Lefty Kuan-Yu Chen to the BayStars?

*Amateur lefty Kuan-Yu Chen is likely to sign with the Yokohama BayStars.   His signing bonus would approach ~ $300 K.     Chen had worked out for Yokohama not too long ago and was being pursued by the Yomiuri Giants & Chunichi Dragons.
The BayStars were also interested in Chen's amateur teammate Yu-Ching Lin.


*In other NPB news, the Orix BlueWave are interested in CPBL veteran star Bulls RHP Chien-Fu Yang.  Yang was the most impressive NT pitcher at the Asian Games.


*In the final poll for 2010, the IBAF has Taiwan in the 5th spot, behind world leaders: Cuba, US, South Korea, and Japan. 


*Taiwan defended its Asian "A" little league level championship (5-peat) with a 4-1 win over Japan in the championship game.  Chun-An Wu cracked a HR for the NT.


*A team from Kyoto, Japan won the Chu-Lo Cup (12 and under) tourney in Taiwan.


*Former Taiwanese little league star, Tung-Jung Wu (now at National Physical Ed U. in Taiwan) has a partial ligament tear in his elbow.




*CPBL NEWS:
-The President Lions released IF Sen Yang and P Yi-Cheng Tsai.
-The Elephants will pay CPBL rookies Sung-Wei Tseng 160 K NT/month and Chi-Hung Cheng 135 K NT/month.
-The Sinon Bulls may be sold to the Ta-Rong Cargo Delivery/Moving Corp?
-Lions C Chih-Kang Kao and Elephants C Chun-Chang Yeh are spending their own money to train at the Indians' ST camp beginning 1/17 for a month.








*Here's a great series on Taiwanese HS players in Japan with the aim of playing in the sacred Koshien Tournament:








*Life After Baseball?
-Former pitcher Shih-Kui Huang, who is now the pitching coach at Chinese Cultural University, is the only coach with a PhD degree from the US currently in Taiwanese baseball.
-At 25, former Yomiuri Giant and NT RHP Chien-Ming Chiang is out of baseball and currently working in a jewelry store. 

Kao-Yuan and Ku-Pao to play for Wood Bat Tourney Title...

WBT:
Kao-Yuan defeated Tung-Shih 7-1 in one semifinal on Friday. KY starter Sheng-Nan Chen threw a CG, allowing 1 unearned run on 1 hit over 9 IP (6 K's, 2 BB's) to pick up his 3rd win in the tourney. KY 1B Chi-Hung Hsu backed up Chen's dominating performance with a 3-3, 2B, 2 BB's, 4 RBI night.

In the other semi, Ku-Pao beat Chung-Dao 4-2. Ku-Pao SS Tung-Jung Wu is back in Taiwan after playing the previous 2 years in Japan. Wu was the star of the '04 Bronco World Series team and a member of the '07 youth NT. Wu was 2-3 with a RBI in the game.

The two finalists will face off in a best of 3 series starting today.
*Update
(Ku-Pao defeated Kao-Yuan 5-2 in G1)
(Tung-Shih defeated Chung-Dao 4-3 in 10 innings for third place)
(Shi-Yuan beat Mei-Ho 3-1 in 10 innings for 5th)
(Qiang-Shu beat Gao-Nong 5-3 for 7th)

MLB:
Fu-Lin Kuo's comprehensive signing package with the Yankees includes tuition and approaches ~$200 K combined.







Other:
RHP Wen-Hao Cheng topped out at 89 mph recently in the collegiate tourney. He is learning Japanese as he hopes to play in the NPB one day.

2007 Youth NT Roster...

With the 13th World Youth Baseball Championships (to be held in San Cristobal, Venezuela) approaching in August, the youth NT has been set:

PITCHERS (7):
1)Meng-Chen Fan

• Was selected top pitcher of the 2007 Hsieh Kuo-Cheng Cup - (16-under national tourney)
  

2)Chao-Hsiang Chen

• led the recently completed Hsieh Kuo-Cheng Cup (2007 HKC Cup) with 9 RBI's
• MVP of the 2007 HKC Cup
  

3)Chen-Hsiang Kao
4)Yu-Chou Wei
5)Ting-Hao Lin
6)Yao-Tsung Ou
7) Hung-Wei Shih

CATCHERS (2):
1)Shih-Hao Liu

• member of the 2005 Pony League World Series Champs

2)Wei-Chih Cheng

INFIELDERS (5):
1)Shang-Ying Tsai
2)Liao Nien-Che Chang

• member of the 2005 Pony League World Series Champs

3)Dan-Cheng Lin
4)Yu-Yu Hsu

• member of the 2004 Taiwanese Bronco World Series (11-12 year olds) team
  

5)Wei-Chen Wang

• son of current CPBL Whales head coach and ex-slugger Kuang-Hui Wang
  
• Led the recently completed HKC Cup (16-under national tourney) with a .580 BA
  

Wei-Chen Wang (L) with dad (R)

OUTFIELDERS (4):
1)Pin-Hung Ji
2)Yu-Chien Lin
3)Tai-Yan Kuo

4)Tung-Jung Wu

• star two-way player on the 2004 Bronco World Series reps from Taipei
  

Tung-Jung Wu

*Players in bold demarcate those to keep an eye on.

In its last two appearances, Taiwan finished 5th in 2005 and won a silver in 2003, led by Chih-Hsien Chiang.