager, or someone new? Lotte has a huge fan base, so there is a lot of curiosity about the new manager.