Lotte Giants outfielder Jeon Jun-woo, left, shakes hands with his general manager Park Jun-hyok after signing a four-year free agent contract to stay with the Korea Baseball Organization club, Nov. 20, in this photo provided by the Giants. Yonhap
Outfielder Jeon Jun-woo became the first free agent to sign a deal this offseason in Korean baseball on Monday, agreeing to a four-year deal to stay with the only club he's played for in his 16-year career.
The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Jeon has signed a four-year pact worth up to 4.66 billion won ($3.6 million). Jeon will make 4 billion won total in guaranteed salary and can make an additional 700 million won in incentives.
Jeon will turn 38 before the start of the 2024 season, and the latest contract virtually ensures that he will finish his career as a Giant.
Jeon was a second-round draft pick by the Giants in 2007 and has since appeared in 1,616 games for the Busan-based franchise. Jeon has a lifetime .300 batting average with 196 home runs and 888 RBIs.
Jeon has remained productive and durable well into his 30s. Over the past four seasons, he ranks third with a .311 batting average and sixth with an .839 on-base plus slugging. Jeon has also had the second-most hits in the league over that 2020-2023 stretch with 646, while logging the third-most games with 545.
Lotte Giants outfielder Jeon Jun-woo signs a four-year free agent contract to stay with the Korea Baseball Organization club, Nov. 20, in this photo provided by the Giants. Yonhap
In 2023, Jeon led the Giants with 17 home runs and 77 RBIs, while playing in a team-high 138 games out of 144.
Jeon has agreed to donate 100 million won of his incentives toward the construction of a new stadium for the Giants. The team said it will offer financial support for Jeon's coaching training program for two years after the end of his playing career.
There are 18 free agents left on the market.
Free agents are split into three classes depending on their salaries, and different compensation rules are in place for signing players from each of those classes.
Jeon Jun-woo of the Lotte Giants hits a solo home run against the LG Twins during a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Oct. 9. Yonhap
Players ranked in the top three in salary on their team and top 30 in the league are in Class A. If a team signs a free agent from that class, the team must pay his previous club twice the amount of that player's previous salary and send a player not on its protected list, or pay the team three times the amount of the player's previous salary.
Players whose salary placed them between fourth and 10th on their clubs, and 31st and 60th in the league end up in Class B. The compensation rules for acquiring these free agents are as follows: the same amount of the player's previous salary and a player, or double the amount of that salary without a player.
Finally, Class C features players whose salary puts them below 11th on their teams and 61st in the league. Players who elect free agency for the first time at age 35 or older automatically end up in this group. Teams signing a Class C free agent only have to pay up to 1.5 times the amount of the player's previous salary, with no need to send any player the other way. (Yonhap)
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