What the heck? What is going on there in Twins territory? Just a year after signing Korean first baseman Byung Ho Park to a four-year, $12 million deal, the Twins decide to designate him for assignment. All this after paying a $12.85 million posting fee to win the rights to negotiate with him in December 2015. That is almost $25 million down the tube, owner Jim Pohlad must be proud of his organization.
With spring training starting in less than two weeks this story makes page 10 of the Star Tribune Sports section. WOW! Interest in Twins baseball is dropping faster than President Donald Trump’s approval rating.
Park appeared in just 62 games for the Twins in 2016 hitting just .191 but he did hit 12 home runs. The Twins ended up sending him to AAA Rochester where he played briefly before under-going tendon surgery on his right hand that ended his 2016 campaign.
The question I have to ask is why do this 10 days before pitchers and catchers report for spring training? What’s the point?
All this after the 2011-2012 fiasco with Tsuyoshi Nishioka, I know you can’t live in the past but you should be able to learn from history. Sadly, the Minnesota Twins are quickly becoming the laughing stock of MLB. The old term of doing it the “Twins Way” has a whole new meaning.
Great article, but the Reds and D-Backs at 1 and 1A have already claimed the title of the worst-run organizations in baseball. It’s gotten so bad in Cincinnati that their new GM’s main claim to fame is that his dad used to co-own the Reds with his uncle.
The Reds seem to have this nepotism thing down pat, what with their hiring of Thom Brennaman to do TV play-by-play pretty much solely because his daddy Marty is the longtime Hall of Fame radio voice of the Reds. His son Thom is as bad as Marty is good.
But the Reds and Twins have one thing in common-failing farm systems, questionable drafts, and woeful player development from the minor league coaching staffs. And you can include the D-Backs in there, as well, and probably the Angels as the 4 worst organizations in baseball.
I agree with the “sunk costs” comment. There are two likely outcomes – someone claims him, and they pick up his salary, or he goes unclaimed and the Twins keep him in the minors (and not on the 40-man roster.) The second option is most likely, and either option is fine.
A third possibility is the Twins work out a buy-out to allow him to return to Korea (and that option is fine, too.)
These comments are incoherent. Perhaps it would be a good time to reacquaint yourself with the sunk cost fallacy. The only reason to keep Park is that he is worth his salary in the future. If he’s not, then it’s smart not to pay that salary. The costs paid in the past can’t be brought back, whether they were good or bad values,
We are still in the “give the new guys some time to figure things out” honeymoon stage. Maybe the move with Park will backfire and maybe it will work.
Sorry bomber, honeymoon’s are for the movies, this is real life with real consequences and you have to hit the ground running or you get left in the dust.