Cubs’ efforts to reorient bullpen continue – MLB News
The Chicago Cubs want to reorient its bullpen. And the chances are that it pays off.
While Tuesday, December 18, remained abuzz with the reports that the Cubs were seeking pitcher Edwin Jackson, the club has also finalized the agreement with the South Korean pitcher Chang-Yong Lim.
Although financial terms of the deal were not known initially, things have cleared now and the air of uncertainty that hanged over it have also disappeared. The agreement which was earlier said to be of $5 million is actually $100,000 million as the Chicago
Tribune reported.
Add to it the fact that he has not been placed on the 40-man roster. But what is different about the pitcher is that he has been a proven winner throughout his excellence-personified career. The 36-year old pitcher has represented South Korean Samsung Lions
and Japanese Yakult Swallos for over a decade.
Also, equally importantly, he was instrumental in bringing victory to his national team at 2000 Olympics – wherein South Korea won bronze, and at the 2009 World Baseball Classic where he helped the team win silver medal.
But he has been plagued with injury. For the second time in his career, he underwent Tommy John surgery last July which shows he will take a while to get his place booked to the Cubs’ roster.
His focus for now, as the pitcher himself stated, is rehab. Provided he recovers and start playing for the Chicago Cubs, he will actually be the third South Korean to make it to MLB next year to do so along with Shin-Soo Choo and Ryu Hyun-jin.
"I heard the Cubs have an excellent rehab staff in Arizona, and I will trust them and follow their lead," he said. "I would like to reach the majors by late July or early August next year and become a full-time major league pitcher by 2014."
While MLB will be an altogether different experience for the South Korean pitcher, he has an opportunity to help the team put on the winning track when he has been added to the roster at a time when the team is in the building phase.
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