Charlie Barnes, known as the 'left-handed lion,' who is leaving Lotte Giants due to an injury, bid farewell through a letter.
The Lotte Giants baseball club on the 14th released a letter left by Barnes on its official SNS account.
Barnes began, "It's hard to express in words how grateful I am for my time at Lotte." He added, "To my teammates, thank you for accepting me and helping me understand Korean culture. The time we spent training together every day was truly enjoyable."
He also expressed his gratitude to the Giants club officials, saying, "Thank you for always being willing to help and for making the process of adapting to a new country as smooth as possible."
The farewell message to the fans who had regarded Barnes as the pride of Lotte for four years was particularly moving. Barnes said, "To the fans, I will cherish the warmth you showed to me and my family for a lifetime. The passion of Lotte fans is something special that cannot be explained unless you experience it firsthand." He concluded, "The wins and losses will be forgotten eventually, but the memories made in Korea will last forever. I look forward to the day I recover my health and stand on the field again."
Barnes, known in the KBO League as a left-handed lion, re-signed with Lotte for a total of $1.5 million (about 2.1 billion won) before the 2025 season, marking his fourth year in Busan. However, contrary to expectations, his performance declined compared to previous years, suffering from a record of 3 wins, 4 losses, and an earned run average of 5.32 over 8 games.
To make matters worse, Barnes complained of left shoulder pain after leaving 5⅓ innings with 7 hits allowed (2 home runs), 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 5 earned runs against NC Dinos on the 4th. He was diagnosed with a left subscapularis injury and received a minimum 8-week prognosis after detailed examinations at the hospital on the 6th and 8th, effectively ruling him out for the first half of the season. In response, Lotte quickly began the process of acquiring a replacement foreign player.
Initially, the possibility of temporarily acquiring a foreign player was raised, but Lotte opted for a foreign pitcher replacement. On the 13th, Lotte placed Barnes on waivers and announced via a press release that they had signed Alex Gamboa, a Triple-A player from the Major League Los Angeles Dodgers, for a transfer fee of $100,000 and an aggregate salary of $330,000.
Barnes’ career statistics over 4 seasons in the KBO League stand at 94 games, 35 wins, 32 losses, and an earned run average of 3.58 (553 innings, 220 earned runs).
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