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Although the regular season is not yet completely over, the teams that were eliminated from the postseason are each beginning their winter season. We are taking time early to reorganize for next year. Samsung has appointed a new general manager, Lee Jong-yeol, and Lotte is accelerating the process of appointing a new manager. The appointment of Lotte’s new coach is not expected to last longer than October. However, is it possible to appoint the ‘No. 1 pick’ coach as desired?

Lotte is quickly making plans for the off-season as the regular season ends with the match against Hanwha in Daejeon on the 16th. This year, they finished in 7th place with 68 wins and 76 losses (a winning percentage of .472) and failed to play fall baseball for six consecutive years. 

By the end of April, they had a 9-game winning streak, and by mid-June, they had formed a top 3 team with the LG Twins and SSG Landers. However, after that, injuries continued to appear and even these were not managed properly. Foreign players’ poor performance (Dan Straily) and injuries (Jack Rex) were also reasons why Lotte lost its momentum. In the end, as the summer passed, Lotte lost strength, and even the bullpen that supported the team lost strength, and had to face the fate of failure in fall baseball again. Now, we all agree that Lotte needs to change in some way. 

First of all, the urgent priority is to appoint a coach who became vacant when coach Rae Sutton resigned for health reasons at the end of August. Acting coach Lee Jong-woon led the remainder of the season and recorded 18 wins and 18 losses in 36 games. 

Acting Jong-woon Lee is the one who has taken care of the chaotic team atmosphere following the resignation of Coach Sutton and continued the fall baseball competition until the last minute, but there is little possibility of being appointed as a formal manager. The club’s intention is to prepare for the 2024 season with a new coach. On the afternoon of the 16th, there was a report that former Doosan coach Kim Tae-hyung, who is a commentator for SBS Sports, was appointed, but Lotte is denying this fact. The official position is that there has been no meeting with former coach Kim Tae-hyung yet.

However, the mood inside and outside the club is that the process of selecting a new coach will not last longer than October. The influence of Lotte Holdings, Lotte’s parent company, has become stronger than before. Nothing can be decided without the choice and approval of the club owner, Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Of course, even before, Chairman Shin Dong-bin had always made major decisions for the club himself. 

Former coach Kim Tae-hyung is the most influential candidate for the next director currently in office. He has been the head coach of Doosan since 2015 and is a manager who has shown good results, including successfully advancing to the Korean Series for 7 consecutive years.스포츠토토 In particular, coach Kim Tae-hyung’s Doosan was in a difficult situation for its parent company at the time. Promising players with potential were developed into key resources. However, due to insufficient support from the parent company, internal FA resources were sent away. By the time the contract with Doosan expired in 2022, the team’s strength had weakened significantly. As a leader, he recorded a total of 1,149 regular season games, 645 wins, 485 losses, 19 draws, and a winning percentage of .571. 

Former director Kim Tae-hyung is charismatic. He is the type of coach that Lotte has not chosen so far. To this extent, Lotte is showing its will for change. Those around them are also saying that the charismatic leadership of former coach Kim Tae-hyung is needed for change at Lotte. Lotte is also placing former coach Kim Tae-hyung on its top priority for negotiations. In reality, it is true that he is the closest director.

However, Lotte is not the only club that wants former coach Kim Tae-hyung. All clubs in need of a manager have no choice but to aim for a leader with a history of winning and who has been in the field until relatively recently. If Lotte takes its time, the possibility of active courtship from other clubs cannot be ruled out. 

If Lotte wants change, it needs to move faster. This is why it is highly likely that the selection of the next manager will be completed within October, or as early as next week.