Colletti Loses Mind, Signs Chan Ho Park

And your first post-Joe Torre signing is...Chan Ho Park??? When we wrote about this back in July, we were kidding. Then we open up this morning's Korea Times and see that the Dodgers signed Park after all? Has Colletti lost his mind, or is he not in on the joke?

The 33-year-old South Korean said Thursday he signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he started his Major League career in 1994, and expected to join the team in spring camp.

Team 61, Park's domestic management agency, declined to reveal the terms of the deal, including whether it's a minor league contract or a split contract, which would provide Park a higher rate of pay if added to the Major League roster.

Park, in an entry in his Weblog, said his salary would be similar to a "rookie on the start."

"Dodgers Town is the spring camp venue where I first started my Major League dreams," Park said. "The terms of the contract are similar to a rookie on the start, but the important thing is that I will be able to play for a team that I always missed."

I can't say we missed Park all that much. Letting Park leave the Dodgers for the Rangers (were he was paid big money to compile a 22-23 record over the course of three and a half seasons) was one of the team's finest moves in the last decade. Park was once described (on a post-game show) as having "the heart of a butterfly", and it was true--any small sign of life from the opposing team's bats (like, say, a baserunner) and he would tend to completely crumble. Why we'd want to deal with this headcase again, I don't know.

Way to make a big post-Torre splash, Ned. What happened to the "Torre! Torii! Tori!" plan?

Hat tip, the ever-worldly 6-4-2.