Sports Briefs

BASEBALL

Kim Kyung-moon will stay with Dinos three more years

The fate of Kim Kyung-moon, manager of this year’s Korean Series runners-up NC Dinos, has been decided, as he renewed his contact with the club.

The Dinos announced on Wednesday that they have retained Kim’s contract for three more years, which expired after the season, inking a two billion won ($1.74 million) deal with the skipper.

“We recognized that since its birth he has contributed to the team and helped make it an elite club in just five years,” said a statement on the Dinos website.

“I have been with the team since its birth in 2011,” Kim said after the deal was made, “and it is my duty to Dinos fans to stick with the team in tough times.”

Elsewhere in the KBO, Kim Tae-hyung, the skipper of the two-time champions the Doosan Bears, has also renewed his contract with the team, signing a three-year contract worth two billion won.

Kim led the Bears in 2015, his first year with the team, to the Korean Series championships, only to come back and sweep the league in 2016, taking both the pennant and the Korean Series title. Under his watch, the Bears became the first team in 21 years to sweep the pennant and the championship title.

“It is an honor,” said the skipper. “What we have accomplished has only been possible with the help and combined hard work of the players and coaching staff, as well as the support by the fans. But we will leave the glory days behind and shoot for our third Korean Series title.”

MLB requests status check on two Korean players

Major League Baseball has requested a status check on two pitchers from Korea, according to the local baseball body.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Thursday that MLB tendered a status check on Kim Kwang-hyun of the SK Wyverns and Cha Woo-chan of the Samsung Lions. The KBO notified the MLB that the two pitchers are free agents and can therefore sign with any club.

Kim, the league MVP in 2008 and southpaw for the Wyverns, took a crack at the MLB two years ago, but since he wasn’t a FA then, any club that wanted to take him had to pay a posting fee to the Tigers. But as a FA, the posting system is no longer in his way. Kim went 11-8 this year with a 3.88 ERA.

Cha, another lefty who’s been with the Lions since making his pro debut in 2006, has raked in more than 10 wins for two straight years, tallying 13 in 2015, when the Lions captured the pennant, and 12 this year.

By Choi Hyung-jo