Slugger Park Byung-ho, who hit 53 home runs with 140 RBI last season in his native South Korea, is headed to Minnesota to continue negotiations with the Twins.
According to report by Korea-based Naver Sports (and help from Google Translation), the infielder is heading to the Twin Cities via Chicago, where he will first meet with his agent.
He will then meet with the Twins in Minneapolis, where he is set to undergo a medical before he enters negotiations with Twins officials.
The Twins won the rights to negotiate with the 29-year-old earlier this month, surprising many in the baseball world when they submitted a winning bid of $12.85 million.
That bought them an exclusive 30-day period to negotiate with the right-hander, which expires on Dec. 8. If no deal is reached by then, the Twins will get their $12.85 million back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmWCyXTvIHk
MLB Trade Rumors speculates that signing Park will take a deal somewhere in the five year, $40 million range.
The Pioneer Press reports that it’s unclear whether Park traveling to Minnesota is a sign that they’ve come to an agreement or whether it’s more a case of progress being made.
Either way, Twins GM Terry Ryan has been optimistic about their chances of signing him, the newspaper notes.
Park has been a monster in Korea. He hit .343 with 53 homers and 146 RBIs in 140 games this season, which was slightly better than his 2014 campaign in which he hit .303 with 52 homers and 124 RBIs. He has 172 homers over the last four seasons, according to his Baseball-Reference page.
