The Jays last Friday signed a 2nd pitcher from Taiwan by the name of Po-Hsuan Keng. Keng played alongside another Jays prospect from the same general area of Taiwan, Chi-Hung Cheng.

This is certainly pretty interesting as it seems the Jays have really made inroads into this area of the world. During the 80's and early 90's the Jays were one of the most forward looking teams when it came to finding players in Latin America. But, over the past couple of years most teams have setup their own operations in this area and teams with more money have been able to scoop up the best players. Partly because of this, Ricciardi has cut back the number of scouts in these areas. For a team on a small budget there is just too much competition and money for the Jays be competitive.

This is what I love about Ricciardi and he doesn't get enough credit for it. While most of the press covering the Jays is hammering him for cutting back scouts, he's busy finding talent in places other teams aren't even looking. He knows he can't compete with Seattle, NY, Boston and such in Japan and Latin America so he's going places where those teams aren't. It will be another 3-4 years before we know how good these guys are but if Taiwan turns out to be a talent rich environment then the Jays will be leaps and bounds in front of the other teams.