There is no formal scout training in my professional background. “Scout schools” are a real thing, to varying degrees, but the way teams have gone about finding and hiring those trusted to discover and evaluate amateur talent has changed a great deal over the last decades.
In the years I’ve spent writing about this sport, I’ve been fortunate to learn quite a bit about how different aspects of the game are managed. Scouting still eludes me, but I recognize how challenging a task it can be to do with accuracy. One of my favorite lessons centers on the very idea that first impressions aren’t always what they seem.
While I take any excuse to link back to that story, one of the last active players whom I saw play that day in 2010 is officially calling it a career. Here’s what I wrote back in February:
The other player I wanted to see was a lesser-known outfielder named Che-Hsuan Lin. The native of Taiwan had already made an appearance in the Futures Game by that point and had shown solid results in the minors but wasn’t appearing on most prospect rankings entering the season. Lin impressed, from what I recall, showing good contact and an aggressive approach on the bases (4-for-8 with a double over the two games). His MLB career never amounted to many opportunities (12 plate appearances in 2012) but he’s spent the last ten seasons playing in the CPBL.
2010 was Lin’s fourth season in Boston’s minor league system. He’d spend two more years with the Red Sox before getting a brief cup of coffee during the 2012 season, going 3-for-12 over nine games. He’d spend two more years in the minors, one each with Houston and Texas, before returning home to play in the CPBL.
Lin was a top pick by the EDA Rhinos in the CPBL Draft and subsequently helped the team to a championship in 2016, winning Taiwan Series MVP honors in the process. He would move to the Fubon Guardians in 2017, where he would win four straight Gold Glove Awards. Lin hit .279/.360/.410 with 109 stolen bases over his 11 seasons in the CPBL.
Some brief site news — Growth is not happening the way I had hoped. Some of that is my own doing. I have always struggled with self-promotion when it comes to my writing. That limitation has followed me throughout my whole writing career. I also only recently realized why things here weren’t feeding into Google Search at all, leading to some organic growth. Fingers crossed that the issue is now resolved.
Bottom line, though, I’m struggling with where to go from here at times. I get a lot more enjoyment out of writing like I do here, rather than some SEO-focused, pageview-chasing approach. I’ve done both! There are some ideas I’ve been toying with (more frequent posts, shorter posts, posting directly to the site and only sending one weekly “digest” email, moving completely to just a simple blog setup that would allow for some more accidental reach with other blogs, etc.), but none feel like the obvious solution.
KBO changing salary cap, adding salary floor
Hoping to ensure more competitive balance across the league, the KBO has voted to implement a salary floor starting with the 2027 season. Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency reports that the initial floor will be set at 6.06 billion won ($4.3 million USD), which is the average salary based on the team with the lowest payroll over the last two seasons.
The floor will rise by 5 percent each year.
The league will fine teams that fall below the salary floor 30% of the difference for a first-time offence. Fines will increase to 50% for a second violation and 100% for a third. Per Lee, funds from the fines will be directed to the league’s youth development efforts.
The league also approved a plan to increase the salary cap by 5 percent each year from 2026 to 2028. The current KBO salary cap is 13.7 billion won ($9.78 million USD).
Teams will also now be allowed to designate one “franchise player” on their roster, so long as that player has been with the team for at least seven seasons. Half of the franchise player’s salary will not count towards the salary cap calculations.
The coaching carousel begins
The Monday following the conclusion of the regular season is often referred to as “Black Monday” in the NFL. Teams waste little time making changes to their coaching staffs after finishing a disappointing season. There may not be a comparable term in MLB, but that doesn’t mean the practice doesn’t happen.
Multiple managerial changes were announced on Monday. More will be coming.
San Francisco relieved Bob Melvin of his duties with a year remaining on his contract (they had just exercised the 2026 option on his contract in July). The Giants finished the 2025 season with an 81-81 record, two games behind the Reds for the final wild card spot.
Bench coach Ryan Christenson and third base coach Matt Williams will also not return next season. There could be more changes coming to the coaching staff, as well, as Buster Posey looks to put his own people in place.
Melvin is a three-time Manager of the Year Award winner. His teams are 1678-1588 over his 22 years in the dugout.
Minnesota also made a change, firing Rocco Baldelli. While it’s unclear what Baldelli’s exact contract status was, it was reported in June that the team had at least exercised the 2026 option on his contract. Things have drastically changed in Minnesota since then.
Ownership already failed to spend on improvements last offseason, but with the team reportedly being shopped around, the club went into the trade deadline intent on slashing the roster. Several veteran players were shipped out, leaving Baldelli to scramble to find a lineup that might get the Twins into contention. All indications would suggest there are only further cost-cutting moves coming.
Texas and Bruce Bochy reportedly came to a “mutual agreement” that he would not return to the dugout next season. He’s been offered an advisory role in the front office, according to a release by the team. The Rangers won the World Series during Bochy’s first year in Texas, but have struggled in the two years since.
Bochy won four World Series titles and a Manager of the Year Award during his 28 seasons in the dugout, with his teams going 2252-2266. Three of his World Series wins came with the Giants when he had Buster Posey behind the plate, lending to some speculation that Bochy could be a target for the now-open manager job in San Francisco if he doesn’t elect to remain with the Rangers.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh announced that a pair of its key leaders will indeed return next season.
Don Kelly had spent six seasons as the Pirates’ bench coach before being promoted to the manager role on an interim basis in May, following the firing of Derek Shelton. The team was 12-26 at the time of Shelton’s firing, but went 59-65 the rest of the way under Kelly. Per MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf, the team had the fourth-best ERA (3.59) and sixth-best fielding percentage (.988) in baseball after the change.
The interim tag was removed from Kelly’s title on Monday, though the terms of his new contract were not revealed. General manager Ben Cherington also “received assurances” from ownership that he will remain in his role heading into next season.
In Chicago, manager Will Venable will return to the White Sox, but the team plans to overhaul his coaching staff. Pitching coach Ethan Katz, hitting coach Marcus Thames, first base coach Jason Bourgeois, and catching coordinator Drew Butera will not have their contracts renewed.
End-of-season managerial changes are happening in other leagues, too. Several announcements were made in recent days involving some with MLB playing experience.
Shingo Takatsu spent just two seasons in the majors after a 13-year career with the Yakult Swallows. The right-handed reliever made 99 appearances with the White Sox and Mets, posting a 3.38 ERA (137 ERA+) with 27 saves. Takatsu returned to the Swallows following his brief stint in MLB for two more seasons, before spending a year each in the KBO and CPBL before retiring. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.
Takatsu took over as manager of the Swallows for the 2020 season. After finishing in last place that first season, the Swallows had a dramatic turnaround and won the Japan Series Championship in 2021. They would reach the final series again in 2022, but lost, and things have been downhill since. The Swallows have finished in last place in the Central League in each of the last two seasons.
Masato Yoshii posted a 4.62 ERA (101 ERA+) over 757.1 IP during his five seasons in the majors with the Mets, Rockies, and Expos. The right-hander didn’t strike out many hitters (447, 5.3 K/9) but was mostly effective during his tenure in the league. He spent 13 years pitching in Japan before that, and then returned to the NPB for another five seasons to finish his career. After retiring, Yoshii moved into a role as a pitching coach with several organizations.
Following the 2022 season, Tadahito Iguchi (another former MLB player) resigned as the Lotte Marines manager, and the team elevated Yoshii into the role. The Marines had the worst record in the NPB this year. Yoshii will not return to manage the team again in 2026.
Both Takatsu and Yoshii will reportedly retire.
Tsuyoshi “The Big Boss” Shinjo — the last remaining NPB manager with MLB playing experience — is not in danger of losing his job. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters will head to the postseason with the second-best record in the Central League.