Korea Series champion Kia Tigers manager Cho Bum-hyun was signed to a "late/urgent" 3 year contract extension worth a total W1.6 billion won ($1.4 million) on the 26th.
Cho and Tigers president Kim Cho-ho met at an undisclosed location in Gwangju to finalize the 550,000,000 won contract bonus, 350,000,000 yearly salary (translator note: please don't try to add this up because if it's wrong then something's wrong) deal. This deal compares to the deals of other managers who have recently signed long-term contracts: Kim Seong-geun (SK, 3 years, 2 billion won) and Seon Dong-yeol (Samsung, 5 years, 2.7 billion won).
And it now makes Cho the third highest among Korean Baseball Organization managers in terms of average annual money: Kim Seong-geun with 666,000,000 won, Sun Dong-yeol with 540,000,000 won, Cho with 533,000,000 won. Kim Kyeong-moon (Doosan Bears) has a 466,000,000 won a year, 1.4 billion won contract and Lotte Giants manager Jerry Royster just signed a 1 year deal including a $300,000 salary and a matching contract bonus.
Cho signed a 600,000,000 won deal back in '07 including a 200,000,000 won annual salary and 600,000,000 contract bonus. His new deal gives him a substantial raise, with his win in this year's Korea Series becoming the deal breaker.
The Tigers had offered Cho a contract a month before, but Cho did not accept it. The new deal was considered a win for both sides.
Cho, recently recovered from a hospital stay, had this to say after his contracting was completed: "Thanks to the team, we'll be seeing some nice games next season thanks to the team, I was pretty sick and I had to go into the hospital... and sorry to the fans for taking so long with my contract, I'm going to get better soon and I'm going to get ready for next season with the players and we're going to give it our best shot."
He also added: "Got a lot to do for next year, got to forget we're champions and start to train in normal mode again, I'm going to stop the players from getting all wrapped in the end-of-year things happening make them train hard!"
Translator's note: Cho's speech in the end is kind of funny, it wasn't as sloppy as that, but it's translated directly (my interpretation?). Also, a billion won is approximately a million dollars. www.xe.com for conversions. I'm your translator not your banker.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Simon K.
Korean link: http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=109&article_id=0002066587
Article published by OSEN, November 26, 2009
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