This is exciting news: the Jays first foray into Asia. And I say, why not. If you can get them young and relatively cheap, talent is talent.

A quibble WRT the article. It is stated that Chin-Feng Chen is the best-known current player from Taiwan. Chen's star has faded a great deal: the hottest Taiwanese player is Rockies pitcher Chin-hui Tsao, regarded by many as one of the elite pitching prospects in baseball.

Did anyone else think after reading the article that perhaps the writer put (minor) words in JP's mouth. If JP only mentioned Matsui, is the writer sure he was referring to Hideki and not Kazuo? Not that it's a big deal at all but I have nothing but time on my hands these days to think of things like that.

Well let's see if this kid can add about 15 pounds of muscle over the next couple of years and push his fastball into the low-90's. He must be pretty advanced to get a start in full-season ball right off the bat and Charleston should be easy on his stats. I think high 80's is where you want your average 18 year old prospect to be throwing so that they have a chance to grow into higher velocity. As one scout said guys who throw 95 at 18 years old are often throwing 85 when they're 23.

I think this is more of symbolic move for getting the ball rolling in Asia because we haven't seen the Jays spend the equivalent of 4th round money to sign high school aged pitchers in North America. Though last year they signed Edward Rodriguez out of the Dominican who was very highly touted with first round potential so it doesn't look like they'll be shy of spending on guys they like.

If JP only mentioned Matsui, is the writer sure he was referring to Hideki and not Kazuo?

I noticed the same thing. I thought he was referring to Kaz as well just because that's the player getting all the buzz this off-season.

Nice work by Jeff Blair on this story. Cheng is getting third or fourth round money, but he's starting at a higher level than #1 and #2 picks who are college grads, several years older than him, not experiencing culture shock. It will be a huge adjustment.

Taiwan, which lost to Japan 7-3 in the bronze-medal game in Cuba, has qualified for the Olympics in Athens and Cheng is considered a candidate for the team.

I sure hope he's selected and the Jays let him go -- what a fantastic experience for the teenager. When J.P., still a scout at heart, says "a nice feel for the changeup" and praises his curve, you get the impression that Cheng is already a pitcher, who might get bigger and stronger.

Another great signing; you have to be creative to find lefty pitching, and this adds one more exciting arm in a system where both the quantity and quantity of talent keeps improving. The interest from four other teams reinforces the idea that ballplayers want to play for Toronto.

I'm curious as to where bonus money for draft picks and international signings comes from. I'm guessing that the Jays payroll number isn't affected by these kinds of signings but does anyone know how much money is socked away for the draft?

Cristian, when I talked to scouting director Jon Lalonde this summer, he wasn't specific about that budget, but admitted it was a fraction of what some other clubs are spending. I know the Indians player development budget is among the highest; there was a series on that topic in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer in August, if memory serves.

Cheng pitched a scoreless ninth in Taiwan's 10-2 romp over Canada at the World Cup. Our lineup wasn't as strong as the Olympic qualifiers, but he was facing pros.

The bonuses never seem to get mentioned. But isn't it relevant? High draft picks always seem to get the big money, and yet they are still considered a cheaper source for players (unless they signed major league contracts).

The bonuses are definately relevant for the Jays. That's the whole reasoning behind their mainly college approach; they picked Russ Adams, a decent middle infielder over Scott Kazmir who has a chance to be a power lefty ace. They only had to pay Adams about half of what Kazmir got as a bonus and many thought Kazmir was holding out for a lot more which is why he slipped so far.

In theory, Russ Adams has a higher chance of reaching his potential (decent but not great middle infielder) than Kazmir does of becoming the next Randy Johnson or even the next Randy Wolf. And even if he does he would likely take longer to do it. And that extra year or two or three of development and extra million in bonus which may not be important to the Mets means almost the price of another first pick to the Jays. In other words, for the long term cost of a Kazmir they're almost able to produce Adams AND Hill in lesser time.

Adams signed for $1.8 million and Kazmir signed for $2.15 million. Hill signed for $1.7 million.

Er thanks. Not quite as big a difference as I was thinking of but I think most teams were expecting Kazmir to hold out for more which is why he slipped. Not that the Jays were taking a high school arm anyway.

Please do not tell me he is related, in any way, to Dong Wong Choi!

The Jays announced the signing today, and have agreed to allow Cheng to participate in the 2004 Games if he's selected.