Lim Close to Yakult Return
Sports Hochi had reported that Yakult closer Chang-Yong Lim is close to a deal to return to the Yoyogi area of Tokyo. Here’s what his agent had to say: “We’ve arrived at an agreement (on terms). It’s not 100% but we’re 90% there. They’ve rated these last three years very highly.” It’s said to be a three year deal worth a total of 1.2 bn yen (about $15m at the current exchange rate), so Lim will join Kyuji Fujikawa and Hitoki Iwase among Japan’s most highly paid pitchers. This also means that Lim will be off the market, so Yomiuri will need to find a different replacement for Marc Kroon.
14/11/2010 at 7:44 am Permalink
hmm.. he seems to have a rubber arm, but a 3 year deal for a 34 year old is at least 1 year too long.. he’s no mariano
20/11/2010 at 9:18 pm Permalink
I wouldn’t be too sure of that…
Some sources are predicting that Yakult’s actual offer was somewhere around 0.3bn Yen per year with a 2+1 team option, and Lim wasn’t overly excited about it. That seems a lot more reasonable and realistic considering Yakult’s payroll.
Lotte and Rakuten, Yomiuri are all looking for closers but the only team with enough cash to offer Lim anything more than 0.4bn Yen per year seems to be Yomiuri.
Lastest news is that Yomiuri picked up Jonathan Albaladejo from NYY AAA.
I don’t know if Yomiuri got him as a full-time closer or as a part of their bullpen rebuilding.
If it’s the latter, then they’ll also try to get Lim. (There’s also the small possibility that Albaladejo may be a starter, but from what I know this guy was a pretty solid closer for Scranton for years and doesn’t really look too…well, starter.)
Whatever Yomiuri’s intentions, the market doesn’t look too good for Lim all of a sudden. Who knows, maybe he’ll go for a MLB contract…
P.S.
Oh and, if you already don’t know, Rakuten was testing Byung-hyun Kim (former MLB closer for the D-backs, Rockies, Redsox etc) as a new closer. It seems that Hoshino liked him but the rest of the coaching staff wasn’t so happy with him. After all, the guy hasn’t pitched for nearly two years.
Sources say Kim wasn’t happy with his own pitching anyway, and turned down whatever offers Rakuten made with promises to have another tryout somewhere in January next year.
Dunno how this is gonna turn out. This guy was another sidearm fireballer, a bit lower than Lim but equipped with a killer slider Lim doesn’t have…