Article: Twins With Winning Bid On Korean Slugger

[Willihammer]

Bids due Friday. Dude has 2 straight 50+ HR seasons in Korea.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=park--000byu

 

Should the Twins bid and if so, how much?

[Nick Nelson]

I'll admit I don't fully understand how the international budget pool system works, but I'm pretty sure the Twins used up nearly their entire ~$4M pool to sign Wander Javier this summer. Are Korean players exempt? 

[old nurse]

4+ years pro experience so he doesn't count against the international signing pool.

 

[jsteve96]

if he can play RF i say go for it if its not too much. if its around Jung Ho Kang range i'd do it for sure ... if he only plays 1B/DH the only way to go for him is if we trade plouffe

[old nurse]

It is hard to put stock in the KBO as experienced players have gone over there and hit a ton after not doing much in MLB.  He might can play, but the numbers are like minor league statistics.

[awinter]

I vote no. I'm going to go with my gut and say those power numbers from the KBO league won't translate well to MLB. If the Twins need a slugger, I think they should pay for an MLB-proven one.

 

I'm genuinely curious- what players have made the jump from KBO to MLB and what kind of success did they have?

[Willihammer]

I'm genuinely curious- what players have made the jump from KBO to MLB and what kind of success did they have?

Jung Ho Kang and... I can't think of anyone else off-hand. He signed for 4/11 (after the winning bid was $5m) and obviously did very well.

 

I'd go for it. Yeah its risky but that's why it should be affordable. I'd bid the full 20m.

[nicksaviking]

I'm not trying to stir up any kind of contempt, but geez, the Twins would have so many more options of varying contract lengths and prices to upgrade the offense if they didn't have someone locked in at 1B at the moment.

 

Not sure about this guy though.  If we are going to assume the MLB is going to impact his numbers in some way, how high are those 160Ks in the KBO going to rise to?  He led his league by a mile in that department last year when I sort the league by strikeouts.

 

He's intriguing, but here's the number two slugger in the KBO last year:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=navarr001yam

 

He's been in five different MLB teams; systems since 2006 and his previous career high in HR was 12 before slugging 31 in the KBO in 2014 and 48 in 2015.

[James]

 

I'll admit I don't fully understand how the international budget pool system works, but I'm pretty sure the Twins used up nearly their entire ~$4M pool to sign Wander Javier this summer. Are Korean players exempt? 

Korean and Japanese players are exempt from this.  They have their own agreement with the MLB that basically only allows players to sign with teams from their own country.  I read somewhere that a player in the NPB (Japan) must play for 9 seasons before becoming a free agent.  The posting system lets the player get to the MLB before free agency.  I'm pretty sure the idea is to keep the best talent in the league for a few years to keep the leagues viable.

 

As far as Park goes, I'm on the fence.  Kang seemed to be a good pickup for the Pirates, which shows that some players can make the jump over to the MLB.  I don't think Park will come close to 50 HR in a season, but if all it cost was something similar to Kang ($5M posting fee and $11M over 4 years), I'd take a flier on him.  If he hits .270 with 20HR, the contract would be considered a good value.  

[James]

 

Jung Ho Kang and... I can't think of anyone else off-hand. He signed for 4/11 (after the winning bid was $5m) and obviously did very well.

I'd go for it. Yeah its risky but that's why it should be affordable. I'd bid the full 20m.

The KBO doesn't use the same system as the NPB.  It basically has the old NBP system, which does not have the $20M cap on bids. 

[Willihammer]

The KBO doesn't use the same system as the NPB.  It basically has the old NBP system, which does not have the $20M cap on bids.

Thanks. For some reason I thought the two were identical.

Another notable Korean is Hyun-jin Ryu, for whom the winning bid was 25m. He signed a 6/36m contract and was solid when he was healthy.

[Willihammer]

Kang put up a .800+ OPS in his first taste of the MLB and he didn't put up anywhere near the video game numbers in Korea that Park has.

[Willihammer]

He's intriguing, but here's the number two slugger in the KBO last year:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=navarr001yam

 

He's been in five different MLB teams; systems since 2006 and his previous career high in HR was 12 before slugging 31 in the KBO in 2014 and 48 in 2015.

Fair point, and in truth Park's power has came on relatively late too (age 25).

[formerly33]

 

I vote no. I'm going to go with my gut and say those power numbers from the KBO league won't translate well to MLB. If the Twins need a slugger, I think they should pay for an MLB-proven one.

 

I'm genuinely curious- what players have made the jump from KBO to MLB and what kind of success did they have?

Agreed. The main reason to sign Park Byung-ho would be to acquire a power hitter, correct? And we already have an MLB-proven one in Sano. And we're not even really "paying" for him...yet.

[Vanimal46]

Don't know much about the guy other than a quick google search. His price tag would be the make or break part of the deal for me. 

 

On a side note, I just looked up the avg. slash line in the KBO for all teams:

 

.279/.356/.429

 

Compared to the AL this season: 

 

.255/.318/.412

 

Not sure what that will mean for Park as he transitions to the MLB; just pointing out the KBO appears to be a hitter's paradise. 

 

 

[amjgt]

MLB in 2000:

 

.276/.349/.443

 

Just interesting is all.

[jsteve96]

no way i'd post more that 7 or 8 million for him then i'd pay at most 4M/yr for 3 years

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Kang put up a .800+ OPS in his first taste of the MLB and he didn't put up anywhere near the video game numbers in Korea that Park has.

 

Problem is that this doesn't always correlate.  Even in the minors you have those issues.  Some guys put up video game numbers in AAA and it never translates, while others are rather pedestrian in the minors but put up great ML numbers.

 

That, and I seem to remember some guy named Tsuyoshi Nishikoia that absolutely destroed the NPB, only to be horribly bad in MLB.

[Seth Stohs]

Tweet now from Doogie Wolfson:

 

 

#MNTwins have scouted right-handed  slugger Byung-ho Park a lot. One official: "Good run producer." Worth monitoring w/ bids due Friday.

 

[Hrbowski]

I doubt that we have a serious interest in him...

[Willihammer]

 

Problem is that this doesn't always correlate.  Even in the minors you have those issues.  Some guys put up video game numbers in AAA and it never translates, while others are rather pedestrian in the minors but put up great ML numbers.

 

That, and I seem to remember some guy named Tsuyoshi Nishikoia that absolutely destroed the NPB, only to be horribly bad in MLB.

 

No, we don't know how KBO production correlates with MLB production. It might not correlate at all. We don't have enough Korean players yet to do that math, but we will eventually, and at that point the Twins easily be priced out of the market as they are with NPB and Cuban players. It only take a couple major hits for prices to skyrocket. Or, maybe the elite Korean ballplayers won't transition as well as Cuban or Japanese, but I doubt it. The little chance of that being the case is the only thing int he Twins favor, its what makes a deal feasible.

 

Also, Nishioka was a slap hitter who got by on literally a .400 BABIP for his batting title the year before the Twins inked him. Park has "true" outcomes going for him.

[Mike Sixel]

The Twins have actively scouted every Cuban, if Twitter is to be believed......so, ya, not holding my breath here.

[kab21]

 

Problem is that this doesn't always correlate.  Even in the minors you have those issues.  Some guys put up video game numbers in AAA and it never translates, while others are rather pedestrian in the minors but put up great ML numbers.

 

That, and I seem to remember some guy named Tsuyoshi Nishikoia that absolutely destroed the NPB, only to be horribly bad in MLB.

Your definition of absolutely destroying a league appear to be much different than mine.  Park has had 4 straight seasons of 31-53 HR's and a .950-1.150 OPS's.  Nishioka was an all-star and a nice player.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Your definition of absolutely destroying a league appear to be much different than mine.  Park has had 4 straight seasons of 31-53 HR's and a .950-1.150 OPS's.  Nishioka was an all-star and a nice player.

Not necessarily arguing but Nishioka had three consecutive seasons of .787 or better OPS. That's pretty good for a middle infielder.

 

And then there's the fact that NPB competition is more highly regard than Korean baseball.

 

And Nishioka was three years younger when he signed the deal.

 

I'm not saying the two players are comparable but there's reason to be skeptical of any numbers coming out of southeast Asian baseball.

[kab21]

That is exactly what I am saying.  Nishioka was in the pretty good category.  Not anywhere near the absolutely destroying category.  Park has had twice as many HR's as the 10th ranked HR hitter in his league for the last 4 seasons.  He has been in the top 4 in OPS for the last 4 seasons. 

 

There are reasons to be skeptical that the success will transfer (for example more than 1 K/game) but he has destroyed the league.  Nishioka was a good player in Japan.

[Willihammer]

ARticle on Park and Lee Dae-ho, and the numbers on some players who have switched between KBO and NPB. 

 

http://www.koreatimesus.com/park-byung-ho-or-lee-dae-ho-which-import-should-mlb-teams-choose/

 

[DocBauer]

In the scenarios presented, sounds like Nishioka, despite quality numbers, was the equivalent of all conference vs all American.

 

If we could count on half the HR and a drop of 25-30 points in Avg, we'd still be talking quality production. But that is counting on, OR, having strong reason to believe. I know we are talking sometimes about millions of dollars as if they were pickel cards, but still, the investment may be worth it if we're talking $5-6M up front and $3-4M per. Otherwise, I'm really worried about tossing big $ after mega strikeouts.

[Willihammer]

And the winning bid is...

 

12.85m

 

Winner uknown

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/nexen-heros-accept-12-85mm-posting-fee-for-byung-ho-park.html

[kab21]

The suspense is killing me.

 

Not really.

 

It will be interesting to see how he does in the MLB but I can't see this for the Twins unless another move happens (plouffe traded or Sano in the OF).  I think both are unlikely.

[T.C.]

Could this be part of the reason for the "moving Sano to the outfield" talk this week?