SEOUL– South Korean baseball legend Lee Seung-yuop recently signed a three-year contract with the Doosan Bears, a team coming off a ninth-place finish after a record-setting eight straight appearances in the Korean Series.
And Lee, who retired in 2017 as the all-time Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) leader with 467 home runs, isn’t one to set modest goals. He wants to take his squad back to the championship round before his deal runs out.
“Putting on a uniform as manager is a dream come true for me, and now I want to set my sights higher,” Lee said at his inauguration ceremony at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Tuesday. “I want us to have a better record next year than this year and then take another step forward in 2024. I signed a three-year deal, and I want to reach the Korean Series within the next three years. It’s not going to be easy, but I am going to give it a shot.”
The Bears fell on hard times this year as injuries piled up and more veterans left the team via free agency. They finished at 60-82-2 (wins-losses-ties), 10.5 games out of the final postseason spot, and the future doesn’t exactly look bright with their aging corps and dearth of new talent.
Lee said it was premature for him to say exactly where he thinks the Bears will finish in the standings next year — “I haven’t even met all the players yet,” he said — but he did promise better efforts and performances up and down the roster.
“I think this past season exposed a lot of problems for the team,” Lee said. “We didn’t pitch or hit all that well. And we also committed a lot of errors on defense. An error can alter the course of an entire game. As important as it is to score runs, we can’t afford to just give other teams a chance by making mistakes. So I will try to shore up our defense.”
Lee said better defense will come from more reps on the field during practice.
“It’s all about preparation. I don’t think Doosan players got as many reps as they should have last year,” Lee added. “But since we missed the postseason, we now have some time in the offseason to work on our fundamentals on defense.”
Lee, who has done television commentary work in his post-playing career, pointed to a couple of young Doosan players, the 20-year-old infielder An Jae-seok and the 23-year-old reliever Jeong Cheol-won, as “potential superstars.”
Jeong, in particular, is a strong Rookie of the Year candidate this season thanks to his 23 holds and a 3.10 ERA in 58 appearances.
“He pitched like a big star already this year, but I want to develop him in a way that will make people think this year was not a fluke,” Lee said. “I hope other young players will have a long and successful career with our team.”
Lee defined his leadership style as “flexible” but said he will not have any patience for lackadaisical plays.
“These are professional athletes. They shouldn’t be told what to do every game. They should be in charge of their own careers,” Lee said. “Players can all make mistakes if they try too hard, but I will come down hard on them if they repeat the same mistakes. I will also not tolerate lazy plays.”
Without any prior coaching or managing experience, Lee is walking into a difficult situation — tasked with restoring respectability for a downtrodden team with a recent history of success.
Lee said his baseball friends wondered why he would throw himself into the fire when he could have enjoyed a more comfortable life as a TV commentator. Lee said dealing with stress is not new to him.
“Throughout my 23 years as a ball player, I dealt with the pressure of winning every single day. But I’ve always loved baseball, and I think I will continue to love this game,” Lee said. “I think this is my calling and I was born to do this. I am just so happy to be wearing a baseball uniform again.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency