In October 2022, "Lion King" Lee Seung-yeop (49) made the remarks when he was inaugurated as the 11th manager of the Doosan Bears in professional baseball. Five years after his retirement, a question mark was also attached to him as the direct head coach of the first team without any leadership experience. The contract was worth 1.8 billion won for three years, the highest ever for a new coach. Two years and eight months later, Lee left the team with his head down without meeting the contract period. His three-season career results were 171 wins, seven draws, and 168 losses, a 0.504 winning percentage.토토사이트
"Coach Lee Seung-yeop voluntarily resigned," Doosan announced on Sunday. "I thank Lee for his hard work leading the team for three seasons," a Doosan official said. "Coach Lee took responsibility for poor performance this season and made the decision to renew the team's mood. The team accepted the decision after deliberation." Cho Sung-hwan, quality control coach, will serve as the acting coach from the match against KIA at Jamsil on Sunday.
He has 467 homers in the KBO league and 626 homers in the Korea-Japan league. He is the No. 4 hitter for the Korean national team who has given countless wins. However, Lee failed to fulfill his expectations to fans.
Lee Seung-yeop's first season after his debut was not bad. He led his team that was ranked ninth in 2022 to advance to the fall 2023 baseball season (ranked fifth). In 2024, he maintained the fourth place with the same winning rate (0.521, 74 wins, two draws and 68 losses) as in 2023. However, he lost all of his first and second games to fifth-ranked KT in the 2024 wild card game. He became the first team to suffer an upset (lower-ranked team beats the upper-ranked team) since the introduction of the wild card game in 2015. At the time, Doosan fans chanted "Lee Seung-yeop, get out" at Jamsil Stadium and expressed discontent.
Discontent has turned into anger this year. As of Tuesday, Doosan ranked ninth with 23 wins, three draws and 32 losses. The performance was not so impressive given that Doosan won the Korean Series three times in the 2010s (2015, 2016 and 2019) alone. The team is 6.5 games away from KT, which ranks fifth, the most advanced team to the postseason. In the early days of the season, injuries to Kwak Bin (26), the starting pitcher who tied for the most wins last year, and Hong Geon-hee (33), the bullpen pitcher who failed to meet expectations, were also left sluggish. First starter Cole Irvin (5-5, 4.28 ERA) was recently sent to the second tier amid various controversies over his injury, while Jack Rogue (3-5, 3.13 ERA) was also on the ups and downs. In the three consecutive games against Kiwoom at the bottom of the league on the 1st, he failed to rebound as he suffered a 0-1 shutout loss for two consecutive days. Although he voluntarily resigns, he is virtually dismissed.
Lee Seung-yeop, who once served as the symbol of "big ball" baseball, chose bunting and operation-oriented "small ball" to lead the team. He attempted a sacrifice bunting (85 times) to rank second in the league last season, but his bunting success rate was 64.7 percent, ranking ninth among the 10 teams. "Detail baseball," in which he repeated bunt operations from the beginning of the game, came as a disappointment to fans who were constantly drawing aggressive baseball during the "Hustle-doo" era. Although he made fewer attempts (8th in the league, 29th) this season, his success rate (60.7 percent) is the lowest in the league.
The appointment was even more controversial. Despite the injury to the starting lineup last year, Doosan had the No. 1 ERA in the bullpen session (4.54). The problem, however, was overuse of effort. Lee Byung-hun pitched in 77 games, and rookie closer Kim Taek-yeon also pitched in 65 innings. Doosan has pitched in 628 relief games, the largest number ever since its 144 games played in the KBO. This season, Doosan ranks fourth in the league with 223 relief appearances. Fans mocked this situation by saying, "Tumakase (pitcher + Omakase)" is a newly coined term that says, "Tumakase (pitcher + Omakase) comes out as a substitute just like Omakase (食)," a Japanese course meal. It was pointed out that bullpen baseball, which divides the sixth, seventh and eighth innings into different pitchers, only accumulates fatigue.
Former manager Lee is the first Doosan manager to voluntarily resign without completing the season since Kim Kyung-moon (current Hanwha) in June 2011.
Ahead of the 2025 season, coach Lee Seung-yeop said, "This year, we will show you our strong side of the past as a 'complete team'. I hope you look forward to Doosan's never giving up," but he ended up leaving the team.