Yanks Sign Second Player from Taiwan
The first player the Yankees signed from Taiwan turned out pretty good. Chien Ming Wang had a couple years for the Yankees. According to http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html the Yankees have stuck their hand in the Taiwan cookie jar again and signed infielder Fu-Lin Kuo for a $150,000 bonus.
The Nan Ying high school that he played for has produced some pretty solid major/minor league players over the years. Dodgers LHP Hong Chih Kuo and shortstop Ching-Lung Hu played there as did Red Sox outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin. You also have Braves RHP Wei-Chen Huang and Reds shortstop Yen-Wen Kuo.
There is a report on Kuo that you can read here: http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/2008/08/cream-of-crop-class-of-09.html. It is felt that he will eventually move to second base because he lacks the power and arm to play third and his foot speed is to slow to fit at short. He’s got gap power now.
The exodus of Taiwan players continued when the Yokahama Bay Stars claim to have signed Yi-Ching Wang and Wen-Hao Cheng. The agent for Cheng has denied the signing but a press announcement for the signing is scheduled for December 4th.
Interesting that the Japanese have to deal with so many foreign agents when they are virtually prohibited for Japanese players. The NPB rules allow only one player per agent, which doesn’t make it a very lucrative field for a lawyer to only represent one player.