Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-14
- best pic of the Japan Series: http://bit.ly/aogobZ #
- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-07: Lotte takes a 2-1 lead: http://www.npbtracker.com/data/ # Agent Don Nomur… http://bit.ly/d7GjXq #
- Sanspo puts Anaheim in the mix for Hisanori Takahashi http://bit.ly/a7JaOT #
- Also, Sanspo says Tak2 is looking for multi years at $4-6m. NYM offered one year at $1.5m plus bonuses. #
- You drive a hard bargain, @nymets945 in reply to nymets945 #
- Nishioka has requested posting; discussion with team to take place the 13th. http://bit.ly/cDoiEm #
- Sorry, slight translation miss on that last tweet. Nishioka discussion to take place some time after the 13th. #
- Chunichi will not post Wei-Yin Chen this year: http://bit.ly/9zD79x #
- Okay Twitterers, got any suggestions on interesting people I should follow? #
- Thanks for all the Twitter suggestions. I discovered this one today: @mr_t_facts and highly recommend it. #
- Lim Close to Yakult Return: Sports Hochi had reported that Yakult closer Chang-Yong Lim is close to a deal to re… http://bit.ly/bH9XYl #
- A single FF for this FF: @JCoskrey #
- Sanspo has Kuroda ready to re-sign with LA, for one-year, about 1bn yen ($8m). Hiroshima and Yomiuri showed interest http://bit.ly/c62WA9 #
- Screwed up the exchange rate, 1bn yen == $12m. Thanks @DavidYoungTBLA #
- The Kuroda report of one year/$12m is all over the Japanese media. #
- Japan-Korea Club Championship http://www.justin.tv/wkwlxjf#/w/548601760 #
- Sanspo: Rakuten has basic agreement with Aki Iwamura http://bit.ly/9duHV6. turns out I was wrong about his NPB rights belonging to Yakult. #
24/11/2010 at 6:01 am Permalink
Today Chen’s agent told the media about Chen’s contract status.
In Mandarin, if you can get someone to translate it
http://www.nownews.com/2010/11/24/341-2667465.htm
In summery:
1. When Chen joined the Dragons in 2004, it’s Ta-Feng Chen who signed him. At that time there’s no expiring date on the contract.
2. Later in 2006 Chen resigned a development deal with the club. At that time his previous contract was voided.
3. In 2008. Dragons gave Chen the third contract in order to keep him in the 70-man roster. The contract is a typical 1-year contract.
4. Te quoted Ta-Feng Chen’s words in 2009 “Wei-Yin is a foreign player and didn’t sign long term contract with the club. So after the season both MLB and NPB clubs will pursue him. By seeing his record, I think the Dragons won’t easily let him go. They will think carefully on how to keep him.”
5. Last year when Chen resigned with the team. He was only given Japanese version of the contract. It shouldn’t happen when the club signs foreign players.
His agent told the media, according to the contract Dragons had given to Chen in 2008. It stated that it’s a 1-year deal. But the deal he signed with the team last December “missed” critical article. In fact, he was only given partial of the contract, not the complete one. So his agent said that’s the problem they’re trying to solve with the team.
He said weather Chen stays in Japan or goes to US are all possible options, but he is not going there through post system.
The agent said “In worse case scenario, they will do legal action to solve this matter.”
So Chen’s case is clear now. Chunichi Dragons didn’t give him the complete contract at the end of last year. So the club can say “in his contract there’s no article saying when it’ll expire”. But I think his agent also found a hole in it, by showing the previous contracts Dragons have given to Chen.
24/11/2010 at 5:48 pm Permalink
It’s complete in the sense that the specifics are handled in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between the NPB and the Players Association to which Chen belongs.
In other words, Chunichi controls Chen’s rights until he hits free agency no matter how long the current contract is. Now, many foreign players have a side letter that allows them to be FAs after their current contract is expired. Many Japanese players have it in the MLB.
I think Chen’s side is asking for it in the next year’s contract.
24/11/2010 at 6:23 pm Permalink
No, according to Chen’s agent. Chen’s contract will expire at Nov.30 and then he’s free to negotiate with any team he wants. The agency does not want to wait until next year. (The Japanese media was wrong on that)
And Chen’s problem is that he was not given the complete contract. It’s not the “side letter” issue. And in fact Yumiuri Giants had interested in Chen back in 2008, so you are saying even the Giants didn’t know there’s a side letter issue?
As far as I know. Both Ming-Chien Hsu and Chi-Chia Chang signed multi-year contract with the Seibu Lions. Yin-Chien Lin and En-Yu Lin also signed multi-year contract with Rakuten Golden Eagles. So I they don’t have the issue Chen’s facing know. Chen signed 1-year deal in 2008, so last year Chen didn’t have such issue.
About such “side letter”, all of the NPB media didn’t know that before Nishikawa came up with it last August. Ta-Feng Chen didn’t know that, Changyong Lim didn’t know that, Colby Lewis didn’t know that, Yumiuri Giants didn’t know that. Even Nishikawa himself didn’t know that according to his comment in last June (he said he’s aware that Chen may be pursued by other clubs so they will do their best to keep him)
So it’s possible the whole “side letter” thing was made up by Nishikawa just for bluffing.
BTW, the escape clause in Japanese players’ contracts with the MLB club isn’t the “side letter” thing. The clause is usually like “if they don’t finalize the extension before some time at the last year of the current contract, the club will not offer arbitration to the player”.