4:40pm: The Orioles are trying to sign Tae-Hyon, according to Knobler (on Twitter). GM Dan Duquette acknowledged the team's interest, but wouldn't say that the sides have completed a deal, according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli (on Twitter).
12:45pm: The Orioles have been talking to Korean free agent reliever Chong Tae-Hyon, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. According to Korean reports, Tae-Hyon has stopped all talks with his old team, the SK Wyverns, and wants to come to MLB. Stories of the Orioles' interest first surfaced last week in Korean newspapers, which you can read here and here. Click here to see a video of Tae-Hyon facing the Dodgers in a pre-World Baseball Classic warmup game in 2009.
Duquette does like Korean relievers. I see old habits die hard.
So, this is just like the last 2 Oriole’s Front Offices eras? Overpaid relievers…
What’s he gonna cost, $3M over a couple years? I wouldn’t classify that as overpaid relievers. Now, Kevin Gregg and Mike Gonzalez, etc is a different story. But the O’s should be going international as much as they can. Hell, Koji netted them Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter. That’s not bad at all.
Valid point. I overreacted when thinking about international players. 1Mil per isn’t bad. Though I know nothing about the guy.
Also, just still stuck on the Huston Street rumor.
So, this is just like the last 2 Oriole’s Front Offices eras? Overpaid relievers…
Who and Why?
They better be taking a hard look at Aoki as an outfielder. I would much rather have him than some relief pitcher that I never heard of until now.
Just because you haven’t heard of a Korean reliever (why would you?) doesn’t mean he isn’t good.
11 likes LOL come guys and gals Dan’s statement wasn’t that profound.
Anyway, if the Orioles sign this guy is John Stockstill going to take the credit? Also, if this guy is successful, will John finally be deemed a Genius that he truly is?
Dude. Koji. Come on.
really? he’s japanese. ignorant americans.
probably wasn’t necessarily calling him korean. Just calling him a relief pitcher that he’s never heard of
really?
he was replying to the guy about the “unknown quantity,” relaying that the Koji signing was good despite him being relatively unheard of before the season in which he was signed.
he was not replying to the dude who mentioned Koreans.
ignorant foreigners.
Yeah, thanks. At least someone has some common sense here.
It’s been official in Korea Chong has signed with O’s aprroximately $3M for 2 years
Sounds fair to me. What do you think about it?
Where did you get the Info? The Korean Times or Herald simply stated he (Tae-Hyon) stopped negotiating with his Team (KBO) and he wanted this last chance to pitch in the Majors (MLB). Other than that, nothing official.
His walks/nine concern me a bit
I like Aoki, Wada, and Iwakuma. Wada and Iwakuma are starting pitchers, one righty and one lefty and both throw around the same as Koji does. Control artists that can make bats miss at times and guys that if their control is off can be hit hard at times. They are both unrestricted free agents thus also don’t need to go through the posting process. Since the Orioles need arms, I would be all in on both of these guys since they probably won’t need more than a 2 or 3 year deal and won’t cost nearly as much as Yu. I could see them signing for about the same as Koji did with the Orioles the first time around. I’d take a gamble on them for about 5-6 million per year on two years.
Iwakuma wants more than Koji, but yes I agree Wada and Iwakuma are the top guys on my list as well
Weird, no announcements… Wiki has him listed as an Orioles pitcher. Anybody have a link verifying that we signed him?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chong_Tae-Hyon
nope its just probably an overzealous Korean editor
Yeah, IDK how to edit Wiki like that.
Anyone know his age?
Ken, I thought somone of your ilk would have googled him and found out.
Anyway, wiki has him born in 1978. I thought I saw another baseball stat site had him being born in 1977.
Chong Tae-Hyon’s Pitching Video (2001 Year Debut)
youtube.com/watch?v=uyxtmlq3qEE&feature=relat…
qtv.freechal.com/movie/QTVMovieView.asp?docid=1666…
pann.nate.com/video/214353910
Chong Tae-Hyon’s Pitching Video (2001 Year Debut)
youtube.com/watch?v=uyxtmlq3qEE&feature=relat…
qtv.freechal.com/movie/QTVMovieView.asp?docid=1666…
pann.nate.com/video/214353910
I think he is 33.