Japan/Korea Free Agency targets (mostly Korea; 2015 update pg. 2)

[CPT]

Rogers was great for his first few starts in the KBO and then just pretty good. It will be interesting to see how he performs over a full year.

The highest paid foreign player ever thing is meaningless, since until a year or two ago there was a cap for foreign player signings that teams would circumvent by paying players under the table. Even since it's been lifted, they still don't announce the contracts straight up. Thames signed a two year deal before last season but had to announce it as one year deals each year. People are speculating that Rogers' $1.9M is actually being under-reported as well. He may very well be the highest paid foreign player ever, but he may not be.

In other news, the Twins signed park to a 4 year, $12 million deal, bringing the total financial commitment to $24.85M. The posting fee was a bit high, but I feel like the contract is a great value. Overall, it's a pretty reasonable risk for a guy who could give you a decent reward.

Son Ah-Seop got posted and received no bids. So at least we know teams are doing their homework and not just trying to grab any KBOer they can. His team will now post 3B Hwang Jae-gyun, who I didn't cover in the big post, but is nothing to write home about.

Kim Hyun-soo, Lee Dae-ho, and Oh Seung-hwan are all out there as FAs, determined to make the MLB, so they could be had for cheap.

Haven't heard anything about the pitchers, so maybe they aren't being posted this year after their failed attempts last year.

[CPT]

Kim signed with the Orioles, pending a physical. 2 years, $7M. He might not set the league on fire, but I think that's a great low risk, medium reward move.

At least it will mean some Jays games on Korean TV.

Hwang Jae-gyun also received no bids.

Lee Dae-ho apparently has some offers in the 2 year, $2.5M per range. Said to be looking for something closer to 3 years at $5M per.

Only news about Oh Seung-hwan has been his involvement in the Samsung gambling 'scandal'. There's no implication that he bet on games or anything, just that he gambled, which as a Korean national is illegal even overseas. Only really comes up when there are large amounts of foreign currency being exchanged though.