Will An Chi-hong's Vacancy Be Filled by Oh Jae-won? ... Jo Gye-hyun, KIA GM, "I've Never Considered It"

Cheering Oh Jae-won [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Sung-yeol] The KIA Tigers have denied rumors among baseball fans that they will sign free agent Doosan Bears player Oh Jae-won (35).

On the morning of the 9th, an online baseball community sparked a buzz with a transfer rumor that Oh Jae-won would join KIA with a 3+1 year contract worth in the high 2 billion won range.

Following the departure of An Chi-hong (30) to Lotte on the 6th, which created a hitting gap, the logic of filling that gap with Oh Jae-won gained traction, and fans were accepting the rumor as a fait accompli.

In response, KIA General Manager Cho Gye-hyun firmly denied, "The signing rumor is not true. We have never even considered it."

Previously, when An Chi-hong was transferred, GM Cho stated, "Even though An Chi-hong left, we will not sign an external free agent," adding, "There are many resources to replace the second baseman position. Especially, we brought in veteran Na Ju-hwan (35) through a free trade, so we are confident we can sufficiently fill the gap."

If free agent Kim Sun-bin (31) remains with KIA, he can also transition to second base, and Na Ju-hwan can serve as backup.

Meanwhile, Oh Jae-won has been training individually in the United States since the 31st of last month. Doosan, his original team, is confident he will stay, and plans to conduct final negotiations at the end of January when Oh returns from training.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.