Manager of defending S. Korean baseball champ fired

Kim Sung-keun, manager of the defending South Korean baseball champion SK Wyverns, was fired Thursday, a day after he offered to quit at the end of the ongoing season over stalled contract negotiations. The Wyverns, based in Incheon, west of Seoul, announced Thursday that Kim will be replaced by Lee Man-soo, manager of the team's minor league team. The club said it wanted to quickly stabilize the team and prevent further distraction after Kim made an abrupt announcement Wednesday. "It was quite shocking that an active manager offered to resign in the middle of a season despite urgings from the front office," the club said. According to the team, Kim first said he would step down on Wednesday morning but the team asked him to stay. Later in the day, hours before the Wyverns' game against the Samsung Lions at home, Kim called an impromptu press conference in the dugout and announced he would only manage until the end of this season. Kim, 68, has guided the Wyverns to Korean Series championships in 2007, 2008 and 2010 and has earned the moniker "Baseball God." He is widely known for his perfectionist approach and tough love ways that have helped him bring out the best in underachieving players. Before the Wyverns, he had managed five other teams, including the LG Twins and the Lions. Kim said he harbored no hard feelings about the club's decision. "I've gone through this before, and so has my family. So they seem OK, too," Kim said. "I am just worried about the players. I hope they keep doing well from here and on and I believe they can regroup themselves." Kim said he has no immediate plans, but added, "Who knows, I might be managing some university team in a couple of days." Before Thursday night's match against the Lions, the Wyverns sat in third place among eight teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), 5.5 games behind the first-place Lions. The top four teams reach the postseason each year in the KBO. Kim's current three-year deal, signed after he won his second straight title, was set to expire at the end of this season. In earlier reports, Kim said he had felt slighted after the club postponed talks over his contract status on three different occasions this year. But he declined to offer further details on Thursday. Lee, a former All-Star catcher, has been with the Wyverns franchise since 2007, first serving as bench coach and later minor league manager. In 1984, Lee became the first KBO player to win the batting triple crown, leading the league in home runs, runs batted in (RBI) and batting average. He was the bullpen coach for the Chicago White Sox in Major League Baseball from 2000 to 2006, and won the World Series with them in 2005.