Choi Jeong, have you confirmed that you will be a club man for life?

SSG is already exchanging specific contract terms with Choi Jeong, 37, who will be released as a free agent. The club believes that a contract is possible before the FA market opens, and makes all-out efforts. Choi’s team is said to be not negative about the team’s proposal for now.

“Choi Jeong is a player that our club must catch. We are engaged in negotiations with the mindset that we will never send him to another team,” SSG General Manager Kim Jae-hyun said in a telephone interview with a reporter on Wednesday.

Choi Jeong is a franchise star who played as a one-club man for 20 seasons since joining the SK Wyverns through the first draft of the 2005 KBO Rookie Draft. He is also the representative home run hitter of the league with the record of the most home runs in his career.

Choi Jeong, who first became a FA after the end of the 2014 season and remained at a maximum of 8.6 billion won for four years, and remained at a maximum of 10.6 billion won for six years after the end of the 2018 season, spent the last season of this year’s contract period.

Choi Jeong publicly expressed his positive intention for a non-FA multi-year contract earlier this season. When asked about the FA, he honestly said, “A non-FA multi-year contract would be good,” when he met with reporters at the “슬롯사이트 Fan Festival” in Songdo, Incheon, in January.

However, progressive discussions did not come and go during the season. SSG, which finished the season by losing the 5th place match against KT on the 1st, has since met with Choi Jeong and started full-fledged negotiations.

Currently, the terms and conditions of the contract have been delivered to the players, including the period and amount that the club thinks. The contract period is a four-year guarantee, and the total amount is reported to be more than 10 billion won. Regarding the amount of the offer, Kim said, “It should be viewed in triple digits (10 billion won) or more.”

It is not just because of symbolism that SSG is trying to keep Choi, who was born in 1987. At the age of 37, Choi had a batting average of 0.291, 38 homers, 107 RBIs and an OPS of 0.978 in 129 games. As the team’s main third baseman, he played 954.2 innings, showing solid defense as well. SSG has high expectations that Choi, who earned the nickname “the epitome of steadiness” by recording double-digit homers for 19 consecutive years, will not drop sharply just yet.

For SSG, the best scenario is that it would conclude its contract with Choi before the FA market opens. It is because it believes that Choi, who is in contact with other teams, can be a variable that cannot guarantee his remaining status. Choi, who is the third FA this time, is classified as a C grade in the FA grade system, so other teams do not have to give compensation players when recruiting players. It can be an attractive card as it not only has high value of players but also has little bleeding from recruitment.

General manager Kim said, “There are both possibilities,” but added, “We should continue to meet and negotiate, but I think a contract before the opening of the FA will be possible.”