Twins win rights to Byung-ho Park with $12.85 million bid
The Minnesota Twins are the team that placed the highest bid for the right to negotiate with Korean slugger Byung-ho Park according to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan.
We found out Friday that the Nexen Heroes had accepted a $12.85 million bid for Park but did not know which big-league team had tabled the winning offer. The Twins beat out at least a dozen teams and now have 30 days to negotiate a contract with Park. The 29-year-old first baseman hit .343 with 53 homers and 146 RBIs in 140 games with Nexen in the KBO. Last offseason the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Korean shortstop Jung Ho Kang to a four-year, $11 million contract after posting a bid of $5 million. There was some skepticism that Kang’s equally errific numbers in Korea would translate to MLB, but he hit .287 with a .355 OBP and 15 home runs before an unfortunate injury in September ended his first year in Pittsburgh prematurely.
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Kang’s performance did help ease the concerns teams might have had about bringing Park over. Minnesota is an interesting fit for his services, though. The Twins closed last season with Joe Mauer at first base and super-prospect Miguel Sano as the designated hitter. The early word is that they plan on moving Sano to left field, which would allow them to use Park as their primary DH and play some first base when Mauer needs a day off.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
