Competition to Hold Chan-Ho Heats up…..5 Teams Likely to Bid

The winter meeting of the major league is heating up. And the interests in Park Chan-Ho (28, LA Dodgers) are also escalating.

The `winter meeting` is an off-season meeting in which all the general managers, coaching staffs, and club executives of ML 30 teams gather. The heated stove league of this year is underway from Dec. 10th to Dec. 14th at Boston. Since all responsible officials of each team gather in one place, blockbuster trades and free agent contracts have usually been settled in this winter meeting.

Another big trade was completed yesterday in this meeting, with the New York Mets acquiring 12-time all-star and 10-time golden glove winner second baseman Roberto Alomar (Cleveland Indians). And Cincinnati sent outfielder/slugger Dmitri Young to Detroit. As such, the winter meeting is heating up.

In this winter meeting, Park Chan-Ho`s value is also rising. After the Dodgers offered the arbitration to only Park among the team`s free agent pitchers, the Los Angeles newspapers have forecasted that the Dodgers would actively try to sign Park. And it is known that Scott Boras, representative of Park, has been in negotiation with several teams in the winter meeting.

Boras said, "The first step of negotiation is completed. The concrete result will come out soon through the second step of negotiation." hinting at the impending deal of Park. Boras added that the Alex Rodriguez`s 10-year deal of 252 million dollars was done last day of the winter meeting last year.

Boston`s newspapers said that currently 5 teams such as LA Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, New York Mets and New York Yankees are chasing to hold Park Chan-Ho. In particular, since Boston Red Sox gave up Japanese-born pitcher Nomo Hideo, it is formulating the plan to constitute `best one-two punch` with Pedro Martinez by acquiring Park Chan-Ho.

But the high-priced free agent Park Chan-Ho is for sure a burden on the Red Sox as well as the Rangers. According to the Boston Herald, the Red Sox spent 110 million dollars for players` salary this year, and is securing the fund of only 100-150 million dollars. Anyway, Park`s early contract depends on the bid of the teams which would satisfy Boras.

Kim Sang-Soo ssoo@donga.com