Lotte Giants head coach Lee Jong-woon will take over as acting manager.
“After the game against KT Wiz at Sajik Stadium on the 27th, Coach Sutton expressed his resignation as manager due to health reasons,” Lotte said, adding, “The club has decided to respect and accept Coach Sutton’s wishes after careful consideration.” Lotte will not appoint a new manager for the remainder of the season and will continue to be led by acting head coach Lee Jong-woon.
The team is in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, and the managerial vacancy has come as a surprise to many. As of Aug. 28, Lotte was in seventh place with 50 wins, 58 losses, and a winning percentage of 0.463. The momentum that propelled them to the top of the standings at the start of the season has gone nowhere, and it’s unclear if they’ll even make the postseason. They are five games behind the fifth-place KIA Tigers. Acting head coach Lee Jong-woon has been tasked with cleaning up the mess.
This is not the first time Lee Jong-woon has led the Lotte squad. In 2015, he took over as the 16th head coach of Lotte and led the team to victory. However, he doesn’t have fond memories. Lee Jong-woon was fired after just one year due to poor performance.
After leaving Lotte, Jong-woon served as the head coach of the SK Wyverns (now SSG Landers) development program and the second team coach, before returning to the Lotte Future team as head coach this season. Lee Jong-woon, who has been working on the development of second-team players, moved to the role of first-team head coach when the coaching staff was reshuffled on June 27.
Lee Jong-woon was overwhelmed with emotions as he visited the resignation ballpark wearing a Lotte uniform again. Speaking to reporters at the time, Lee Jong-woon said, “The head coach is the middle man between the coaching staff and the players. Over the course of the season, the team’s performance goes up and down. However, the atmosphere of the team is good. I want Lotte to play fall baseball,” he said.
Lee Jong-woon is now in charge instead of being the assistant coach. The Gyeongnam High-Dong-A University alum joined Lotte with the 14th overall pick in the 1989 second round and led the team to the 1992 Korean Series title. He is the last member of Lotte’s championship team.스포츠토토
Lee Jong-woon is now the interim manager of the crisis-ridden club. Lotte has 36 games left in the season. It’s still too early to write off fall baseball. If they can revitalize their offense, they could make a run at the postseason. It will be interesting to see if Lee Jong-woon can lead the rebound.