Park Hopes to Pitch 200 Innings for Mets

The terms of Park Chan-ho’s newly signed contract with the New York Mets this year include $600,000 (approximately 560 million won) in base salary, and $2.4 million (approximately 2.243 billion won) in incentives if he pitches 199 innings or more.

Compared to the $15.5 million (approximately 14.4 billion won) he got from San Diego last year, the salary looks somewhat trivial.

Park has been working as a full-time Major-Leaguer for 11 seasons, and he has thrown 200 innings or more in only three of them. Those three seasons were his best years—1998, 2000 and 2001—when he was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, Park is confident he can make a comeback. On February 10, at a press conference held at the Beverly Hills Sports Council in California, he said, “I’ve worked out and I’m physically prepared to pitch 200 innings this year. Instead of promising how many wins I will get, I want to contribute to the team by throwing more than 200 innings. As I’m confident in my healthy physical condition, I accepted a one-year contract deal including incentive clauses,” commented Park, exposing his intention to produce good results this season and get a multi-year contract with better terms after it.

On February 11, he also talked about some of the troubles he has been through on his personal website (http://www.chanhopark61.com). In a post titled with a Chinese idiom, which means, “I see the path as I empty my mind,” he stated, “It took me time to learn about reality and find my path. I’m happy to play for the Mets. It’s also good for me that the team is based in a city where lots of Koreans live.”

While Tom Glavine and Orlando Hernandez are highly likely to be the first and second starters for the team, Park will compete with other Mets pitchers such as John Maine and Oliver Perez for the remaining rotation positions.

The Mets will play preseason games for a month, starting with a match against the Detroit Tigers on March 1. The exhibition games could give us clue as to whether Park can accomplish his goal of pitching 200 innings this season.

beetlez@donga.com