CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #68

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Lamigo Monkeys News: Michael Nix

The Lamigo Monkeys announced the re-signing of Michael Nix for the 2019 season. The 35-year-old right-hander will return to Taiwan for his third season in the CPBL.

In 2018, Nix posted a 3.72 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 4.63 FIP, 121 ERA+ and 2.01 WAR over 142.2 innings of work. Despite a slow start in the first-half season, Nix managed to turn everything around after the All-Star break.

The CPBL named Michale Nix the September pitcher MVP after his dominating performance where he won four games with a 1.04 ERA and 1.26 WHIP over 26 innings.

With the Monkeys having a busy spring camp schedule with three exhibition series against the NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines and Rakuten Golden Eagles, would be interesting to see if Nix will get a chance to start against the Japanese teams.


Further Readings

Foreign players come and goes, therefore we compiled a foreign players tracker to keep track of all the foreign players signing for the 2019 CPBL season.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Does the Taiwanese media speculate on salaries for foreign players? NPB teams don’t report salaries, but Japanese media sources typically issue “estimates” of the likely salaries, which while I do not thing they are 100% accurate, are at least reasonable guesses.

    I assume that Bryan Woodall, given his history of CPBL success going into the 2019 season, received a full year contract from the Fubon Guardians. Is this correct? Also, do foreign players returning for second full seasons, like Michael Nix and Mitch Lively, typically receive full year contracts, or is it more likely that either or both will be starting the 2019 season under a three month contract?

    • The media do “speculate”. I guess either get their source from players, agents or staff within the organisation. (Small community, people talks). For Eric Wood, rumour he gets paid below average rates, around $17,000 per month as per report by SET News. Very likely Bryan Woodall is on full year contract already, since the Guardians announced his re-signing very quickly.

      From my understanding, Mitch Lively was signed to a 6 months guarantee contract this year with the Brothers. I think last year with Bruce Billings, he wanted a longer contract with the Uni-Lions, I think he probably got what he wanted with the Guardians, probably one of the reason why he ended up going to the Guardians. For Nix, I guess, the best the Monkeys can offer is probably 6 months. Team like the Monkeys is a bit thin with the money, I don’t think they are in position to lock a foreign player down for a year.

      As for other salary rumours, there was report from magazine Zeke Spurill was on around $23,000 USD per month. And Cory Snyder was on $20,000 to $25,000 USD per month.

  2. So Wood gets a $50,000 guarantee for three months, and Spruill got a $70,000 guarantee for three months upon signing last season? That sounds right for Spruill, who probably would have received a better deal had he not tried to return to AAA. I’m surprised that Wood thought he couldn’t get a $50,000 minor league contract later this off-season, since he’s still young and not far from the majors.

    • Not sure about the contract length, but could be spring camp plus three months? Or maybe half season? I guess we can find out when the Brothers sign their fourth foreign back up pitcher, it could be a sign of Eric Wood’s contract duration. (I’m leaning towards 3 months)

      This also depend on how the Brothers handle Lin Chieh-Sheng (3B). Rumour the Brothers plan to cut Lin’s annual salary from $480,000 USD to $120,000. Couple potential outcomes, Brothers only cut 30% of Lin’s salary, trade him, enter arbitration or release Lin.

      I guess Wood is hoping to use the CPBL as a stepping stone into KBO. Similar baseball cultures, easier for him to transition into KBO around July. If a KBO team is in need for a positional player on short notice.

      • Possibly, but KBO teams generally prefer players with some MLB major league experience. The Nexen Heroes were able to sign Jerry Sands for only $100,000 including incentives to play the last two months of the 2018 KBO season, which suggests that it isn’t hard to for the KBO to find AAA players with major league experience to step in mid-season. I think that, if Wood plays well in the CPBL, the odds are just as good he gets signed by an NPB team on a modest contract to play mostly in NPB’s minor league with a chance to move up to NPB’s major league as getting signed by a KBO team.

        • Also, more than half MLB teams have scouts permanently based in Taiwan, I guess that is another way to showcase himself as well. (In 2017, the MLB and NPB scouts were scouting Zeke Spruill, he was signed by the Rangers at the end of that year)

          He is definitely aiming for a contract in Japan and Korea using his CPBL experience. For NPB, either get a full contract or get his foot into the door first by signing a developmental player.

  3. Yeah, I have a feeling that Wood has realized his best chance for a financially successful professional baseball career is in the KBO or NPB. I’m still surprised, though, that he is leaving the MLB minors before his age 26 season, since it’s entirely possible that if he played a little better in AAA in 2019 than he did in 2018, he might get a major league call-up and thus be more attractive to KBO and NPB teams going forward. Maybe Wood also wants to see the world.

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