The NC Dinos have been the quietest team in the Korean Baseball Organization this winter.The Dinos were never called out in the free agent (FA) market, where 19 players were for sale. They were the only team to not sign a single free agent .Granted, most of them were original team retention deals, but it’s still a rather disappointing offseason considering the loss of starters Eric Peddie and Chang-mo Koo Peddie, who won three pitching titles in the 2023 season, was called up by the Chicago White Sox to return to the MLB, while homegrown ace Koo Chang-mo joined the commercial team last December after suffering an injury, which is why NC head coach Kang Myung-hwa, who met with the team at Incheon International Airport before departing for spring training on March 30, said, “We will decide the starting pitcher through fair competition in camp .”Finding a homegrown starter to keep pace with newly acquired foreign pitchers Daniel Castano and Kyle Hart is an urgent priority. Shin Min-hyuk, Lee Yong-jun, Lee Jae-hak, Choi Seong-young, and Lee Jun-ho, who all started last year, and Shin Young-woo, who has been learning the ropes in the secondary system, will fill the void. Notably, bullpeners Kim Young-kyu and Kim Si-hoon are in contention for the starting job.
Kim had a 3.06 ERA in 63 games, 61⅔ innings and 24 holds last year, while Kim had a 4.44 ERA in 61 games, 52⅔ innings and 12 holds.NC had the third-best bullpen ERA (3.92) in the league last year, while their holds (88) were second only to the champion LG Twins (92).The plan is to transfer the strength of the bullpen, which was one of the pillars of the team’s playoff run, to the starting lineup.” We have six existing starters, plus Kim Si-hoon, Kim Young-kyu, and Kim Jae-yeol, who joined us through the second round of the draft, for a total of nine starting candidates,” Kang said .As for the foreign pitchers, “they may not be as strong as Pedi, but they all have a sense of stability as starters. “The experience of overcoming the odds to reach the PO last year is an invaluable asset that cannot be quantified.NC finished the 2022 season in the top five of the regular season despite losing free agents Yang-ji and Noh Jin-hyuk, and then defeated the Doosan Bears and SSG Landers to advance to the Korean Series. “The players have clearly gained confidence compared to last season,” Kang said. The doubts they had about themselves have been replaced with confidence,” he said, adding that the 슬롯게이밍 team can play competitively against any team.