Article: Twins Have Deal With Byung Ho Park

[Steve Lein]

You guys all realize that if he comes over here and hits like .300/.350/.500, the Twins will tear this "cheap" contract up immediately and replace it with a new, not so cheap one, right?! (haha)

 

Kidding aside, this is a no-lose type of deal for the Twins. Great job on this TR.

 

You're still in the red on this offseason so far to me, though.

[Minniman]

I wonder how Korean players feel when the MLB team has to fork out $5 -  $12 million to their old team.

 

Shouldn't the player be seeing most of that money?

 

[d-mac]

Definitely surprised by how inexpensive his contract is. Not much downside to this deal. I think the Twins got a steal.  

[Guest]

 

 

I wonder how Korean players feel when the MLB team has to fork out $5 -  $12 million to their old team.

 

Shouldn't the player be seeing most of that money?

 

The team has an existing contract with the player. They shouldn't be compensated for that? What's the point of having a contract? He can always play out his contract in Asia and become a free agent, rather than asking to be posted, right? If the player's agent is realistic with the player about what kind of contract he is likely to get, then he goes into this process with eyes open.

 

I'm not at all sympathetic to Park on the contract issue. He's been hitting a ton in what could only be described as a "minor league." When MLB teams are willing to step up and do something about the way they underpay US minor leaguers, then maybe I'll start being concerned about the poor Asian players who come over and have to figure out how to live on $3 million a year, though they are no more likely to succeed than minor leaguers who put up similar stats in AA/AAA in the states.

 

Edited December 1, 2015 by SD Buhr

[James]

 

I wonder how Korean players feel when the MLB team has to fork out $5 -  $12 million to their old team.

 

Shouldn't the player be seeing most of that money?

The Korean team didn't have to let him leave.  They could have just kept him if they wanted, and he wouldn't get his chance to play in the MLB until next year.  So, they're actually doing Park a favor by getting him paid more than he would have made in the KBO.  

 

 

[Brandon]

Park should have tried to negotiate incentives into that deal. I would be fine with 2 or 3 million in incentives per season.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I'm not at all sympathetic to Park on the contract issue. He's been hitting a ton in what could only be described as a "minor league." When MLB teams are willing to step up and do something about the way they underpay US minor leaguers, then maybe I'll start being concerned about the poor Asian players who come over and have to figure out how to live on $3 million a year, though they are no more likely to succeed than minor leaguers who put up similar stats in AA/AAA in the states.

That is a little harsh. Park didn't get to negotiate the system that gave a single MLB team so much leverage in these negotiations. I don't care about his Korean team getting a cut, etc., but this old style posting system is definitely not fair to the players.

[Hrbowski]

 

Wow. Good job getting him cheap, TR. I liked the bid before but now I like it even better.

 

If Park doesn't work out, then we don't have to lose a lot of money. If he does work out, then we got a heck of a bargain. That's a win-win deal in my eyes.

It was actually Rob Antony who did the negotiating.

[Don Walcott]

In soccer transfers around the world (not necessarily in the US), the player gets some percentage of the transfer fee (10%?).  This deal would seem more fair to the player if he received something like that up front.  Or maybe his agent gets his payment up front from the Korean team.

 

Very happy about the signing.  Not sure about people celebrating the fact that the player gets a lot less than expected.  Personally, I'd rather see the players get more money than the owners.

 

And now Zimmermann and Price are off the board.  Looks highly unlikely the Twins will be competing to sign Greinke or Cueto.  Oh well . . . .

[mikecgrimes]

 

$3 million a year?

Nick Punto made $4 million in 2009.

Something doesn't add up.

Do both sides expect mediocrity?

 

I guess you add on the signing fee and it comes to $6 mill a year, but still ...

 

Exactly my thoughts, he was hyped up to clearly deserve at bats over Mauer.  Maybe the Twins still have high hopes, but his agent sure doesn't either that or his agent was only going to make money if he signed in the US and screwed his client when the Twins low balled him.

[Cap'n Piranha]

 

That is a little harsh. Park didn't get to negotiate the system that gave a single MLB team so much leverage in these negotiations. I don't care about his Korean team getting a cut, etc., but this old style posting system is definitely not fair to the players.

 

TR can be unfair to me every day of the week and twice on Sundays if I get $12M over 4 years.

[Thrylos]

No surprises at all here.  I guess the amount and length of contract, including the option 3 weeks ago down to $500K.  

To be fair, you have to consider the $12.8M as part of the cost for the Twins, which brings up their annual bill for Part at close to $7M a season.   More details here, but since he is practically replacing Hunter from the 2015 squad, they save about $3.5M and realistically in the years 2-4 (at least), he is replacing Plouffe who will make close to what Hunter made, if he matches those performances, the Twins will be ahead.

 

I think that he can do better than what Hunter and Plouffe did last season....

[HitInAPinch]

At first look, 4 years at $3mil per year looked like the Twins were getting Park pretty cheap. 

When you add in the $12.8mil posting fee, it's $6.2125 per year for Park. 

Assuming that the K's are not likely to go down, I'd be happy with a .265 BA and 25HR's.

 

But, boy, the reality of Sano playing in RF just came a pretty big step closer.  TR is still standing by his "we're adding, not subtracting" line.

[h2oface]

Since Park doesn't get the posting fee, and it didn't change from the time they won the bid, I can't consider it any part of the deal. It may be a cost to the Twins, but it is nothing to Park. The predictions of 4 to 5 years and 20 to 30 million had nothing to do with the posting fee. So much for the self appointed media hyped expert's opinions again. They are becoming less and less relevant.

 

This is a deal that is fair. Fair to the player, and fair to the Twins. He still may end up a flop, and have "trouble with the curve", but now it is worth the risk.

Edited December 2, 2015 by h2oface

[NoCryingInBaseball]

Time to learn the correct pronunciation of our new slugger. Imagine my embarrassment when I've been pronouncing his name very similar to a vulgar term related to an individual's rear end....just heard the correct way to say his name on the nightly news and boy was I off....

[Thrylos]

 

Time to learn the correct pronunciation of our new slugger. Imagine my embarrassment when I've been pronouncing his name very similar to a vulgar term related to an individual's rear end....just heard the correct way to say his name on the nightly news and boy was I off....

 

Cannot wait for Bert to try to pronounce his name

[h2oface]

 

Time to learn the correct pronunciation of our new slugger. Imagine my embarrassment when I've been pronouncing his name very similar to a vulgar term related to an individual's rear end....just heard the correct way to say his name on the nightly news and boy was I off....

...... assuming the pronunciation that you heard was actually correct. Did it come from Park's mouth?

[sane09]

 

Cannot wait for Bert to try to pronounce his name

If Bert bleeps up, I hope he can say "sun jun Taekwondo" ("I know Taekwondo") before Park says it to him.

 

[Jerr]

So many millions/year...amazing and for a unproven-ed MLB or even AAA player....it amazes me  

 

I really hope it all pays out......

[ashbury]

similar to a vulgar term

For the record, the moderation team has taken, and will continue to take, a dim view at attempts at jokes in this vein.

[Monkeypaws]

 

So many millions/year...amazing and for a unproven-ed MLB or even AAA player....it amazes me  

 

I really hope it all pays out......

Compared to draft pick bonuses?

 

Much better ROI likely here.

 

Unless you were being ironic there,,,, 

[jimbo92107]

Not that I'd know, but that's about $10 million bucks less than I thought he'd get.

[jimmer]

Very inexpensive investment, both by the bid amount and his salary.  3M a year is what we signed Nishi for.  A low risk move, the kind of move the Twins are extremely experienced in.  The kind of signing where, if it works out, they get praised and if it doesn't, it's no biggy cause it cost so little (in baseball terms).

Edited December 2, 2015 by jimmer

[jimmer]

 

Could be.  It does seem like we were more aggressive than other teams with our posting fee bid on Park, which is smart IF you actually want the player under this posting system.  Of course, it the player ultimately isn't worth wanting, it's not really an inefficiency that other teams bid less...

There could very well be a reason we were able to win the bid.  It was a small bid.

[jimmer]

 

 

 

And now Zimmermann and Price are off the board.  Looks highly unlikely the Twins will be competing to sign Greinke or Cueto.  Oh well . . . .

Twins never compete to sign players like Jordan Zimmerman, Price, Cueto or Grienke.  

[jimmer]

 

No surprises at all here.  I guess the amount and length of contract, including the option 3 weeks ago down to $500K.  

To be fair, you have to consider the $12.8M as part of the cost for the Twins, which brings up their annual bill for Part at close to $7M a season.   More details here, but since he is practically replacing Hunter from the 2015 squad, they save about $3.5M and realistically in the years 2-4 (at least), he is replacing Plouffe who will make close to what Hunter made, if he matches those performances, the Twins will be ahead.

 

I think that he can do better than what Hunter and Plouffe did last season....

I doubt he does better than what Plouffe did last year.  Plouffe was a 20M+ player last year (and the year before).

[USAFChief]

No surprises at all here.  I guess the amount and length of contract, including the option 3 weeks ago down to $500K.  

 

To be fair, you have to consider the $12.8M as part of the cost for the Twins, which brings up their annual bill for Part at close to $7M a season.   More details here, but since he is practically replacing Hunter from the 2015 squad, they save about $3.5M and realistically in the years 2-4 (at least), he is replacing Plouffe who will make close to what Hunter made, if he matches those performances, the Twins will be ahead.

 

I think that he can do better than what Hunter and Plouffe did last season....

Props where props are due...remarkably accurate contract estimate.

[sane09]

I am going to say this just once and then never again:

Let's all hope that Byung-Ho will be Gung-ho!

 

I think I just hurt myself.....

[Darius]

It's a nice deal. But, I'm confused as to why people so exited about the terms. There isn't a salary cap, or floor, so "saving money" should be irrelevant to everyone but the Pohlads. It certainly doesn't mean they are spending that "saved money" anywhere else. Whether they give him $4m per, or $20m, the 25-man will likely look exactly the same, so what's the difference?

 

Unfortunately for Park, he didn't have many cards to play I'm that negotiation. Locked into one team, who certainly would have let him walk, at almost 30 years old with an astronomical K rate against awful pitching and no defense. He goes back to re-post on the wrong side of 30, and comes off a down year in Korea, he probably gets peanuts. I'd be pretty upset, if I were his representation, about having to play on that uneven playing field. Borderline extortion in his circumstances. It cost the guy millions that he probably deserves (per an open market). That should be re-examined, IMO.

 

Politics/Economics aside, it'll be fun to see how this guy adjusts to high-end pitching. Scary to think about trading Plouffe before seeing him in Spring Training, at least. Regardless, with this guys swing, the entertainment value will certainly be there. I'll tune in.

[Homer Hanky]

I'm wondering with this signing and the talk of sano to the outfield as a possibility... what do people think of moving Mauer out there... instead of Sano?