First year of baseball salary cap, Doosan, Kiwoom salary gap of 4.7 billion won

All 10 teams in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) complied with the salary cap for the first time this year, but the gap between the first and 10th place teams was large.

According to the ‘Total Amount of the Top 40 Salaries by Club’ released by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on the 20th, all 10 clubs met the salary cap limit (11.426 billion won).

The Doosan Bears spent the most among the 10 teams at 11.18175 billion won, while the Kiwoom Heroes spent the least at 6.452 billion won.

The gap between Doosan and Kiwoom is 4.729 billion won. After Doosan, the SSG Landers (10.846 billion won) and LG Twins (10.797 billion won) ranked second and third. Six of the 10 clubs exceeded 10 billion won, including the Lotte Giants (10.646 billion won), Samsung Lions (10.4073 billion won), and NC Dinos (10.882 billion won).

The KBO introduced the salary cap system this year to help level the playing field and ensure the league’s continued development.

In 2021-2022, the salary cap was set at 120% (KRW 11.426 billion) of the sum of the salaries of the top 40 players (excluding foreign players and rookies) per club, the actual payment of options, and the average annual contract of free agents.

Clubs that sign players over the salary cap will be penalized.

If they exceed the salary cap once, they will have to pay a penalty of 50 percent of the excess.

A second consecutive violation will result in a penalty of 100% of the overage and a nine-position drop in the following year’s first-round pick.

If you exceed the cap three times in a row, you’ll pay a penalty equal to 150% of the cap, and your first-round pick for the following year will be reduced by nine spots.