Giants hire former Nexen manager

The Lotte Giants have hired Kim Si-jin, the former Nexen Heroes manager, to lead the Busan club that finished in third during the 2012 season.

Kim signed a 1.2 billion won ($1.1 million) three-year contract to replace Yang Seung-ho, who resigned last Tuesday after leading the team to the second round of the playoffs for a second straight year but failed to reach the Korean Series.

“We think highly of his long-standing experience as a professional baseball manager and his ability to develop players,” the Giants said, referring to Kim, who first managed the Hyundai Unicorns in 2007.

Kim, 54, was sacked by the Heroes in September after an impressive run in the early part season sputtered as the Heroes fell to sixth place.

Kim, the first pitcher in the Korea Baseball Organization league to reach 100 career wins, pitched for the Giants and the Samsung Lions before he retired in 1992.

Yang, 52, said he would resign for failing to fulfill his promise to lead the team to the Korean Series in two years.

By Moon Gwang-lip