Berardino: Byung-ho Park Reportedly Headed to the Twin Cities

[Thrylos]

 

Power is power.  You can either hit  'em out or you can't.  The guy hit 140 homers over the past three seasons.  He also batted .343 in spite of all the strike outs.

 

Has anybody ever put up those kind of numbers, then been a complete bust when they get to MLB?

 

Sure: 

.346/.423/.482 

Nishioka's slash line in Japan the season before he signed with the Twins.  Guess you can call him a bust, but nobody knows how he would have been if not injured.  

 

Kaz Matsui who was not as a big bust as Nishioka, but definitely a below average major leaguer, had a .305/.365/.549 slash line in his last year in Japan.

 

Hard to tell about the KBO, because other than Kang and Park now, the Korean position players came over very young and not directly into the majors.   Not sure how close the Japanese league numbers are for comparison's sake, but they are in the ballpark.

[Thrylos]

Here is the South Korean Yonhap News Agency original report in English.  Some interesting quotes from Park.  Looks like a done deal and there might be some discussion for options and incentives...

[PseudoSABR]

It's about the player, not the league.  Clearly, the competition is better here; the question is whether Park can adjust.   And there's the rub and the risk.

[DaveW]

 

It's about the player, not the league.  Clearly, the competition is better here; the question is whether Park can adjust.   And there's the rub and the risk.

Yup.

 

If it was a foregone conclusion that he would be a 35/100/.900 type guy he would be getting 5 years 100 million instead of 5/30....

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I'm beginning to like the Twins taking this risk a little more each day.

 

Though we still need to do something about our corner jam (granted we're still in the "good problem to have" discussion) and planning for Sano to play outfield doesn't thrill me one bit.