[SPOTV News=Kim Tae-woo] Last season SSG’s bullpen picked up the slack for a thin offense and an inconsistent rotation, helping the club finish third in the regular season — a result few expected. Over a long campaign, starters and the lineup usually shoulder the bulk of the work, but SSG’s relievers rose to the occasion and kept the team competitive.
Relief staffs are notoriously volatile, though. Last year, high-leverage arms such as Cho Byung-hyun, No Kyung-eun, Lee Ro-woon and Kim Min logged heavy workloads. They all trained hard in the offseason, but fatigue and small injuries can crop up at any time. That vulnerability isn’t unique to SSG; it’s a constant concern for any club that leans on its bullpen.
SSG planned two main fixes. One was to bolster the lineup by signing Kim Jae-hwan and banking on the growth of younger hitters. The other relied on the rotation throwing at least 50 more innings than it did a year ago. More innings from starters and bigger leads from the offense would naturally reduce late-inning stress on the bullpen. But that second plan has fallen apart.
The rotation has unraveled. Drew Anderson, who emerged as the team’s ace last year, returned to MLB. Drew VerHagen, the expected replacement, failed a medical exam after a shoulder issue surfaced. Most consequentially, veteran and homegrown workhorse Kim Kwang-hyun went under the knife for shoulder surgery and is expected to be out for roughly six months, making a return within this season uncertain.
Plan B has wobbled, too. Kim Min-jun, Yoon Tae-hyun and Cho Yo-han were on the list of candidates for the sixth starter, but none are on the first-team roster now. Cho departed after losing his footing, Yoon has struggled for consistency and was optioned to the second team, and Kim Min-jun reported shoulder heaviness after a final Futures League outing and is undergoing tests. With the rotation thin and the trade market “completely frozen,” according to one club source, acquiring a reliable starter via trade looks unlikely.
That leaves the more realistic option of asking other relievers to shoulder the load. That’s complicated by the fact that closer Cho Byung-hyun and setup man No Kyung-eun both represented Korea at the World Baseball Classic. They ramped up earlier than usual and picked up extra appearances, so fatigue is a real concern. Manager Lee has said he plans to manage their innings carefully early in the season.
There are signs the plan can work. In the season opener against KIA at Incheon’s SSG Landers Field on the 28th, Mitch White’s four-inning, five-run start put SSG in an early hole. But Jeon Young-jun — a cornerstone of Lee’s idea to build a “double late-inning relief line” — struck out three batters in the fifth with the team down 0–5, stopping the bleeding and helping set up the dramatic 7–6 walk-off comeback.
Jeon doesn’t light up the radar gun, but his fastball ranks among the most forceful on the staff and he attacks hitters. He’s a player the organization invested in last year, and the manager said he trusts Jeon in mid-game, strikeout-needed situations. That vote of confidence is telling.
After Park Si-hoo handled the sixth, veteran Moon Seung-won was called on to face KIA’s heart of the order in the seventh. Chasing a three-run deficit and down by two, SSG couldn’t afford a mistake. Because it was Opening Day and the bullpen was fresh, the usual high-leverage options might have been No, Kim Min or Lee Ro-woon, but Moon cleaned up the seventh, allowing the team to protect No’s arm. That outcome drew praise as an important development for SSG’s bullpen strategy this season.
Moon worked primarily as a starter last year but has bullpen experience, including closing in 2024. When he throws one inning at full effort, his stuff plays up, and his starting background gives him the stamina to handle two or more innings if needed. With Choi Min-jun shifting into the rotation to cover starter injuries, Moon’s role in the bullpen this year is projected to be crucial.
Manager Lee said, “Both Cho Byung-hyun and No Kyung-eun will inevitably take on damage over the course of a season, so we need to manage them.” He highlighted Jeon Young-jun, Park Si-hoo and Moon Seung-won as the arms he’ll use when the team is down one or two runs or when he needs to rest the traditional high-leverage relievers. If those three perform as expected, SSG can split its late-inning workload into two lines and rotate arms to preserve pitchers’ health. Seeing that possibility, the club has begun reshaping what could become a dominant bullpen.
