Dodgers to Broadcast in Korean

The Los Angeles Dodgers are about to become trilingual.

When their new contract with Time Warner Cable takes effect prior to next season, the Dodgers will become the first team in the Majors to broadcast in three, count 'em, three different languages...English, Spanish and Korean.

And it makes sense, too...Los Angeles is a pretty Korean-friendly city.

Team co-owner Todd Boehly said the Dodgers have shared “lots of details” with MLB without delivering a copy of the actual contract. The 25-year deal with Time Warner is believed to be worth between $7 billion and $8 billion to the Dodgers.

But, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers have yet to submit the contract for approval.

We can only hope that this gives Korean pop sensation Psy his second fifteen minutes of fame.

Shin-Soo Choo Dropped From Roster

With the World Baseball Classic just around the corner, it is kinda cool to see how the rosters are shaping up.

That said, the South Koreans shook things up Wednesday by dropping one of their most popular players.  This coming just weeks after the newly inked Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Hyun-Jin Ryu announced he would not be participating.

Outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, recently acquired by the Cincinnati Reds from the Cleveland Indians, asked to leave the team so he could, like Ryu, concentrate on preparing for life with his new club.

However, the guy replacing Choo is no slouch.

Taking his spot will be A-Seop Son from the Lotte Giants.  The 24-year-old led the Korean Baseball Organization league in hits with 158 in 132 games and was third in batting average with .314.

The World Baseball Classic gets underway March 2.

Chan Ho Park is Done

After not having thrown a pitch in the big leagues in more than two years, Chan Ho Park has retired.

The 39-year-old made it official Thursday during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea following one season with the Korean Baseball Organization's Hanwha Eagles.

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, Park helped pack stadiums for the last place Eagles, but finished the season "mediocre at best".  The one-time Major League All-Star was 5-10 with a 5.06 ERA...a far cry from his career here in the States.

During his 17 years in the Majors, the righty compiled a 124-98 record (the most wins among Asian born pitchers) and a 4.36 ERA.  From 1997 to 2001, Park rattled off five consecutive years with more than 13 victories for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Next for Park?  Perhaps he can get back to his rap career! 

Move over, Psy.

 

Former Yankee Breaking Records in Korea

In 307 big league appearances (including a league best 83 in 2006), Scott Proctor saved only one game.  And that was back in 2005...his second season in the bigs.

Now playing for the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization the former New York Yankee hurler is a record breaker.

Early this week, the veteran righty picked up his 32nd save of the season...breaking Brad Thomas' record for saves by a foreign player.  Proctor had a wild pitch and then struck out the last two batters to end a rainsoaked game.

***Thanks to @mykbo for the head's up.***

Chan Ho Park Raps Now?

I have no idea who exactly this commercial is for and, frankly, I'm too lazy to look it up.

What I know is this...that's former Major League pitcher (and current Korean Baseball Organization superstar) Chan Ho Park rapping for an life insurance company.

신난다! <---That's Korean for "awesome".

Oh, and in case you're wondering how Park is doing for the Hanwha Eagles...dude is 2-4 with a 4.28 ERA in nine games.

***A tip o' the hat to Dan over at MyKBO.net.***

Chan Ho Park is Heading Home to Korea

Last year at this time, it was announced that the Majors winningest Asian-born pitcher was heading to Japan.

Monday, word came that Chan Ho Park Park would be introduced as the newest member of the Hanwha Eagles in the Korea Baseball Organization.

"I plan to spend the rest of my career helping to develop Korean baseball," the former All-Star said. "I'd like to help young players perform in an even better environment and stay focused on the game."

The Eagles inked the righty to a one-year deal worth 24 million won or $20,547.  Sure, it's a far cry from the $15 million a year he once made for the Texas Rangers, but Park is opting to go with the league minimum.

And dude has his reasons.

Reports were that the Eagles had planned to pay Park 400 million won per season (close to $350,000) with a club option for another 200 million won.  Instead...that money will be donated to charity.

Classy.

In 17 years with seven different clubs, the 38-year-old Park was 124-98 with a 4.36 ERA.  And in four appearances during the 2009 World Series...managed a 0.00 ERA.

We've Had a Gary Sheffield Sighting, Folks!

I'm told there's probably nothing to it (and let's be honest, there probably isn't)...but Gary Sheffield has been working out in St. Petersburg, Florida with the Seoul Nexen Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization.

Again, there's probably nothing to it.  I mean, Sheffield is "99.9%" retired, right?

But let's imagine for a second that there is something to the 42-year-old taking some spring training cuts with the Heroes...the slugger would be, by far, the most celebrated American player ever to take his game to Korea.  All in all, dude has a pretty solid, Hall of Fame-worthy resume to his credit...including a career batting average of .292, 2689 hits, 509 home runs and 1676 RBI.

Then again, the 22-year pro hasn't seen live big league pitching since September 2009.

Now, a simple Google search can tell you WHY the Heroes were in Florida...they're one of four international teams calling the former Major League facilities home for some spring training.

What Google can't/won't tell you why Gary Sheffield was there.  But it sure is fun to speculate.

Pictures courtesy of Naver News.  A tip o' the hat to Dan (@mykbo) for the lead.

Karim Garcia Puts the "Twit" in Twitter

It sure doesn’t seem like it, but it’s been almost seven years since that 2003 Red Sox-Yankees playoff game where Pedro Martinez drilled Karim Garcia in the back.

What followed were two of the best Martinez moments ever…his one-sided scuffle with Don Zimmer and the famous quote “who are you Karim Garcia”.

So where are they now?

Martinez is out of the game…but promises to be back. Zimmer, now in his 62nd Major League season, is some sort of coach with the Tampa Bay Rays.

And Garcia, well, Garcia is with the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) and probably hadn’t been thought about since 2003. That was until this past week when, it appears, “The Latino Bambino” found himself in a little trouble.

According to the blog True Stories of Korean Baseball, the Lotte Giants outfielder was ejected for arguing with an umpire and received the league mandated seven-game suspension and a $3000 fine.

The money is probably a drop in the bucket for Garcia and while seven games is seven games…it is no big deal, right?

Wrong.

The 35 year-old slugger then took the matter to, you guessed it, Twitter. What he banged out was a typo-laden, Jose Canseco-esque string of tweets criticizing the KBO.

Garcia has since taken down his tweets, but, thankfully, they were saved by the aforementioned “True Stories” blog.

If you can sift through the typos (and if you follow Canseco…you certainly can), here’s what the former Yankees bust had to say.

great ,stupid kbo suspend me 7 games for what? the ump stir at me and takes the mask off and say what?

looking for me to say something and then trow me out off the game wish i did

and for that i get 7 games and 3000dlls i thing that they have no clue off what they r doing and say ok let kick him out the rest off the yr

they should look realy hard at the ump they r terrible worst then a ball in the states but kbo dont say nothing about that

kbo realy need to make up their mind about what is going on with ump asking for sing ball and be realy friendly with some players

always making mistakes at the plate or on the bases but kbo dont see that only they see what they want to see

kbo is realy good at not doing something when they supposto but when is a foring player they jump right in and try to get them tnx

o and one more thing i cant ask to reducce my penalty they dont have that in korea base ball so i cant talk to no body from kbo

Again, Garcia has taken down his derogatory tweets, but if you head over and check out @karimgarcia95 on Twitter, you’ll find that he’s also caught a case of the Mannys and Sammys and, suddenly, can only tweet only in Spanish.

At the time of his suspension, Garcia was hitting .252 with 26 home runs and 83 RBI for the Lotte Giants. And if, for some reason, you are curious about the comings and goings of the Korean Baseball Organization, follow @mykbo over on the Twitters.