FEATURE/With mega free agency deals, Taiwan's CPBL enters a new age

By Chao Yen-hsiang, CNA staff writer

When Taiwan won its first major title in a senior-level international baseball tournament by capturing the Premier12 championship in November 2024, it was the highlight of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) offseason.

But in terms of the impact on the league's future, the emergence of a genuine free agent market in December may eventually matter more.

All four players who declared for free agency at the end of the 2024 CPBL season -- Chen Tzu-hao (陳子豪), Chen Yun-wen (陳韻文), Chan Tzu-hsien (詹子賢) and Chu Yu-hsien (朱育賢) -- signed new deals for at least four years and annual salaries of nearly NT$10 million (US$3.04 million) at a minimum.

Though only a few players were involved, it was the league's most active and lucrative free agent market ever.

Previously, only two contracts of five years and three contracts averaging more NT$9 million a year had been signed in the CPBL since the start of the free agency era in 2009.

To many, the four sizable free agent contracts marked a potentially momentous turning point for the CPBL, one as big as the birth of free agency in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1976.

In a recent interview with CNA, Videoland broadcaster Jacky Ping-sheng Lee (李秉昇) shared his insights on the factors driving the big contracts and the significance of the active free agency market.

Deeper pockets

According to Lee, the most direct cause of the more generous contracts was increased revenue from ticket sales in 2024, a trend he attributed to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the Taipei Dome, and the rising popularity of cheerleaders.

The 2024 season was the league's first complete season since the Central Epidemic Command Center disbanded on May 1, 2023, after a 1,197-day COVID-19 pandemic response.

The end of the pandemic and access to the Taipei Dome, which opened in late 2023 with a seating capacity of up to 40,000, helped lift average attendance at CPBL games by 28 percent in 2024 from a year earlier to 7,684.

Overall, the CPBL drew a record 2.77 million fans across 360 games, eclipsing the previous record of 1.8 million in 2023.

Lee attributed some of that rising attendance and growing revenues to the decision by the Lamigo Monkeys (now the Rakuten Monkeys) in 2011 to introduce cheerleaders at CPBL games.

"There is no denying that the cheerleaders have significantly boosted the sport's exposure and attracted more fans to the stadiums, resulting in a merchandise sales increase," Lee said.

"Now when people see cheerleaders, even at non-baseball commercial events, they think about baseball."

Youthful talent

The big spending this offseason also coincided with higher quality players being available.

That was due in part to the CPBL allowing high school graduates to be directly drafted starting in 2013, enabling players to still be relatively young after completing the nine years of service required to declare for free agency.

"Chen Tzu-hao is the most successful high school pick so far. He has power and is just 29 years old, unlike older free agents already in decline," Lee said.

A standout with the CTBC Brothers, Chen Tzu-hao signed a 10-year, NT$130 million contract with the Wei Chuan Dragons, the longest and biggest deal in CPBL history. It also included franchise and player options, a rarity in the league's 35-year history.

The 29-year-old Chen Yun-wen, another player drafted into the league directly from high school, has the most saves of any pitcher in CPBL history. He stayed with the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions on a five-year, NT$45 million contract.

The other free agents were Chan, a 30-year-old outfielder who stayed with the Brothers, and Chu, a 33-year-old outfielder who signed with the Dragons.

"The stronger and younger these players are, the more bargaining power they have," said Lee, who hoped that the nine-year free agency period could be shortened so that more players could hit free agency in their primes.

More teams equals increased demand

Another factor fueling the offseason buzz has been the league's expansion, Lee believed.

For the first time in over 15 years, the CPBL featured six teams in 2024, after having contracted to four following a major gambling scandal in 2008.

It stayed that way until the Wei Chuan Dragons rejoined the league in 2020, and went back to six teams with the addition of the Taichung-based Hawks in 2024.

The four-team league stifled the free agent market because players had few options, giving employers the upper hand in contract negotiations.

"If the Dragons and Hawks hadn't joined, I believe the free agent market wouldn't have been this eventful," Lee said, citing Chan's situation.

The Hawks' strong interest in signing him forced the Brothers to give him a five-year contract worth at least NT$48 million, even though he played 12 fewer games in 2024 than in 2023 and logged lower numbers.

With players like Chen Tzu-hao landing record-breaking deals, Lee said players will be more willing to test the free agent market in the future or force teams to reward players to keep them away from free agency.

The future

On Jan. 24, about one month after Chen Tzu-hao's deal, the Brothers and their five-time Golden Glove Award-winning shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) agreed to a 10-year NT$147.9 million deal.

Chiang, a 2018 third-round pick by the Brothers as a high school graduate, is just 24.

"[Signing players to big contracts] is an ongoing trend. It won't surprise me if the CPBL sees more deals like this in the future," said Brothers general manager Liu Zhi-wei (劉志威).

The CPBL does not have a salary cap, meaning its players can earn as much as their franchises are willing to pay, but the high contracts do not mean the organizations lose.

Instead, Lee said, the competition over players only keeps interest in the league alive after the season has ended.

"We're witnessing the dawn of the CPBL's best era, and it can get even better," Lee said.

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