Byung Ho Park cleared waivers and was outrighted Thursday to Rochester. He'll be in training camp as a non-roster invite.
I had thought that somebody (Tampa Bay came to mind) might see a chance to pick up some right-handed power on a long-term but reasonable contract. It didn't happen, and Chris Carter illustrates why I was wrong.
Carter led the National League in homers last year, but the Brewers cut him loose anyway, and it took months before he found a new team: the Yankees, at $3.5 million for one year. (I'm not really sure why the Yankees wanted him, but they apparently figured the price was right.)
I suspect that, assuming Park is recovered from his hand/wrist issues, that he's at least as good a hitter as Carter, and I'm confident that Park is a better defensive first baseman. But Carter has established that he's a genuine major league power hitter -- flawed but genuine -- and Park has not. And Carter isn't going to get paid much more than Park in 2017.
There has been no market for right-handed first base-DH types.
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Right handed reliever Pat Light, who like Park had been designated for assignment by the Twins, was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Light was awful in his 14 innings with the Twins last year (15 walks), and there are probably a dozen arms in the minor league system I'd rather see in the majors this year than Light.
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Bad news on the Glen Perkins front: He felt something in his shoulder and has pushed back his first scheduled bullpen session. I never really expected his return to be glitch-free. Patience. If he's going to make it back, it won't be immediate.
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