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Landers sign manager Lee Sung-yong to extension

Published: 03 Sep. 2025, 18:21

SSG Landers manager Lee Sung-yong, right, bumps fists with his pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun after a 9-3 win over the Hanwha Eagles in a KBO regular-season game at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon, 140 kilometers south of Seoul, in this July 26 file photo. [YONHAP]

The SSG Landers announced Wednesday they have signed manager Lee Sung-yong to a new extension that could keep him at the club for as long as three years.

Lee, 54, has been the Landers' bench boss since last season in the KBO. He is currently in the final year of a two-year deal worth 900 million won ($646,040), and the new contract will run for up to three years, with Lee set to make 1.8 billion won — 1.2 billion won in total salary, 300 million won in signing bonus and 300 million won in incentives — from 2026 to 2028.

According to the Landers, the first two years of the new deal will be guaranteed, and the club will evaluate Lee's performance before deciding to pick up the option for the third season.

The Landers finished fifth in Lee's first regular season in 2024, with a win-loss-tie record of 72-70-2, but they missed out on the postseason after losing to the KT Wiz in the fifth-place tiebreaker.

Through Tuesday's action, the Landers were in third place in the 10-team league at 62-58-4 with 20 games left this season, nursing a half-game lead over the Samsung Lions. The NC Dinos are in seventh place, only two games behind the Landers with three games in hand.

With the postseason battle heating up in the final month of the regular season, the Landers front office gave Lee their big vote of confidence.

The Landers said they took note of Lee's leadership in guiding a group of young players this season when several of their key veterans hit the sidelines with injuries.

"With this early extension, we wanted to create an environment where the players could focus on the action on the field," the Landers said in a statement. "We made this decision to stay on a consistent path in the remodeling of our ball club moving forward."

The Landers are scheduled to move into a new dome for the 2028 season, which would be Lee's final year of his new deal.

Yonhap