Little by little, Park is adjusting
He's found a Korean restaurant he likes. He's still trying to meet all his new teammates. And he thinks Fort Myers is peaceful, quiet and clean.
Byung Ho Park is learning what life is like in the U.S. as he prepares for spring training with the Twins. He's been working out with other early-arriving position players on the back fields of the CenturyLink Sports Complex, waiting for the first full-squad workout on Saturday.
He has interpreter J.D. Kim by his side, but Park has attempted to speak English when in one-on-one situations with teammates. He expects to use the language more as he picks up more words.
Eventually, he'll start playing games, when the biggest transition will occur. He's been encouraged by fellow Korean major leaguers Shin-Soo Choo and Jung Ho Kang to not make adjustments until he has to. And he was able to learn from Kang's jump to the majors.
"Jung Ho and I played together on the same team for three years,'' Park said. "We are very close teammates. His locker was right next to mine. And as he was trying to get himself ready to come over here and play in the big leagues, I was lucky enough to watch him prepare himself game-wise for all the aspects of making the transition. Yes, I was very lucky.''
Bullpen management
One area manager Paul Molitor will be more comfortable in this season is how he manages a bullpen: knowing when to have relievers warm up, when to bring them in, who can handle warming up but not entering games, and who gets fatigued from warming up a lot.
Molitor continues to kick himself for the Oct. 2 loss to Kansas City at Target Field when he sent Ervin Santana back out for the eighth in a 1-1 tie but didn't have anyone going in the bullpen right away. The Royals scored twice in the inning to win the game 3-1.
"I think bullpen is a tricky part of this job,'' Molitor said. "It's become an increased area of what teams are trying to do and how that contributes to the type of year you have. I think there are times when I pushed guys that I should have backed off, or the mix that we went with — we went for 13 pitchers for quite a while, and things that you're kind of forced to do — I think just how I used people and how I communicate that, I can do better.''
