“There is nothing we can’t do just because Gudrum is not there. Other players can replace him.” Lotte Acting Manager Lee Jong-woon
’s voice was relatively firm. It was a story about foreign batsman Nico Gudrum (31), who could not even accompany the Gwangju expedition on the 13th and 14th due to muscle pain in his thighs. Goodrum, who is known to have entered the game with thigh pain, remained in Busan after undergoing a hospital checkup. Lotte, which already had a long way to go, had to go on the road to Gwangju without a foreign hitter. Although the away performance was good, concerns continue.
Acting coach Lee said of Goodrum, “I talked about him because he was not good. I wanted to talk about it, but he said (his condition) was not good…” and added, “If you use a player who is not good for no reason, it is like that. There is nothing you can’t do just because you don’t have Goodrum, and other players will do it.” “You just need to replace him. It could be an opportunity for other players,” he said. It is the will to move on without regretting what is not there. Acting Director Lee once again confirmed his will, saying, “They say he will get better in about a week after getting tested, but I have a long way to go, so I can’t just sit there and watch Gudrum.”
There were no special abnormalities found in the examination results. There is no medically visible damage. However, the player feels uncomfortable. He cannot force a player who is uncomfortable to play. Some say he will be able to recover in about a week, but right now, everything for Lotte depends on that week. In fact, I don’t have much time to pay attention to the old drum.
The good memories that thrilled Lotte fans by forming a top-three tie with LG and SSG at the beginning of the season have already disappeared. Due to the slump since June, I have forgotten everything I earned at the beginning of the season. In the process, coach Larry Sutton, who led the team, left the team and is running the season as an agent. Now, even recovering the winning percentage to 50% seems daunting. As of the 14th, Lotte has played 120 games this season and is recording 56 wins and 64 losses (.467). The gap between them and 5th place SSG was 7 games, and the gap between them and 6th place Doosan was 6 games.
If 1st to 4th places maintain their current rankings and 5th place SSG records a winning percentage of .500 in the remaining 24 games, that would be 74 wins. There are complicated arithmetic issues such as a draw, but in any case, the calculation is that Lotte needs to win 17 to 18 games in the remaining 24 games to turn the situation around. A win rate of around 0.750 is required. Considering Lotte’s current power and atmosphere, and the fact that two starting pitchers (Na Kyun-an and Park Se-woong) are missing from the Asian Games, a miracle is virtually needed.
In such a situation, the injury of Goodrum, who must diligently contribute to the team by moving to all infield positions, is bound to be an annoying factor. The bigger problem is that even if they return, the expected effect is not great. Goodrum, who joined as a foreign player to replace Jack Rex, has a batting average of 0.263 in 36 games this season. He has no home runs in 152 plate appearances. OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) is 0.682, which is lower than the league average. When it comes to attack alone, he might be better off just using a domestic player.
In addition, the defense was often the culprit of the team’s defeat, making 11 errors in 36 games. He is unhelpful in both offense and defense. The introduction at the time of recruitment as a stable utility player has become meaningless. He was the type of player who was selected to refrain from gambling and avoid failure as much as possible, but instead, it is leading to colorless failure.
If Lotte fails to achieve a turnaround this year, the failure to recruit foreign players is expected to play a significant role in the end. Lotte entered the season this year by re-signing Dan Straily, Charlie Barnes, and Jack Rex. All three players showed good performance last year. There were opinions that it was expensive, but the justification for renewing the contract was clear. The prediction that “Lotte could be scary going into the season without foreign variables” was quite reasonable.
But when I opened the lid, it was below my expectations. Strayley wasn’t the Strayley he used to be. In 16 games, he went 3-5 with an earned run average of 4.37. There were only four quality starts (more than 6 innings and 3 earned runs or less as a starter). Rex suffered from frequent injuries and eventually experienced the misfortune of being kicked out, with a batting average of 0.246, 4 home runs, and an OPS of 0.683 in 55 games. The two foreign players who spent a huge amount of money betrayed Lotte’s expectations.
Barnes also performed better in the second half, but actually struggled with erratic pitching for much of the first half. It is natural that foreign players are selected because Lotte was unable to make a splash when it needed to. Aaron Wilkerson is playing well, but Goodrum is another problem. All three foreigners have been active for only a few days. The poor performance of foreign players, who accounted for half of their strength, was directly linked to Lotte’s poor performance.
The return on investment is the worst. This can be seen by looking at the win contribution compared to replacement players (WAR) compiled by the statistics website ‘Stats’. Rex left with a grade of only 0.35. He was just a substitute player. Goodrum is 0.55. The two fielders combined do not add up to 1. Strayley also left the team with 0.83 remaining. The combined WAR of the five foreign players is 6.17. Considering that NC’s ace Eric Peddy alone achieved 5.64, it’s too much of a comparison.
온라인카지노It is pointed out that the recruitment of foreign players is not free from responsibility as it is the domain of the front office. It wasn’t just this year’s problem. Lotte has also had a lot of trouble with foreign players over the past four years. Adrian Sampson, Anderson Franco, Glenn Sparkman, and DJ Peters performed poorly, and although the replacement limit was used up last year and this year to welcome five foreigners, the effect was not significant. Things need to change next year so the team can stop relying on miracles.