This morning the Twins will introduce Byung Ho Park at a press conference at Target Field.
Let's all use the time before it starts to get it out of our systems. Go ahead, one more time, ask whether he's the second coming of Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
It's remarkable, how many people have asked me this.
The short answer to that question: No.
The longer answer:
Park has flaws. He strikes out too much. If he winds up being a bust, he will have cost the Twins about $25 million, which is not insignificant. He has not faced much high-velocity pitching.
But comparing him to Nishioka is like comparing David McCarty and Mark McGwire. Both were righthanded hitting college stars in the Pac-12, right? Or Carlos Pulido and Johan Santana - both were short lefthanders from Venezuela, right?
So why would we compare a Japanese shortstop with a Korean slugger?