Three-Bagger: Park Arrives, Making Room & Zim

* Korean slugger Byung Ho Park is traveling to Minnesota this week, where his side will meet with the Twins in efforts to hammer out a deal ahead of the December 8th deadline, which is suddenly only a week away.

The Twins won exclusive negotiating rights with Park in early November with a $12.85 million bid. Using the contract that Pittsburgh inked with fellow Korean Jung Ho Kang last year as a baseline, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press ballparks a prospective Park contract around five years and $32.5 million. That would represent a total investment of $45 million, which would signal a very strong belief in Park's ability. It would also mark the third straight offseason in which the Twins invest more than $40 million into a free agent.

All expectations are that a deal will be finalized this week.

* If Park does indeed sign, attention will shift to finding a spot for him in the lineup. Things have been quiet on the Trevor Plouffe trade rumor front up to this point, but that could change when the MLB Winter Meetings get underway in Nashville next Monday.

Bringing general managers from all 30 teams together in one central location, the Winter Meetings often serve as a springboard for trade talks. A few weeks ago we took a look at Plouffe's potential trade market.

Miguel Sano, who will need to move out of the DH spot in order to make room for Park, has recently missed some time in the Dominican Winter League team for what Berardino reports was a trip back to the United Sates at the Twins' request.

Sano was expected to return to action this week. Curiously, he has played only at DH and third base in the winter league despite Twins officials holding the line that the current plan is to move him to the outfield in 2016.

* The Tigers made their first big splash of the offseason this weekend when they agreed to terms with right-hander Jordan Zimmermann on a five-year, $110 million contract.

It's a return to the midwest for the 29-year-old Zimmermann, who hails from Auburndale, WI, and played college ball three hours east of the Twin Cities in Stevens Point. He has spent his entire career pitching for the Nationals, compiling a 70-50 record with a 3.22 ERA and 1.16 WHIP, and his control is elite. It will be interesting to see how his game translates to the American League.

While the Twins were adding 13 wins to their 2014 total this year, the Tigers moved in the opposite direction by adding 15 losses and missing the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. They needed a replacement at the top of the rotation with David Price out of the picture, and it looks like they're betting on Zimmermann, who we ranked as the No. 4 free agent starter in the Offseason Handbook.

Even with the addition of a premium arm, the Tigers have plenty to worry about going forward. Their roster is aging and they're not likely to get a whole lot of help from a farm system that was ranked by Baseball America in the spring as the worst in baseball (though, in fairness, was bolstered by the Price trade in July).