Written by Joe Lucia at Bloguin
The winner in the bidding for the services for Korean first baseman Byung-ho Park is a bit of a shocker – the Minnesota Twins, who bid $12.85 million to earn the right to negotiate a contract with Park over the next 30 days.
The 29-year old Park hit a ridiculous .343/.436/.714 with 53 homers in 2015 for the KBO’s Nexen Heroes, but some context is required for those numbers in the ridiculously hitter-friendly league. Jung Ho Kang, Park’s former teammate with Nexen, hit .356/.459/.739 with 40 homers in 2014 before jumping to MLB and the Pirates. In his 2015 rookie year, Kang hit a still respectable .287/.355/.461 with 15 homers, but those numbers pale in comparison to his video game stats with the Heroes.
Park is a strange fit for Minnesota. Joe Mauer is entrenched at first base because of his contract (owed $69 million over the next three seasons), despite a poor .265/.338/.380 season in 2015. Rookie Miguel Sano was the Twins’ primary DH in 2015, mashing his way to a .269/.385/.530 line with 18 homers in just 80 games. The signing of Park infers that one of these two players will have to play a different position, and that likely falls to Sano, who came up through the minors as a third baseman but has been linked to an outfield move in recent weeks and months.
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