98% Salary Reduction Rate is a Beautiful Disgrace Choo Shin-soo Announces Retirement. Korean-American Career Income: KRW 188 Billion










Chu Choo Train’ Choo Shin-soo (41, SSG Landers) will end his career at the end of next season. His retirement season was spent with the lowest salary in the KBO league (30 million won). He also set the record for the largest annual salary reduction rate of all time (98.2%).

SSG officially announced on the 14th that Shin-Soo Choo has decided to retire at the end of next season.

In the process of discussing his future plans with the club, he expressed his intention to sign a contract with the minimum annual salary of 30 million won, and even expressed his intention to donate the entire amount.

The club also plans to participate in Choo Shin-soo's donation activities and prepare for the last season to repay the love and support it has received from fans for a long time.

The salary cut is unprecedented. Choo Shin-soo, who came to the KBO League with the founding of SSG in 2021, was treated as a major leaguer with the highest annual salary of 2.7 billion won ever.

Choo Shin-soo, whose annual salary was frozen at 2.7 billion won in 2022, was reduced by 1 billion won to 1.7 billion won this year.

When SSG, which had increased the salaries of its key players by winning the 'Wire to Wire' integrated championship in 2022, was in danger of exceeding the salary cap, Choo Shin-soo accepted a significant cut of 1 billion won.

Next year, it will end with a minimum annual salary of 30 million won, a reduction of 1.67 billion won.

This too is unconventional. The annual salary was cut by the second largest amount ever in the KBO League. The record for the largest amount of cuts in KBO history is held by Lee Dae-ho, a betting friend of the same age.

Lee Dae-ho, who was a member of Lotte, had his annual salary, which reached 2.5 billion won in 2021, reduced by 1.7 billion won to 800 million won in 2022.

Lee Dae-ho, who returned to Lotte in 2017 and signed a four-year, 15 billion won free agent contract, took a record annual salary cut by renewing his contract as the last free agent in 2021 for two years and 2.6 billion won.

In terms of salary reduction rate, Choo Shin-soo took 98.2%, which is the largest ever, far exceeding Lee Dae-ho (68.0%) at the time. The previous KBO record was 90.0%, held by Park Myung-hwan and Lee Taek-geun.

Park Myung-hwan's annual salary, which was 500 million won in 2011 when he was a member of LG, was reduced to 50 million won in 2012. Lee Taek-geun, who worked at Kiwoom from 2019 to 2020, was also cut under the same conditions.

Both players suffered significant cuts when their free agency contracts ended and they signed general salary contracts.

The final blow was that Park Myung-hwan was unable to play a single game in the first team that year due to injury and poor performance, and Lee Taek-geun was unable to play in a single game in the first team that year due to the controversy over assaulting a junior.

Shin-Soo Choo recorded a batting average of .254 (97 hits in 382 at-bats) in 112 games this season, with 12 home runs, 41 RBIs, 65 walks, 79 strikeouts, an on-base percentage of .379, a slugging percentage of .398, and an OPS of .777.

Although he is past his prime, he still achieved impressive results as a starting player. At the request of new coach Lee Soong-yong, he was given the captaincy next season, but due to a record-breaking salary cut, the final season was literally 'service'.

Choo Shin-soo said, “I had a lot of worries with his family during the off-season.

Every time I did that, I could see the support of SSG and the fans, and most of all, the younger players.

He felt that he had a great love for baseball and the team, so he thought about the club and his career path together. Both the club and the new manager needed me and respected my opinion.

Next year’s performance is important, but depending on the team situation, I want to contribute to the team by training with junior players on the Futures team at any time and sharing my experiences and thoughts,” he said.

I have been playing baseball in the U.S. and Korea for 23 years since 2001.” I think the time has come to put an end to this. “

As this is the last season, I would like to express my gratitude to the fans who have supported me so far and give them meaningful memories regardless of whether they are home or away fans.”

Choo Shin-soo, who moved to the United States by signing with the Seattle Mariners for $1.37 million in contract money in 2000 when he was a third-year student at Busan High School, made his major league debut in 2005 after five years of tearful minor league life.

He later played for the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians), Cincinnati Reds, and Texas Rangers, where he played for a whopping 16 years until 2020. He earned a lot of money by setting the record for the most home runs (218) for an Asian player.

According to 'Spotrak', an American professional sports salary website, Choo Shin-soo's accumulated earnings over his 16-year career in the big leagues were calculated to be $139,582,678 (about 180.8 billion won).

This amount is missing from his income from 2001 to 2006 when he was a minor league player. In December 2013, he hit the free agent jackpot by signing a 7-year, $130 million contract with Texas and was sitting on a money cushion.

In the KBO League, he earned a total of 7.13 billion won over four years, with annual salaries of 2.7 billion won, 2.7 billion won, 1.7 billion won, and 30 million won, respectively.

Combined with his time in the United States, his total annual salary and contract income are calculated to be approximately 188 billion won.

He is probably the player who earned the most money playing baseball in South Korea. Choo Shin-soo gave as generously as he received. In 2020, he made headlines by donating $1,000 each to 190 Texas minor league players who lost their income during the COVID-19 pandemic, for a total of $190,000.

Even after coming to Korea, he practiced noblesse oblige by donating over 2.4 billion won to youth and socially vulnerable groups. Choo Shin-soo's lowest salary in his final season is also a low finish.

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