“They gave him 3.4 billion won, but all they got back was a 1-4 disaster” ... KT’s unbelievable defeat after 90 wins, and the growing burden of responsibility on manager LEE Kang Chul

[Financial News] 3.4 billion won. That was the size of the contract KT wiz gave manager LEE Kang Chul ahead of the Korean Series. It was an unprecedented record-high deal in the history of KBO League managers.
But just 20 days later, on November 8, KT suffered a near-total rout, losing 1-12 to the Samsung Lions in Game 5 of the Korean Series at Daegu Samsung Lions Park and settling for second place.
The series ended 1-4. After narrowly winning the opener, KT surrendered four straight games. It was a listless performance hard to believe came from the dominant first-place team that had won 90 games in the regular season (a .647 winning percentage). Not winning the championship itself is not grounds for criticism.
The ball is round, and anything can happen in a short series. But KT’s performance in this Korean Series was so dismal that it could hardly be dismissed as merely a “short-series loss.”

There was no sign of the focus expected of a first-place team overcoming adversity, nor of any quick, decisive moves from the dugout. In particular, in Games 3 through 5 on the road in Daegu, the pitching staff and defense collapsed without respite, leaving the team no chance to mount a comeback. It is inevitable that calls for manager LEE Kang Chul to bear greater responsibility will emerge after he re-signed for a record-high deal.
On October 19, KT re-signed manager LEE Kang Chul to a three-year contract worth 3.4 billion won in total (a 1 billion won signing bonus and an annual salary of 800 million won). The entire amount was guaranteed, with no incentives, making it the highest contract ever and surpassing the previous record of 3 billion won over three years for LG Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb.
Given his accomplishments since taking over in 2019—including the club’s first combined championship in 2021 and its first-ever 90-win regular season this year—the terms themselves were justified. But the timing of the announcement was unusual. Before even seeing the outcome of the Korean Series, the club offered him a record-high deal as a show of “unlimited trust.” Yet 20 days later, that unwavering trust was answered with a shocking result.

The statistics make the shock of the defeat even greater. A solid team that had not suffered a single four-game losing streak in 144 regular-season games lost four straight at the most important stage of the year. Since the 10-team system was introduced in 2015, it has never happened before that the regular-season leader was eliminated from the Korean Series with a 1-4 record.
Even the advantages of greater stamina and more time to prepare counted for nothing. KT had ample time to rest and analyze its opponent, yet was comprehensively outplayed by Samsung, which had come through a grueling five-game playoff series. That fact speaks volumes.
Game 2 was the turning point. The seeds of collapse were already there when KT won the opener despite letting an 8-0 lead shrink to 8-7. After missing a chance to win Game 2 with a walk-off in the bottom of the 10th, KT gave up the game on a defensive error in the 12th and handed over the momentum.

Once the series moved to Daegu, KT was helpless. So Hyeong-jun (six innings, four runs allowed) collapsed in Game 3, followed by Allen (one inning, six runs allowed) in Game 4. Then, in Game 5, after Daniel (three innings, three runs allowed) was pulled, even Ko Young-pyo, brought in as an emergency reliever, was overwhelmed amid a string of fielding errors, giving up eight runs—two earned—in 11⁄3 innings. Boneheaded plays kept piling up, hard to believe they came from a team competing for the Korean Series title. Closer Park Yeong-hyun did not even get a chance to pitch from Game 3 onward.

Manager LEE Kang Chul also left questions about his game management. One notable example came in the top of the fifth in Game 4, with KT chasing the game and one out and the bases loaded: instead of sending in a pinch-hitter, he stuck with Kim Sang-su and Hur Kyoung-min, who went down on a strikeout and a flyout. After the series, LEE himself acknowledged the dugout’s missteps, saying, “We were slow to respond. I particularly regret the timing of the pinch-hitter decisions, more than the pitching changes.”
There is no denying the achievements manager LEE Kang Chul has built over the years. There was good reason for the record-high deal. But that brilliant past cannot serve as a pardon for this series’ listless, crushing defeat. In professional sports, “the best deal” also means “the greatest responsibility.”
It was a brutal autumn in which the shock of four straight losses and a complete collapse in the short series were etched more vividly than the glory of 90 regular-season wins. Now guaranteed a new three-year contract, manager LEE Kang Chul must engage in painful self-reflection and prove on the field that he is worth the 3.4 billion won.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter