One again an international star player has been posted for American bidding. Byung-ho Park, a 29 year-old Korean first baseman, was posted and a winning bid was accepted according to many published reports including SI.com. The team who won the bid is currently unknown.
Park is a right-handed hitter who has showed some great power in the Korean Baseball Organization. In 2015 Park hit .343 with 53 home runs after hitting 52 home runs in 2014. The KBO is known for lots of offense, so the numbers would be inflated compared to Major League Baseball. But, after Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang made a successful transition to the Major Leagues, teams might be more likely to take a chance.
Redditer Superdude523 pondered: could it be the Phillies?
Still no word on who won the posting yet, but so far every big market team but the Phillies are either out, or have no need for a 1B/DH. With a decent amount of available funds, do you think it could be us that made the winning bid? He would be 31-32 by the time the rebuild is ready to compete, and definitely has a ton of power.
Mike Axisa of CBS Sports collected the following, ruling out the winning bid:
Indians placed bid but did not win (Jordan Bastian of MLB.com)
Tigers did not place bid (Chris Iott of MLive.com)
Rangers did not win bidding (T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com)
Orioles placed bid but did not win (Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun)
Padres did not win bidding (Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune)
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports ruled out the Mariners, Athletics, Marlins, and Diamondbacks.
MLB Trade Rumors listed eight teams whose interest in Park has "yet to be addressed": Phillies, Brewers, Reds, Pirates, Cubs, White Sox, Twins and Astros.
The Phillies of course have Ryan Howard for one more season. A team with money like the Phillies could easily eat a $12.85 million posting fee and another $40 million or so for a five-year contract. $10 million a season is a drop in the bucket for the Phillies, who only have big money committed to pitcher Matt Harrison beyond 2016.
The best part about Park: he would only cost the Phillies money. In a system desperately trying to stock up on young talent, international free agents would be a way the team could add some talent to the organization without trading any young talent. Who knows: if the Phillies sign Park, he finds success, and the Phillies still feel they are a couple years away, they could even spin Park for some prospects.
Watch out for the Pittsburgh Pirates, though. After striking gold with Kang, they may want to try again. The Pirates are in need of a first baseman after Pedro Alvarez's move across the diamond to first base flopped. The Brewers could trade first baseman Adam Lind, who hit 20 home runs last season for the Brewers. Lind's $8 million option was picked up for 2016, a reasonable number.
Update – Nov. 9, 9:14 a.m.: The Pirates did not win the bid for Park, according to multiple reports.
There's no real link to the Phillies at this time other than Park not being ruled out. But who knows; a new regime is in town and maybe they will look to make an early splash.
