As expected, the Twins opened the offseason Monday by addressing their logjam at the corner infield positions.
They added to it.
Byung-ho Park, a 29-year-old power-hitting first baseman from South Korea, will join the Twins next season if the two sides are able to agree on a contract over the next 30 days, the team announced. The Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization accepted the Twins' bid of $12.85 million, higher than any other major league organization, for the exclusive right to negotiate with Park.
"We went out and got a guy who's got some pop in his bat, as long as we can reach an agreement" on a contract, Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said. "I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but he's someone we think could give us more length to our lineup, another power guy in the middle."
Park hit 53 home runs for Nexen last season, and 52 the year before that, so there's no mystery about the Twins' sudden aggressiveness, not for a team that has ranked in the lower half of the AL in home runs for every year since 2004. They tried to sign him out of high school a decade ago, actually. "We've had a lot of eyes on him for a long time," Ryan said.
The Twins pounced when Park made himself available last month, even though Park only adds to their crowd of corner infielders. Joe Mauer, with three more seasons remaining on his $23-million-a-year contract, is the incumbent at first base, Trevor Plouffe has established himself at third base, and Miguel Sano, the designated hitter during his breakout rookie season, is too young and talented to limit himself to hitting.
Room for one more
Ryan, speaking from the general managers' meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., said he has no intention of trading away one of those hitters. "We're not looking to move anyone, we're looking to add to what we've got. And we think [Park] can do that," he said. "He can give Joe an occasional break at first, but he's suited to the DH role. We like him to hold that spot down."
If he can, Ryan already has sketched out a solution: Sano moves to the outfield, and Park inherits his spot as the DH.