Kia has included Socrates Brito, an existing foreign hitter, and Thomas Panoni, a foreign pitcher, on its list of players on hold for the 2024 season. Mario Sanchez, who was acquired from the Taiwanese league during the middle of the season, was excluded from the list.

Kia is basically searching for a foreign player market based on replacement of both foreign pitchers. After the Major League's winter meeting, which took place in the first week of December, Kia selected specific candidates and submitted a contract proposal. Re-signing Panoni is reportedly not the top priority at this point. Of course, Kia is open to the possibility of renewing its contract with Panoni depending on the outcome of its contract with foreign pitchers in the future.

However, it is true that the foreign pitcher market is not favorable. It would be relatively easy if there is at least one person who is eligible to renew his contract, but finding two new foreign pitchers is no easy task this winter. Some teams that tried to find new foreign pitchers have even opted to renew their contracts with existing foreign pitchers. Pitcher A, who received attention from multiple teams, was found to have serious reasons for disqualification, and the teams withdrew from the team. It seems that a long-term competition, which runs from the end of the year to the beginning of the new year, is possible.

An official from a club said, "The aftermath of Major League Baseball's pitcher shortage is also adversely affecting KBO League teams trying to find foreign pitchers this winter. A club that can renew contracts with two existing foreign pitchers is truly blessed."

Fortunately, negotiations for renewal of contract with foreign hitter Socrates are underway positively. Socrates played 142 games in the 2023 season and recorded a batting average of 0.285/ 156 hits/ 20 homers/ 96 RBIs/ 15 steals/ a slugging percentage of 0.344/. He was the most consistent foreign hitter in the 2023 KBO League along with Austin (LG Twins) and Heredia (SSG Landers).

"It is not easy for new foreign hitters to quickly adapt to the league in the recent KBO League. In the case of Socrates, it is a resource that has been verified in the KBO League to some extent after playing for two years. Since it is dangerous to change foreign hitters, we are positively negotiating with Socrates on the contract renewal table," a Kia official said.

SSG also renewed its contract with a total of 1.5 million U.S. dollars (down payment of 150,000 dollars, annual salary of 1.15 million dollars, option of 200,000 dollars) after going through a lot of pain in the negotiation table with verified Heredia. Kia also plans to announce its renewal of its contract at the end of the year or as early as the Christmas holiday, narrowing its gap with Socrates at the negotiation table. I wonder if Kia will be able to give the Christmas gift of renewing its contract with Socrates to its fans first.

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