Lotte brought utility player Nico Goodrum, who can play both inside and outside, instead of Jack Rex, who was unable to play his role due to a knee injury. On the 18th, he retired Dan Straily, the first starter who shone as the 2020 league strikeout king, and recruited right-hander Aaron Wilkerson, who experienced Japanese professional baseball. He used both foreign player replacement cards in a week.
As Lotte used a foreign player replacement card to recruit Wilkerson and Goodrum, left-hander Charlie Barnes naturally succeeded in surviving this season. However, Barnes, who pitched in 16 games and recorded 5 wins, 6 losses and a 4.57 ERA with seven quality starts, was never satisfied. Nevertheless, coach Larry Sutton predicted Barnes to start his first game of the second half against the Kiwoom Heroes on the 21st. Will Barnes be able to lead Lotte to autumn baseball by showing the prowess of a 12-win pitcher last year with his performance in the second half. 토토사이트
Lotte, which advanced to autumn baseball for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011, faced a major crisis after the 2011 season and Lee Dae-ho, the symbol of the team, advanced to Japanese professional baseball. On top of that, Jang Won-joon (Doosan Bears), a native ace who recorded double-digit wins for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011, joined the police baseball team for military service. However, Lotte succeeded in advancing to autumn baseball for the fifth consecutive year by ranking fourth in the regular league in the 2012 season, where "there was no Lee Dae-ho or Jang Won-.
The first contributor to Lotte's advance to autumn baseball for the fifth consecutive year was by far the new foreign pitcher Shane Uman. Uman, who quickly adapted to the KBO League with his friendly appearance and excellent affinity resembling the cartoon character Dooly, took the mound in 29 games in 2012 with 13 wins, 7 losses, and 1 hold 2.55, ranking fourth in multiple wins, ERA, and strikeouts (142). In the fall of that year, Yu-man, who pitched well with five earned runs (3.07 ERA) in 14.2 innings in three games, renewed his contract with Lotte after the season.
However, Lotte, which even Hong Sung-heun and Kim Joo-chan (Doosan batting assistant coach) who qualified for FA after the 2012 season, moved to Doosan and KIA Tigers, fell to fifth place in 2013 and seventh place in 2014, moving away from autumn baseball. However, Uman played 193.1 innings in 2013 and won 13 games, and in 2014, he threw 151.2 innings and won 12 games, doing his part as the team's left-handed ace. Uman moved to the Hanwha Eagles in 2015 and ended his career in Korea after appearing in 17 games.
When Lotte gave up renewing its contract with U-man, who recorded double-digit wins for three consecutive years after the 2014 season, many fans regretted it. However, in 2015, a new foreign player in Lotte's uniform filled Yuman's vacancy perfectly. Brooks Raley (New York Mets), who is still considered the best left-handed foreign pitcher in Lotte's history, is the main character. Rayleigh has won 11 games since her first year in the team, and has been active as Lotte's one-two punch along with Josh Lindblom.
Rayleigh, who seemed to be slowing down with only eight wins in 2016, led Lotte to autumn baseball for the first time in five years since 2012, with 13 wins, 7 losses, and 3.80 in 187.1 innings in 2017, her third year in Korean life. Reilly also played his role as Lotte's left-hander ace with 11 wins in 2018, but became the most losing pitcher in the league with 5 wins and 14 losses even after recording 19 quality starts in 30 games in 2019. In the end, Reilly left Korea after the 2019 season ended, failing to renew his contract with Lotte.
Lotte, which used foreign pitchers only as right-handed pitchers for two years after Raley's departure, recruited left-hander Barnes, who has played in nine big league games, for a total of $610,000 ahead of last season. Considering that right-hander Glenn Sparkman, who was recruited with Barnes last year, was worth $800,000, Barnes was actually a pitcher he thought was a second starter. However, after the season opened, it was revealed that Lotte's foreign ace in 2022 was Barnes, not Sparkman.
Barnes pitched in 31 games last year and played 186.1 innings, ranking first among Lotte pitchers who filled the prescribed innings last year with 12 wins, 12 losses, and 3.62 innings in all in the multiple wins, ERA, innings, and strikeouts (160). Barnes, who showed a tremendous performance of 5 wins and 0.65 in six games in April, left a disappointment as his ERA soared to 5.40 in the second half, but not many expected Barnes, a $610,000 "cost-effective foreign player," to perform so well.
In the end, Barnes renewed his contract with Lotte for a total of $1.25 million ahead of this season, more than doubling from last year. This naturally contained the club's expectation to play as Lotte's one-two punch with Straily, who Barnes re-introduced in the middle of last season. However, Barnes took the mound in 16 games in the first half and ended up with a mediocre performance of 5 wins, 6 losses, and 4.57. The dignity of left-hander ace, who had nine wins in the first half of last year alone, has disappeared.
Nevertheless, Lotte replaced Straily, who recorded 3 wins, 5 losses, and 4.37 in the first half, instead of Barnes with 5 wins, 6 losses, and 4.57. Unlike Barnes, who showed room for a rebound with three quality starts in his last five appearances in the first half, Straily has been sluggish after not playing more than six innings in six consecutive games since his victory over KIA on June 2. The fact that native starters such as Park Se-woong and Na Kyun-an are all right-handed may have also affected left-hander Barnes' survival instead of Straily.
Barnes, who made his first appearance of the season through the LG Twins on April 11 this year, will start the first game of the second half against Kiwoom on the 21st. The opposing starter is Ahn Woo-jin, a Golden Glove pitcher last year and the league's No. 1 strikeout (130) this year. It is clear that it is a difficult opponent for Barnes and Lotte, but Barnes, who desperately needs a rebound from the team and individuals in the second half, also has a good reason to win.