CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #44
Lamigo Monkeys News: Bruce Kern
According to the Lamigo Monkeys’ general manager, the Monkeys have reached an agreement with former Chinatrust Brothers RHP Bruce Kern.
“Our first choice was to bring back Zack Segovia. However, after experiencing some difficulty in re-signing him, we’ll have to go for our backup option,” said the general manager of the Lamigo Monkeys.
Even though the Monkeys did not confirm the signing, a few hours later Kern posted a picture of the Monkeys logo on his Instagram with the message “2018 starts in Lamigo. Excited to get started!!!” In doing so, he pretty much confirmed the deal.
#Lamigo Monkeys have signed RHP Bruce Kern. Here's Kern's pitching montage from 2017 #CPBL season. pic.twitter.com/ZD5QbtghuP
— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) February 5, 2018
The hard-throwing Kern was signed by the Chinatrust Brothers back in 2016 but was released after only two starts due to blisters on his fingers.
Kern was invited back to the Brothers spring camp in 2017 and stayed in the Brothers starting rotation until the end of August. He wound up posting a 5.16 ERA and 1.58 WHIP across 16 starts and 96 innings with 87 strikeouts.
What about Zack Segovia?
With the signing of Bruce Kern, Darin Downs and Michael Nix, the Lamigo Monkeys have officially filled their quota of three foreign players in the first team.
This means that either the Monkeys are going to sign Segovia and place him on the farm team, or maybe it will be like the rumours suggested, that Zack Segovia is indeed going to the Fubon Guardians.
*Update: February 6
According to an article on Taiwan’s Apple Daily, it seems the Fubon Guardians is not the only team that is trying to sign Zack Segovia. Apparently, NPB’s Yomiuri Giants are also interested.
In 2017, during an exhibition game between the CPBL All-Star vs Samurai Japan (the Japanese National Team), Segovia pitched a solid four innings with seven strikeouts. With the news of the Yomiuri Giants eyeing Zack Segovia, the Guardians are now seeking alternative options for their next foreign player.
Whether this is real or just another tactic by the players’ agents to get more money is hard to tell. Let’s wait and see. As we are getting closer and closer to spring training, teams will have to make a decision soon.
According to Taiwan's Apple Daily (Yes, it's a real media outlet). #NPB's Yomiuri Giants are interested to sign Zack Segovia. #CPBL #Fubon Guardians now seeking alternative foreign players option. Here's Segovia's 7K highlight against Samurai Japan last year. #巨人 pic.twitter.com/yzdjhU8G8W
— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) February 6, 2018
Further Readings
Foreign players come and goes, therefore we have compiled a foreign players tracker to keep track of all the foreign players for the 2018 CPBL season.
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CPBL teams seem to prefer known commodities. We will see if Kern has learned enough from his previous CPBL to be more successful in 2018.
Yeah, a lot of teams prefer someone with previous Asian league experience. I guess in a way makes the transition easier. Also with the signing of Bruce Kern, I guess Segovia is going to Fubon Guardians.
If Fubon ends up signing both Woodall and Segovia to join Loree, Fubon should be a real contender in 2018.
There’s news today that NPB’s Yomiuri Giants might be interested in Zack Segovia. Knowing they can’t outbid NPB team, the Guardians are now backing off and seeking back up option.
I assume that Yomiuri would sign Segovia to be back-up pitching depth on their minor league team, because Yomiuri already has five good foreign players signed for its four major league roster spots.
Or maybe it’s just a tactic by Segovia’s agency trying to push for higher price. And Guardians just release this info to media as a counter attack. Basically saying they’ll call their bluff.
Haha, this is getting quite exciting now.
As NPB’s richest team, the Yomiuri Giants get around the four foreign player major league roster limit by signing extra foreigners and stashing them in minors until they need them. I don’t see the Giants offering more than $200, 000 for Segovia to pitch in minor league.
I agree too. The thing is, if Segovia side has agree to term with NPB team, why even bother to come back to Guardians for a counter offer. Something is definitely fishy here.
Jared Lansford tried to do the same tactic last year, and Guardians just pretty much let go of him. With CPBL being the last “high paying league” in the world, Segovia’s agency JMG Baseball is playing a very dangerous game.
Yomiuri could be interested because they may will be willing to carry as many as eight foreign players for their four major league roster spots. Still, they won’t pay a whole lot for Segovia to be at best only the sixth best foreigner signed for 2018, not when the major league roster spots are filled NPB veteran stars Alex Guerrero, Casey McGehee, Scott Mathieson and Arquimedes Caminero and the Giants just signed Taylor Jungmann to a $750,000 contract (and probably paid an equal amount to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jungmann’s rights).
If a CPBL team were offering Segovia $25,000 a month, the Giants might match that, but it’s hard to see the Giants going much higher. Given Segovia’s age (35 in 2018) and his 2017 stats, I’m not convinced Segovia is worth more than $25,000 a month to a CPBL team.