Chan Ho Park Looks Back

by dajafi on Feb 28, 2010 3:02 PM EST Comment 5 comments

In his philly.com blog today, Andy Martino passes on some remarks from former Phils pitcher Chan Ho Park, who recently signed with the Yankees for $1.5 million. Take a look:

Park made clear that he regretted leaving Philadelphia.
He began by saying the right things about becoming a Yankee. "They have the most history, and they are popular in the world, even in Korea," Park said. "When I grew up, they were a symbol--New York.Yankees."

But he spent most of his time yesterday talking about an off-season he called "frustrating."

"I had a wish after the season," he said. "Philadelphia was the no. 1 choice. I had a tough time leaving there. I had much support from fans and community, and I had the best teammates there, so..."

Well, he was asked, why didn't it work out with the Phils?

"Too late. Too late. Too late. It didn't work well in the beginning, and later on, too late," he said.

Basically, Park orginally expected a raise from the Phils, feeling that a strong performance had earned him more than the $2.5 million he made in 2009. His agents negotiated with Amaro through mid-December, and then the Phils decided to move on. Park was shocked.

"They were talking, and it didn't work," he said. "Trying to get a deal, and it didn't work out, and then later on they just gave up, and I lost."

Considering both Ruben Amaro's pessimism that Park would be back as early as December and Charlie Manuel's not very veiled shots at Park's toughness and willingness to take the ball (which Park also addressed in his remarks), it seems fairly obvious to me that the team simply didn't want him for 2010.

Was this a good idea? Park's projections for 2010 from three different systems have him falling back from what he did with the Phils last year; Bill James is especially bearish, pegging Park for a 5.32 ERA and 4.93 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, a truer variant on ERA). James thinks Park's ostensible replacement, Danys Baez, will outperform Park by quite a bit, while the other two systems see little difference. Projections for Jose Contreras, the other outside reliever the Phils added who might take Park's multi-inning role, seem to assume he'll be a starter and thus aren't very enlightening.

There's reason to believe Park pitched in somewhat good fortune after shifting to the bullpen last May, allowing zero home runs in relief. Still, there's no doubt he was a superb bullpen piece for the Phillies, probably the team's best reliever in the second half. That the team's decision-makers seemed to lack faith he could do it again provides an interesting background story for the 'pen's performance in 2010.

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But Have Faith

In Chad Durbin repeating his 2008? The hell?

"I remember being three and I wanted to be a baseball player, that's all I ever really wanted to be. That and Spider Man." -Raul Ibanez

by Jose and the Contrarians on Feb 28, 2010 7:03 PM EST reply actions

I think Id rather sign Rheal Cormier outta retirement.

Or we could just bail Uggy outta jail. He was pretty good.

by philiafan14364 on Feb 28, 2010 7:19 PM EST up reply actions

Well as I said before after Charlie pitched Lidge 4 days in a row, he has no to leg to stand when questioning Chan Ho’s toughness if he doesn’t understand the effects the position has on the player he’s critizing . Relievers are constantly interupting the recovery process by pitching on consecutive days. Ideally they should be one day on, the other off but that’s unrealistic. However anything over to two days and the mircotearing that hasn’t fully healed will get bigger and begin to form scar tissue. That’s bad…..and can cause a slew of problems esp. if the pitcher’s connective tiisue wasn’t properly prepared which is par the course in baseball. What I liked about Park was that two seamer which compared to the pitches of our starters last year (except Pedro) was very different and this stark contrast I believed kept batters more off -balance. Similiar to the philosophy during the 50’s of using knuckleballers out of the pen.

by j reed on Feb 28, 2010 9:49 PM EST reply actions

I evaluate Park from a standpoint that is not exclusively about results. Roll back to last season when he signed a deal that gave him a short-leash starting role while yammering on in his boilerplate public stance about “still being a starter” although he was an expensive disaster in Texas. Upon getting said role, he botched it, again. Now: I credit him for doing well in the bullpen, but it seems like there’s way more to what Manuel is saying than he’s actually letting on.

Any employer is right to feel like they should be appreciated for rescuing an employee, which is what the Phillies did with Park. Instead, this offseason it must have felt like Groundhog Day to Amaro (Park again with the “I want more money and to be a starter” stuff, which I believe was a poor strategic negotiating ploy and bad representation), and, what’s more, with a guy who is, bottom line, a spare part. The projections dajafi notes also bear that out.

What the Phils did here was purely personal, and wholly independent of any other player and his results.This is an organizational choke-chain of a message broadcast to a lot of FAs and their agents, sent from a position of strength. As a manager myself, I can’t disagree.

by Wet Luzinski on Feb 28, 2010 10:01 PM EST reply actions

Notwithstanding my note above that the Phils seem not to have been all that determined to bring back Park, the mistake was his in not accepting the reported $3 million they offered back in November or so.

by dajafi on Feb 28, 2010 10:39 PM EST reply actions