Although it still hasn’t officially been reported by the team, several stories broke at the beginning of the week stating that the Dodgers have signed righty pitcher Lin Huei-Sheng. Apparently, the contract involves a signing bonus in the vicinity of $300K. It has also been stated that the deal is pending a physical, which may be the reason for the holdup in the club making an official announcement.
There’s not much information available on the 20-year-old native from Taiwan, but CPBL Stats provides a few useful tidbits along with some interesting background information. Recently, he has touched as high as 95 MPH on the radar gun. According to his scouting report, he features a forkball, a slider and a curve in addition to his fastball.
According to CPBL Stats, Lin initially intended on pursuing a career in the MLB right after high school in 2017; however, an injury (to his “waist”) kept him grounded in Taiwan, as he enrolled at the Linko Campus of the National Sports University. With plenty of time to recover, the University held a showcase for Lin last November, attracting scouts from more than 10 clubs across the MLB.
I did a little digging of my own and stumbled across his profile page on pointstreak.com. As shown by his recent stats there, there could be some control issues, as he walked 20 batters over 32-2/3 innings for the Taiwan T-Bolts in summer ball last year. During that time, he made seven starts and put together a 3-2 record with a 3.30 ERA and 25 punchouts.
The highlight of the season came against the Gaithersburg Giants on July 20, when he threw seven full innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit while striking out six and walking two.
Here’s a video provided by CPBL Stats highlighting his mechanics and delivery:
Once he arrives stateside, it would probably be safe to assume that Lin starts his career with the AZL Dodgers, and if he settles in soon enough, he may be able to throw for Low-A Ogden when the short season begins later in the summer.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Taking a second look at the video, you can see the curve coming from a mile away. Holy schmokes.
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I was looking for that too, but it wasn’t that obvious to me. You must have a keener eye. What did you see?
Hideo Nomo instructed him. Maybe we got a tip.
And for future reference Dennis it sounds more impressive if you say his fastball clocks in at 153 kph.
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In that case, Yadi Alvarez topped out at 160.9 kph at Tulsa last year. 😉
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Wow. Impressive. Send that information to Cleveland.
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I’d be happy to see as successful a Dodger career for him as Hong-Chih Kuo. Really a shame his career was derailed a few times by injury. He was a good one.
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Kuo was one of my all time favorite Dodgers. I loved watching Nomo, Chan Ho Park and Kuo came along a bit after.
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Dodgers sign 32 year old catcher Josh Thole to a minor league deal. He was in the Tigers system last year.
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Jim Thole?
Outstanding!
Actually I’ve never heard of him. But….. leave me to be reminding you of this……
Defensive importance by position:
C
SS
2B
CF
3B
RF
1B
LF
So if we sign Harper for $300 million he should play shortstop as we already have Martin and Thole.
Is it February yet?
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Thole’s career WAR is -1.3 another outstanding under the radar signing by Ol Andy Cheapo.
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New York Yankees have signed Adam Ottovino to a 3 year deal for 27 million. It is pretty obvious which team is winning the off-season. The Yankees have improved their bullpen and starting staff and added some really good pieces to what already is a powerful team. And the National League champion Dodgers who rolled over and played dead against the Red Sox have actually removed most of their production from last year and added bupkis. I do not see how anyone who is a Dodger fan can look at this front office and ownership and say they are doing a good job. If there is a plan, it is kind of like the South’s plan at Gettysburg, and we all know how that turned out for Gen Lee. I have said from the beginning that I do not like the way Friedman assembles a team. He dumpster dives and occasionally finds a nickel. His act is getting extremely old. Yesterday it was announced that the Dodgers are seeking to make the fan experience to be like show business. In other words, go to Circus Circus in Vegas for a show. Try winning games, That is all the entertainment we need. Your utility team has fallen short twice. The big guns did not get the job done. That’s on them. This roster looks amazing like the Tampa team that lost to the Phillies in the series. You are 0-3 there Andy. Even your contemporary’s who use the same kind of tactics and analytics and graphs and what ever the hell else you use to evaluate players have won the big one. I remember right after the World Series was over. They was a story on MLB.com where Friedman said the Dodgers were going to be targeting IMPACT players in the off-season. The guy was obviously not trained as a Marine marksman because anything he has aimed at he has not hit. He still has time to make the fans forget this abysmal display of ineptitude. He could still pull off a big deal. But according to the rumor mill, there is nothing immanent. The only thing Friedman is wearing is blinders. He is obviously blind to the needs of the fan base, and at this point I believe neither he nor ownership give a rats ass what we think. They are charging fans 200.00 for autograph cards for fan fest. Just another way to make money from the lemmings that Dodger fans have become. Not this guy. Even when I go to California this year I am not going to Dodger Stadium and line their pockets when they do nothing.
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The Yankees have to beat Boston. We have to beat …… let me check…… yeah, only the Rockies. The site I’m looking at now, fangraphs, says we beat the Rockies by 10 games. And 94 wins, not 95. Nats, Cubs, Cards at 92, 87 and 86. They don’t think much of the Brewers, 79 wins. Why? Who knows.
The American League is better.
As for Friedman… he does what he knows how to do. You play music Bear, and I’m sure you’re good, but do you play like Stevie Ray? Friedman is now under orders to keep payroll under $195M. Only management knows why, but right now 4 guys take up 50% of payroll and as long as that is the case there isn’t a lot of room to become better than the top AL teams. It is exactly what it is and that is a Kasten “make the playoffs” model using a Tampa budget trained GM. I don’t like it much either but maybe, just like Braves did in their 15 year run, we win one somewhere along the line.
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Since when has fan graphs got anything right? This team win 90 plus games? That’s a joke, they will be lucky to win 85 unless they make some significant additions. Maybe they will do so in July, but my confidence in Fraudman is at an all time low. I have no confidence in him at all. And considering the story today about how Dave Roberts removing Hill in the series was not his choice makes me question his abilities even more. I am not spending one more dime that goes into Guggenheims pocket,
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Stevie Ray was a lead picker and a blues man. Country is my thing and I am more of a vocalist than a picker. That I am good at what I do is because I worked at the craft and I learned from people who were more talented than I am. When you are working with some of the best in the business, it is easy to get better. Fraudman is not even the best in his own league. I know he is under mandate to keep the payroll down, and that’s on ownership. And therein lies the problem. They have a fan base that has remained loyal and has spent a ton of their hard earned money to see them fall short. Great, they are the Braves and the Bills in a major market. Do they realize how much money they are leaving on the table by not winning? LA loves a champ. The Lakers and the Rams have stars. Hell even the Angels have a premier name player on the team. What do the Dodgers have? They have a fading star in Kershaw and some very good players combined with the biggest batch of utility players on the planet. They also have more holes than Swiss cheese and so many question marks that it is easy to fail the test. The filled one hole, and they brought back an old favorite. But they have not addressed the major issues. I for one have spent my last dime that will go into Guggenheims pocket. They care less about me, I am not making them richer. The promises they made when they bought the team mean nothing. The way they are working now is not brining a title to LA., The Blue Lemming society will continue it’s trek to the sea that is Dodger Stadium and drown in Dodger dogs and beer and not smell a Championship until they make major changes in philosophy. I am done. I have had my fill. I still love the team, and will always cheer for them, but not one penny more will I spend on them. Did you see how much they are charging at Fan Fest? Unreal. I remember when they had autograph Sundays at Dodger Stadium. There were players on every tier and in the pavilion signing for free. Now they want 200 bucks for the up close and personal experience. With all the money they are making from the blue lemmings, they could have signed any free agent they wanted because they are doing this every year. The whole thing is getting old. The game has changed and the loyal fans are footing the bill.
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They started the off season well by signing Kelly, and I thought more was coming, maybe it still is but I doubt it. One thing though bear, Andrew usually keeps what he is doing pretty quiet, you never hear about the deals he makes until he is done. So I’m hoping?
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Hope in one hand crap in the other and you can guess which one gets full first. There are no rumors about the Dodgers being in on any player right now. Even the Kluber stuff has gone away. They have 39 on the roster, of course they can trade, release or DFA guys to open spots. But you would think this late in the off season there would be a ripple somewhere. I have said it before the trade and after, that them keeping Machado, or going after Harper was wishful thinking. I believe that trading for Martin was a stop gap desperation move designed to keep fans from discussing the real issue which is that a 92 win team has done nothing to improve. And that is the real issue here. 94 wins? That’s what Fan Graphs says. I say they are off their collective rockers because over 60 homers and 200 RBI’s have disappeared and not been replaced. Verdugo? Please, he will be lucky to hit 10 homers. Toles might be good for the same. 20 plus from Joc, I expect Kike to regress and Muncy will do the same. Bellinger will improve. 15-20 from Seager, 20 from Turner, 10-15 from Martin and maybe 8 out of Barnes. Taylor should come close to the same number and will probably get more IF he cuts down on the K’s But there are far more questions than answers coming from this bunch
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Well buddy you and I have had this conversation before. I don’t think it’s as bad as all that but I do agree this isn’t a championship club and that Friedman is a bargain basement shopper. He lost me at “hello McCarthy”. But we have continued to win and really don’t need to do anything risky to get to the playoffs. I still think something is fishy with the ownership financials and I think it’s quite possible the 7th level eminents in this organization don’t think Harper or Machado are worth it. There has still been no explanation for sending 10 WAR out the door and doing nothing to replace it, but somehow the move made little difference in what the people who are actually paid to prognosticate think about our chances. What do we know about this science? It may look like a Yugo but it apparently it drives like a Mercedes. Unfortunately there are Lamborghini’s in the AL.
It’s still the off season. Don’t give up hope yet. Marwin and Keuchel are still available. So is Darwin Barney.
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Well Scoop, I always respect your opinion my friend. You are an ocean of optimism. I look at the big picture and I see a team that is much worse than what they had last year even with the addition of Seager. We have no clue what they are going to get from a guy who has not played a game since last May, or was it April, I forget. I think expecting Muncy to repeat last years numbers is a pipe dream. They are a bunch of utility players, no real offensive monsters, and the pitching is based on a bunch of 5 inning guys. I understand this is the way they do business now. But that does not mean I buy the BS they are peddling.
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You may be right about doing nothing, the point I was trying to make is, AF since he started running the dodgers has always kept his deals secret until they are done. Rumors about the dodgers are usually media supposition,
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Hey bear, what kind of music do you play?
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Country mostly, but I can also do oldies rock and some classic rock. Prefer the Haggard, Straight, Alabama, Waylon, Willie type stuff, but I do Jim Reeves and Johnny Horton and a pretty mean Elvis when I want to. It is what keeps me sane in an insane world.
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When I was a kid, My dad played bass, my great uncle played acoustic, and sang, they had a buddy that could play a pretty good electric guitar. They would get a case of beer on a Saturday night and play music all night, so I grew up on haggard, Jones, buck Owens, cash, Charlie pride, and hank sr. Some pretty fond memories.
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My mom had a pretty good voice and my uncle played guitar. There was a place down on Artesia and Hawthorne Blvd called the Red Barn. And it really was an old barn converted to a honky tonk. It was one of the most popular places in LA during the late 40’s and early 50’s. It was the home of Spade Cooley and his band. My mom and my uncle used to sit in with him now and then. He was very popular. His career went in the crapper when he murdered his wife. The Red Barn was gone by the mid 60’s. I did not really start doing music until after I was out of the army. Oh, I sat in with bands in the NCO club a couple of times, but nothing serious. After my first wife and I separated I started going to clubs. Met this one band who had 2 brothers and their wives. Picked with them and when they moved to the Chat Room in Carson, I became a regular and was hired by the owner to be a guest artist all the time. The manager started booking shows into the club. Lots of the older guys like Charlie Louvin, and Eddie Dean, the former cowboy western movie star. As time went by we got acts that were more popular, TG Sheppard, Joe Stampley, Johnny Rodriguez, but also guys like Earnest Tubb, Red Sovine, Red Simpson, and Justin Tubb. We also had Margo Smith and So Cal favorite Molly Bee who wrote and sang the old Stanley Chevrolet jingle. I also did shows later on with Dwight Yoakam and Tanya Tucker. Worked some venues with the Boy Howdy Band who did some albums for WB back then. Met some pretty famous people, James Burton, he was Elvis’s lead guitar player, Jock Mahoney, the actor who played Yancy Derringer on TV and Lee Akers who was Rusty on Rin Tin Tin. I met Wes Parker at a baseball card show and he came and watched my play. He was also the main reason I got to sing the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium, still my all time greatest high light. Dodgers lost the game and Cey got his arm broke when a pitch hit him. But they won the pennant and the World Series, so I can always say I sang the anthem in front of Champions. Got to visit the players in the Dodger dugout. That was 1981. I still have the pic they took of me and Jay Johnstone in front of the Dodger dugout. It was awesome.
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My family moved to Redondo Beach in around 1965 but I was a little young to remember the red barn. My dad, uncle, and their buddy did play on artesia Blvd a few times, do you remember the cotillion, John’s, or the VFW, which later turned into the nite life? I think there were 13 bars on artesia, from Inglewood ave west to aviation Blvd it’s probably only a mile between those two streets. It’s a small world bear.
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I remember all of those, Artesia runs east to west. Aviation curves around and meets it at what used to be Pier avenue. My high School is on Artesia just east of PCH. There were a ton of bars around there back then. Not all had music. The biggest one on Artesia was the Blue Fox. It was a real dive. Lots of fights in there. It closed down in the 70’s. Hawthorne Blvd. had a ton of bars too. Mostly small ones, but Cal’s Corral was on Hawthorne in Lawndale. Cal Worthington did a Sunday C&W show from there for years. I played there many a night. Carson had 4 bars that had country music all by itself. The oldest was the Lariat, it is a church now, and there was the Bedroom which was over on Carson street. What I remember a lot was a place I used to go to buy my 45 RPM records. They sold for 50 cents back then. Best record store in the area and it was there for years about 2 blocks from Doors Market. Bill Anderson’s Recordville. Loved going in there to get the latest tunes.
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That record store is where me and my brother bought our first record, credences “Proud Mary” My family shopped at old luckys, corner of slauson, and artesia, across the street from the record store, I still remember Red, the butcher. Mom used to send me their with a note and some money to buy her cigarettes, I was probably only seven years old, she’d have social services on her door step for something like that now.
I went to your cross town rival in high school, us falcons hated you mustangs. Now that you mention it I remember the blue fox, it was across the street from the public library. My folks rarely ever went there, mostly those other places I mentioned.
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First record I ever bought there was Sorry. A R&B tune and I cannot even remember the group that did it. I was always wondering why Aviation was in a different league than Mira Costa since they were so close together. But they were. Redondo was our arch rival. We could not stand those Sea Hawks. I did more than one combined concert with Aviation. They usually would do them in Mira Costa’s Auditorium which had awesome acoustics. Aviation is closed now. Has been for quite a few years. They split the student body’s between Mira Costa and Lawndale.
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My younger brother was the last graduating class from aviation in “82”. When I was in school it was more friction between costa, and aviation, and I think it was more of a manhattaner vs redondoer thing, than a school thing. I still work construction in the area, how long since you’ve been in the area?
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I come out to Cali about once a year. Last time was back in July and August. Costa is in Manhattan Beach,, so yeah, that could have been it. I lived in Redondo. If I had lived on the other side of the street, I would have gone to Redondo. I was right on the line. But even though I was pretty far away, I had to walk about 2 miles, there was no bus service to where I lived. We absolutely hated RUHS. There was a huge rivalry between the schools Costa opened in 1952 and was a 2 year school until 1954, then it became a 4 year school. My sis lives in Carson,
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We lived on Harriman lane til I was 11, during high school we lived on Robinson, and Felton. My best friend had 2 older sisters, Lori, and Kathy Waterman, did you happen to know either one of them?
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My aunt lived on Carnegie Lane almost directly behind the old Doors Market. I lived on Stanford Ave. right off of Pier ave. If I knew them I do not remember them. But my memory is not what is used to be as to names…events? Those I am pretty good at.
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I put the foundations in for the condos right behind Doors market about 30 years ago, probably where your aunt lived. My childhood home is still standing, but I know someday it will be turned into 2 townhomes, there aren’t many lots left that haven’t been redeveloped into a 2 or 3 townhomes.Can you believe a buildable lot here in Redondo goes for around 1.2 million now? Times have changed since you grew up here.
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I went by where my aunt lived a few years ago. It was as you said, a condo. It kind of makes me sick in a way because my uncle Don was a stone mason. The brick wall and a really beautiful BBQ were built by him on that property were no doubt torn down to build that condo. To see the kind of effort put in to build something like that just destroyed really irks me. They call it progress. I call it destroying your history. Yeah, I can believe that property is that high. Manhattan is pretty much the same way. There just is not that much open space anymore.
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