According to news reports in Taiwan, the Yankees have determined that their contract with Tzu-Wei Lin was invalid. Supposedly, his father had signed off on the contract, but TW Lin's signature was nowhere to be found. Yankees Sr. VP of Baseball Operations Mark Newman confirmed that the deal was never finalized.
This leaves Lin with the opportunity to continue his HS career, avoid potential problems with his HS and amateur governing baseball bodies, and also perhaps seek greener pastures in the near future (when he graduates from HS). The rumored $600 K offer from the Twins and ~$500 K offers from the Braves and Pirates greatly exceeded the $350 K (+ $64K for school) offer from the Yankees.
The drama has also casted a shadow on Lin's reps - Octagon (for helping Lin to consider signing a contract before his HS graduation and also for taking an inferior financial offer from the Yankees).
*Deja Vu - The boys from Kaohsiung won their consolation game at the LLWS on Sunday after a crushing defeat in extra innings the day before to Japan. Similar to 2007 during LLWS play, Japan rallied from behind to tie things up in their last AB and then win in extra innings. Hat tip to Japan on winning the LLWS.
*The minor league season is coming to a close. Overall, the season has been a disappointment (injuries to CJ Lo and CL Hu, the dreadful debuts of several minor league farmhands - particularly with the Pirates, and poor performances from minor league veterans) save a few bright spots (CH Chen, CH Lin, CC Lee, CH Chiang, etc.). First year players - ZF Pan (.331 BA) and PC Chen (.292 BA, 10 SB) did manage to hold their own offensively.
Over in Japan, TH Lee has been impressive at the plate as well (.303 BA, 9 HR) while Yi-Hao Lin (3 W's, 2.93 ERA) has begun to fulfill some of the promise he once exhibited as a 15 year old.
2 comments:
It was a great game between our boys and Japan. But I'd contend that Japan didn't "rally" but instead our boys failed to close out by committing crucial errors for second straight time (and this time around, it was absolutely unnecessary for the catcher to try to pick-off the runner on first). Hats off to team Japan, they were the better team in the end because they kept the mistakes to a minimum. It's amazing to watch these 2 team play every time, hard to believe that they're only 13yrs or younger.
Agreed, to imagine that this rivalry was untelevised during the old format (Far East regionals - prior to Japan having its own region), makes one wonder about the tremendous games that went on between the two teams in the past.
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