The Chinatrust Brothers have released seven core players, including power hitter 蔣智賢 (Chiang Chih-Hsien), 2017 Best-Ten award winner 張正偉 (Chang Cheng-Wei) and closer 陳鴻文 (Chen Hung-Wen).
Out of those seven released players, three of them were previously benched by the organisation for disciplinary reasons just before the postseason. This also contribute to another unsuccessfully playoff campaign for the Chinatrust Brothers, as they have failed to captured the Taiwan Series for the fourth straight seasons.
Free Agents Without Compensation Fee
Being released by the Brothers, those seven players are now considered as free agents. The other three CPBL teams will be able to sign them without paying the compensation fee to the Chinatrust Brothers.
蔣智賢 (Chiang Chih-Hsien)
- Former Red Sox farmhand. Signed as international free agent in 2006.
- Drafted 1st round in 2015 by the Brothers.
- Monster 2016 season .402/.455/.738 and lead the league in OPS+ (176).
- 2017 salary: 176,000 USD.
張正偉 (Chang Cheng-Wei)
- Drafted 7th round in 2008 by the Brothers.
- 7X Best-Ten award winner.
- 2X Gold Gloves.
- 1x Batting Champion.
- 2017 salary: $160,000 USD.
鄭達鴻 (Cheng Ta-Hung)
- Drafted 5th round by Sinon Bulls in 2003.
- 2X Best-Ten award winner.
- Signed as free agent by Chinatrust Brothers in 2016.
- 2017 salary: $184,000 USD.
陳鴻文 (Chen Hung-Wen)
- Former Chicago Cubs 3A farmhand. Signed as international free agent in 2007.
- Drafted 1st round by the Brothers in 2012.
- 2017 salary: $212,000 USD.
林煜清 (Lin Yu-Ching)
- Drafted 1st round by Brothers in 2011
- Former Brother domestic ace. Switched to reliever role due to injury.
- 2017 salary: $72,000 USD.
林克謙 (Lin Ko-Chien)
- Drafted 1st round by Sinon Bulls in 2008
- Signed by Brothers as free agent in 2015
- Career year in 2017. 2.56 ERA, 1.20 WHIP over 31.2 innings.
- 2017 salary: $48,000 USD.
羅國華 (Lo Kuo-Hua)
- Drafted 9th round by Brothers in 2009.
- 2017 salary: $38,000 USD.
