Lim Chang-yeong, a 31-year-old side-armer from Korea was signed by the Yakult Swallows on Friday, making him the 11th Korean player in history to sign with a Japanese team.

Lim has spent his last nine seasons in Deagu playing for the Samsung Lions. He had an injury shortened 2006 campaign, sanwiched by two bad seasons in 2007 and 2005. But in 2004 Lim saved 36 games for Samsung and posted a 2.01 ERA. He’s also worked as a starter, winning 104 games over a 13 year career.

You can find his career totals here. The link is in Korean but you can probably figure out what’s what. Perhaps most importantly someone has already taken the time to draw a cartoon version of Lim wearing his new uniform.

Seo Jae-weong is finalizing a 1-year deal with the Kia Tigers, enabling him to play for the Korean team in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. No one is saying it outright, but it would appear Seo will stay in Korea for a year just so he can play for the national team.

He could probably have gotten at least a minor league deal with a major league team, and possibly a multi-year deal with a Japanese team. Instead he’ll join Choi Hee-seop and the Kia Tigers, a team that could challenge for first place in the KBO next year.

 
And finally, Park Chan-ho has accepted a non-roster invite to the Dodgers spring training camp next year. What he will do next summer if he somehow makes the Dodgers rotation is beyond me. Park pitched well versus Taiwan in the opener of the Asia Championships, throwing three innings of shutout ball.