Coach Lee Seung-yeop, who actively asked the front office for recruitment or renewal of his contract during the free agency seasons of Yang Eui-ji, Yang Seok-hwan, and Hong Geon-hee. Then, how do you view Huh Kyung-min's decision to give up player options and exercise his FA rights. 안전놀이터

Heo Kyung-min, the main third baseman of the Doosan Bears in professional baseball, was listed as 20 free agent (FA) approved players in 2025 announced by the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) on the 5th. After the end of the 2024 season, he gave up his three-year, 2 billion won player option with Doosan and exercised his second FA right after his debut, and entered the free agent market. 

Huh Kyung-min signed his first career FA contract with his original team Doosan on December 10, 2020. The condition is 4+3 years, with a total of 6.5 billion won, including a down payment of 2.5 billion won and an annual salary of 4 billion won, and four years later, Doosan's first player option clause of 3 years and 2 billion won was added.

In the four years since signing the FA contract, Huh Kyung-min has performed well with a batting average of 286 (4,99 hits in 1,746 at-bats), 27 homers, 228 RBIs, 29 steals, 233 points and OPS.743. In the first year of the contract, he helped the mirror-cle journey from the wild card game to the Korean Series, and led the team to return to the fall stage in two years with Lee Seung-yeop, who took the helm without any experience as a leader as the captain of the 2023 season. 

In the final year of his four-year FA contract in the 2024 season, Huh Kyung-min recorded a batting average of 399 runs, 129 hits, seven homers, 61 RBIs, five steals, 69 points and OPS.811. Despite various injury factors such as fine damage to the right shoulder and atrial dislocation of the little finger, he played 477 at-bats in offense and 883 innings in defense, showing the best performance among the four years of his FA contract.

Four years have passed and Heo is facing a moment of choice again. The key was whether to exercise player options or not. After the four-year contract ended, Heo signed a contract in which the player, not the club, takes the initiative in renewing the contract. If Heo wants to stay at Doosan, he will receive an additional 2 billion won (25.6 million U.S. dollars) for three years, and if he wants a higher amount, he will declare himself an FA and be valued again in the market. 

Heo Kyung-min, who was named seventh in the second round of Doosan's second round in the 2009 Rookie Draft, is a player with more affection and loyalty to the Bears than anyone else. At the time of his first FA contract, he said, "I was so grateful for the seven years than the amount. I will keep the hearts of Doosan fans who wanted me to stay for seven years," and reassured fans by saying, "I will continue to be at Doosan in the future, so don't worry."

Huh Kyung-min's decision to leave Doosan has not been finalized just because he gave up his player option. There is a way to sign an FA contract with his original team Doosan to declare himself a life-long Bears man on better terms than 2 billion won for three years. 

The head coach also wished for smooth negotiations for Huh Kyung-min's stay. "The FA players (Huh Kyung-min and Kim Kang-ryul) have been entrusted entirely to the club," Lee Seung-yeop, who strongly requested the recruitment and renewal of their contracts during the free agency days of Yang Eui-ji, Yang Seok-hwan and Hong Geon-hee, said at the Icheon wrap-up camp on Sunday. "There is nothing I can say no matter what the outcome will be. I just hope the (residual) negotiations will proceed well."

He added, "I'm only thinking about how to make a better team next year and how to use even one more young player here on the first-team stage." 

Doosan plans to meet Heo Kyung-min, who has become a "FA rabbit," soon to share his stance with the players. "When the market opens in earnest, we will set up a negotiation table and listen to Heo's position. We will proceed with the negotiations well to ensure that he remains as a player," a Doosan official said. 

Meanwhile, 2025 FA-approved players announced on the 5th can sign contracts with all clubs, including overseas clubs, from the 6th. In addition, a total of 20 players are disclosed as FA-approved players, and up to two of the FA-approved players from other clubs can sign contracts under Article 173 [restrictions on FA acquisition].