1) his age - he turns 29 in January.
2) the cost to sign him could be a deterrent: Lin currently makes 350,000 NT/month, which is roughly $11,500 USD/month. The Bears would ask for a transfer fee equivalent to 2.5x his current wages for this year - that would amount to ~$346,600 USD/year. For the second year of services, the Bears would ask for a transfer fee of no less than 1.5x his current wages - equating to ~$208K USD/year.
Korean KBO teams are also interested in Lin and would have no problem paying him a salary of ~ $300 K USD/year, however, when you factor in his transfer fee of ~ $550 K USD over 2 years, one can see why there would be a hesitancy to invest in a perennial CPBL All-Star.
Recently released Pirates farmhands IF Chih-Wei Hsu and RHP Shen-Cin Hong were also trying to impress scouting personnel at the workout. Hong was seeking another opportunity to return to the US with the Indians. Greg Hibbard, a pitching coach in the Indians organization, is currently in Taiwan. While performing a HS pitching clinic recently, Hibbard was shocked to hear that most youth pitchers threw 80-100 pitches daily in practice. To help protect these young arms, Hibbard advocated for the "less is more" concept, where pitchers throw no more than 3x/week and no more than 50 pitches each session.
*Speaking of clinics, Chin-Lung Hu, Jim Lefebvre, and Rick Dell put on a hitting clinic in Taiwan.
*Chien-Ming Wang was non-tendered by the Nationals, signaling that the team did not want to pay the $1.6 million/year minimum that Wang would have earned in arbitration. On the other hand, Hong-Chih Kuo is expected to get a hefty raise after an outstanding year - the early estimates point to a ball park figure of $2 million+/year.
*Former MLB farmhands Sung-Wei Tseng and Chia-Chu Chen alongside amateur standouts P Wen-Yang Liao and C Kun-Sheng Lin are expected to make themselves available for the upcoming CPBL draft.
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