Kim signs $1.3m deal with Hanwha

Kim Tae-kyun, a South Korean baseball slugger returning home after a stint in Japan, has signed the largest-ever contract in local baseball, Kim’s team announced Monday.

The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization said they have signed Kim to a one-year deal worth 1.5 billion won ($1.3 million), the most lucrative contract in the KBO’s 29-year history.

Kim’s contract surpasses a one-year, 800 million won deal signed by Lee Seung-yeop with the Samsung Lions. But Lee’s contract included 300 million won in a club option, while Kim is guaranteed 1.5 billion won.

Kim, 29, is returning after spending a little more than a season with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. In his first Japanese season in 2010, Kim hit 21 home runs and drove in 92 runs, helping the Marines win the Japan Series championship.

He was also the top vote getter in the Pacific League for last year’s All-Star Game.

But in 2011, Kim managed only one home run and 14 RBIs as wrist and back injuries limited him to 36 games. In July, Kim decided to end his Japanese career with one year left on his contract.

He and the Marines agreed to cancel the final year of Kim’s three-year contract signed before the 2010 season, after Kim reportedly asked for the contract’s termination because he would no longer be much help to the team. He had signed for 150 million yen ($1.9 million) per season with 100 million yen in signing bonus.

Before moving to Japan, Kim had been one of the KBO’s premier sluggers. He was the KBO Rookie of the Year in 2001, thanks to a .335 batting average along with 20 home runs and 54 RBIs in 88 games. (Yonhap News)

KBO club chiefs to discuss letting Park play next season

Presidents of the country’s top baseball clubs will meet this week to discuss a rule change to allow ex-major leaguer Park Chan-ho to pitch in their league next season, the league office said Monday.

The Korea Baseball Organization said presidents of its eight clubs are scheduled to meet Tuesday to review the status of Park, a veteran right-hander released by the Orix Buffaloes in Japan in October. Park, who pitched 17 years in Major League Baseball and one year with the Buffaloes, has said he would like to finish his playing career in South Korea. But under the current rule, he would have to sit out the entire 2012 season before being eligible.

The KBO states that a player who left for an overseas league prior to 1999 must enter a rookie KBO draft to join the local league for the first time. Park, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994 and has never before played in the KBO, is currently the only active player to whom this rule applies.

Under the rule, Park must enter the draft in August next year and, if selected, would be eligible starting in 2013.

The Hanwha Eagles, based in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, reserve the prior rights to Park based on his hometown.

Park is from Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, just north of Daejeon.

The Eagles have pushed for the rule change so that they could sign Park and put him in the rotation right away without wasting their draft pick and waiting a full season for the 38-year-old pitcher. 

(Yonhap News)