First Baseman Byung-ho Park

[pacopete4]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/10/nexen-heroes-to-post-byung-ho-park.html

 

Since it will be posted sooner or later I figured, why not?

 

This guy mashed in Korea. Can he do the same in the MLB? His red flags are being 1B only and he struck out about 25% of the time in Korea.

[billymac]

Looks nice and I wouldn't worry about the strikeouts if he can hit over 50 HR's and hit over .300, but do you want to invest in a 29 year old where he'd be 30 by the time he got to you? Not sure that this is the direction we are going. Maybe 2 years ago after Prince was gone when we were a few pieces away, but we are many pieces away from competing now.

[reillymcshane]

I think he's a good fit for a team that is trying to contend right now. However, we probably aren't that team.

 

Still, if the club really likes the guy they could put in a bid. If he does well, you could flip him down the road if you don't think he's a longer term fit.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Looks nice and I wouldn't worry about the strikeouts if he can hit over 50 HR's and hit over .300, but do you want to invest in a 29 year old where he'd be 30 by the time he got to you? Not sure that this is the direction we are going. Maybe 2 years ago after Prince was gone when we were a few pieces away, but we are many pieces away from competing now.

 

 

A 50 homerun guy in Korea is probably a 25-ish homerun guy here. It's a different level of competition, and some of their parks over there are pretty small.

 

Kang hit 40 bombs last year, and hit 15 in almost a full season for the Pirates in MLB>

[And That]

To be fair, players like Eric Thames can look like Barry Bonds playing in Korea — he’s fresh off of a .381/.497/.790, 47 home run campaign

From that MLBTR piece. For perspective. But the Brewers are in a situation where if their scouting says he could be a quality hitter in the big leagues, why not?

[jerichoholicninja]

His age would seem to put the Brewers out since he'll be on the downside of his career when the team really needs him. He's also apparently a butcher with the glove. I'd love to see the Brewers take a chance on him but I just don't think it would fit with the organizations plans.

[JohnBriggs12]

He's also right handed and probably no better than Jason Rogers with a lot more K's. Rogers would likely put up monster numbers in Korea. With all the RH hitting power OF the Brewers have (Phillips is the lone exception), they need a LH power bat at 1B going forward.

[wildcat2237]

Byung-ho update from MLBtraderumors. I'm surprised nobody has posted this. Many of the normal big fish have been ruled out.

 

Nexen Heroes Accept $12.85MM Posting Fee For Byung-ho Park

By Jeff Todd | November 7, 2015 at 12:15pm CST

 

SATURDAY: Neither the Indians nor the Tigers submitted the winning bid for Park, via MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and MLive.com’s Chris Iott (on Twitter). The Indians did bid for Park, although their bid came up short; the Tigers did not bid for him. The Rangers are not the team either, via a tweet from MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. The Orioles, who looked like a potential fit for Park, were outbid and will not be signing him, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweets. The Padres did not win the bidding either, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (on Twitter). Meanwhile, Jeff Passan of Yahoo tweets that the Red Sox did not win the bid and will stick with Hanley Ramirez at first base.

 

FRIDAY: Korea’s Nexen Heroes have decided to accept a $12.85MM bid on the rights to negotiate a big league contract with first baseman Byung-Ho Park, the club said in an announcement. (The news comes via Korean outlet Naver Sports, at a Korean language link. Han Lee of Global Sporting Integration tweeted the key portion of the report in English.)

 

It is not yet known what MLB club won the posting process, but the as-yet-unidentified team will have thirty days to work out a contract with the first baseman. Nexen technically has until Monday afternoon to make its formal decision on the bid, at which point the clock will begin to run.

 

If Park and his new club are not able to reach agreement on a contract, all involved would lose something. Nexen would not receive the posting fee, Park would not be able to play in North America, and the winning team would not only miss out on the player but also the time spent in talks. It’s far from certain that a contract will be agreed upon, but the incentives are aligned to make it happen.

 

The reported $12.85MM fee would fall well shy of the $25MM+ posting amount commanded by lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu. But it steadily outpaces what the Pirates paid Nexen last year (around $5MM) for the rights to reach a deal with infielder Jung-Ho Kang. After the team-to-team transfer was arrived at, Kang and the Bucs agreed to a four-year, $11MM guarantee.

 

Surely, the success of the latter this year in the majors helped boost the appeal of Park. Both had similarly outlandish numbers in the KBO, though Park has done it more consistently over several seasond. Of course, he’s also a first baseman.

 

In the just-released list of MLBTR’s top fifty free agents, Tim Dierkes predicted that Park would command a $10MM posting fee and a five-year, $40MM contract from the winning team. The first part of that was close, but it remains to be seen how negotiations will proceed.

[nate82]

I am 90% certain this was either the A's or the Mariners that won the bid.

[SRB]

My guess is the Pirates, but the Brewers are apparently one of the last teams standing not confirmed out.

[billymac]

Its worth a shot for the Brewers if you ask me. He's not the future, but he could be someone that you could flip for prospects without breaking the bank if he performs well.

[MNBrew]

Stearns talked about young, controllable talent which could be acquired in any number of ways. Park's not young but he would be controllable.

 

I'd still be surprised if the Brewers are serious contenders in this race. It's possible their not being ruled out is because their potential involvement could be seen as way beyond even being a reach. That said, we don't know how Stearns will or won't operate with proven/veteran international guys like this.

[Devinep]

Getting Park would blockb1B, which is where Braun could be moved to alleviate the logjam in the OF corners. Also, if he's signed before Lind is traded, then maybe his value would be slightly weakened due to his trade being an obvious necessity.

 

Plus there's hi guarantee of success just because Kang made the transition. Just like Ichiros success didn't guarantee Shuyishi Shinjos success

[ewitkows]

8:37am: Heyman also eliminates the Rockies and the Phillies from the mix (via Twitter). That leaves the Brewers, Reds, Cubs, White Sox and Twins as the remaining options. As I noted before, the presence of Joey Votto in Cincinnati and Anthony Rizzo on the Cubs’ roster makes that pair of NL teams seem like long shots, to say the least. The White Sox and Twins each have long-term first base options in Jose Abreu and Joe Mauer, though Park could certainly split time at first and DH with either player.

 

Looks like it's really down to 3 teams. Us the white sox and the twins.

[billymac]

White Sox eliminated per MLB Radio, between Twins and Crew.

[MrTPlush]

Would the Brewers really commit in the neighborhood of $50mil for this guy? Seems like a big stretch. I know they have wanted a big international market splash lately, but I don't think this should be it. A lot of risk here. However, it would be nice to see money be spent in these down years like this. Not my money...

 

I think Twins sign him and move Mauer to full time DH. Which then pushes Sano to the field.

[reillymcshane]

White Sox eliminated per MLB Radio, between Twins and Crew.

Twins seem a little bit of an odd mix - they have Sano, Mauer and Plouffe to cover 1B/3B/DH. But I guess they could deal Plouffe for something decent (I'm sure they'd love to deal Mauer, but no one is taking that contract).

 

Park is kind of a scary investment. The 53 HRs are sweet, but he struck out 161 times in 140 games in the KBO - by far the highest total in the league. A couple of sites predicted Park will get a 4-5 year deal at around $7-8M annually. Add in the $12.5M posting fee, and you're talking about $50M (that's giving him a 5 year deal at $7.5M a year).

 

One thing is can be considered is that Milwaukee has about $70-75M committed to players this year (and that's still with Lind in the mix). By front loading this deal with the posting fee now, you can afford it.

[jw5511986]

Sorry, that should read Per McCalvy, Stearns can't confirm or deny interest in Park.

[reillymcshane]

Twins got the winning bid.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/twins-win-byung-ho-park-bid.html

 

Makes sense. They are ready to contend now.

[MrTPlush]

I don't find it surprising. Contending team making a nice gamble type move. A little big for a smaller payroll team, but nothing outlandish.

[ewitkows]

twins won

[MrTPlush]

I don't find it surprising. Contending team making a nice gamble type move. A little big for a smaller payroll team, but nothing outlandish.

[pacopete4]

I'm hoping this makes Ploufe available to the Brewers. Could be a nice fill in guy for us and possible a tradable guy going forward.

[reillymcshane]

I'm hoping this makes Ploufe available to the Brewers. Could be a nice fill in guy for us and possible a tradable guy going forward.

Plouffe is a good player, but he only has 2 years until free agency. I want longer term players - not just a couple of years of a guy. Perhaps if we were contending, but I don't see that happening the next two years.

[pacopete4]

I'm hoping this makes Ploufe available to the Brewers. Could be a nice fill in guy for us and possible a tradable guy going forward.

Plouffe is a good player, but he only has 2 years until free agency. I want longer term players - not just a couple of years of a guy. Perhaps if we were contending, but I don't see that happening the next two years.

 

I guess I see it differently as in he is a guy that can be our guy there for this season (at least until July) as well as next season until July. We get .5 to 1.5 years out of him as a filler for us as well as flipping him for prospects for the future years. Just because we may not contend in the next 1-3 years doesn't mean we shouldn't be signing/trading for some of these guys that can fill now and also help our future.