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Koreas contributions to Major League Baseball have run the gamut in recent years. Jung Ho Kang, the crown jewel of transplants, is an .800 OPS anchor in the Pittsburgh Pirates order. Seattles Dae-Ho Lee flashed some power this season, with 14 home runs in 104 games. Baltimores Hyun Soo Kim hit .302 without a lot of pop, and Byung Ho Park batted .191 in 62 games with Minnesota before a demotion to the minors and season-ending wrist surgery in August. That was hardly what the Twins had in mind when they signed him to a four-year, $12.85 million contract a year ago.So who will be next on the list? The primary name on MLBs Korea radar has California roots, an outsized personality and enough of a mystery factor to suggest he could be a wild card in this winters free-agent market.His name is Eric Thames, and Toronto fans might recall him as a platoon outfielder with the Blue Jays in 2011 and 2012. After drifting from Seattle to Houston to the NC Dinos in the Korean Baseball Organization, he has lured a procession of scouts to the city of Changwon, on Koreas southeastern coast. The?San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays are among the clubs that have followed Thames in Korea and expressed varying degrees of interest in him, sources said.Thames, 30, has spent the past three years putting up cartoon numbers that bring to mind the success enjoyed by Tuffy Rhodes and Wladimir Balentien in Japan. In 2015, Thames won the MVP award and a Gold Glove at first base, became the first KBO player to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a season, logged a .391/.497/.790 slash line and became the first player in Korean baseball to hit for the cycle twice in the same season.This year, Thames regressed slightly, but he still hit 40 homers and logged an OPS of 1.101 for the Dinos, who lost to the Doosan Bears in the KBO final, known as the Korean Series.Now that Thames has reached the end of a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Dinos, options abound. He could return to the Dinos, although his success might have priced him out of the KBO. He could pursue a deal in Japan. Or he could plunge into the MLB free-agent market, where the left-handed power-hitting options include Michael Saunders, Colby Rasmus, Mitch Moreland, Adam Lind,?Pedro Alvarez and Brandon Moss.Is Thames an everyday option for a team in search of a power bat, or more of a platoon type? Interested major league teams arent the only ones asking that question. Four years since his last big league at-bat, Thames is curious what the future might bring.Yes, the thought has crossed my mind a few times, Thames said in a recent email to ESPN.com. Im wondering about how my new mindset could transfer over. Next year feels like light years away! Who knows where I will end up.Thames has taken a roundabout route to this point. He played high school ball at Bellarmine Prep -- a private Jesuit school in San Jose, California, that produced big leaguers Pat Burrell and Kevin Frandsen?--?and signed with Toronto as a seventh-round pick out of Pepperdine University in 2008. He was at the bottom of the 40-man roster for a 111-loss Houston team and playing winter ball in Venezuela in December 2013 when representatives for the Dinos squad approached his agents at Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon with interest.As a bearded, muscular, 6-foot-1, 220-pounder with power and an abundance of tattoos, Thames had a certain?appeal for the Dinos.They had done their homework, said Adam Karon, Thames agent. They told us they were interested because, Hes a comic book hero with a prep school education.Thames was initially skeptical about his long-term prospects in the Far East. He planned to go to Korea for a year, then return stateside. But his natural curiosity prompted him to keep an open mind. Shortly after signing with NC, Thames bought the Rosetta Stone Korean program and dove head-first into learning the language.When you look at this as just a paycheck, thats when you struggle, Thames said. The key is to enjoy the ride. Fully embrace the experience. [The] Hangul [alphabet] is pretty easy to learn, so I was able to pick it up easily. I am not fluent by any means, but speaking like a baby is better than not knowing any at all.As Thames immersed himself in the Korean culture and began clearing fences with regularity, he developed an ardent following. He patiently signed autographs for long lines of fans at Masan Stadium, and he grew accustomed to having meals interrupted by fans in search of selfies.Going anywhere with him is insane in that country, Karon said. Its like going out with the Beatles. Girls are crying and people are trying to touch him and get pictures. Ive never seen anything like it.Celebrity came with a price. In late September, Thames was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and suspended nine games. The legal limit for blood alcohol content in Korea is 0.050, considerably lower than in the U.S., and Thames registered a 0.056. He apologized and subsequently did community service as a penance.A Far East scout for an MLB club said Thames showed a strong work ethic in Korea and was popular with his teammates. The natural question is how his skills will translate to the majors. Can he adjust to higher level of competition and bigger ballparks in the majors? Thames has more of a line-drive swing than loft power. Can he catch up to 94-95 mph fastballs after feasting on 89-91 mph heaters in the KBO?Hes very aggressive at the plate and on the field, too, for that matter, the scout said. Hes a first-ball fastball hacker, boy. Hes trying to hit the ball hard. Sometime you see guys who are happy to make contact and put the ball in play. Thats not him. Hes gonna hurt somebody someday.Thames defense in the outfield was considered below-average in Toronto. He moved to first base in Korea and will most likely be viewed by MLB teams as a combination first baseman-corner outfield-DH candidate. A National League front office man said he wouldnt be surprised if teams were willing to give Thames a multiyear deal to return to the States.You have an element thats going to be skeptical, the executive said. Hes already played over here, and he wasnt a tremendous success the first time. But you have to ask yourself, Is this guy a late bloomer?Look at some of the money that Cuban players have gotten. Whats the difference here? I think somebody is going to bite, and hell get a contract for two years and $12 million, or three years and $15-18 million.Thames, who majored in integrated marketing and communications at Pepperdine, is back on the open market as a more mature, worldly player than the one who first traveled to Korea in 2014. He has embraced meditation and is a fan of Shawn Greens book, The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 mph.I focus on the process rather than the results, Thames said. When I was younger, I just wanted to be liked by fans and wanted to be an All-Star, but there is a process to succeed at that high of a level. I believe meditation is very important. It helps keep your head above water. It helps you live in the present moment.The present finds Eric Thames open to offers and interested in seeing how much MLB teams value his achievements in Korea. After traveling roughly 6,000 miles to find himself, hes about to discover how it feels to be wanted back in the states. Ultra Boost Outlet . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Adidas Nmd Schuhe Günstig .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. http://www.nmdschuhesale.de/ . He says so-called TRT is only one problem and he wants to go even further than the ban. "Its about time," St-Pierre told reporters at a promotional event in Montreal on Friday. 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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A Knoxville police officer who called Tennessee Volunteers coach Butch Jones during a rape investigation in which his players were involved will no longer serve as the police departments liaison to the football team.Knoxville police chief David Rausch said Wednesday that Sam Brown was removed from that assignment as a result of the reported concerns about the relationship between the football program and the police department.Rausch said Brown had served as the departments liaison to the Tennessee football program for the past 19 years and that his role included providing security for the head coach, team and staff.In order for the program to move on and avoid further undue scrutiny, it was agreed that we should make the transition at this time, Rausch said in a statement.Knoxville radio station WNML first reported the decision.Rausch emphasized this move is not the result of anything that Officer Brown has done or not done.He is a man of great integrity and has been a dedicated public servant to the Knoxville community, Rausch said.Phone records released in March show that Jones received calls from Brown and Rausch ton he morning of Nov. 16, 2014, hours after a woman said she was raped.Jones spoke to A.J. Johnson, a linebacker on his team at the time, a few minutes after receiving the initial call from Brown.ddddddddddddJohnson and defensive back Michael Williams?were suspended from the team Nov. 17, 2014, and identified as suspects the following day. They were indicted on aggravated rape charges in February 2015, and their cases are still pending.Knoxville police announced in April they were ending their practice of making courtesy calls to Tennessee coaches about incidents involving their players in the interest of transparency and to alleviate any appearance of conflict of interest. They said that going forward, in any incident involving a student at the university, police would make formal notification only to the schools law enforcement officials.Rausch said Wednesday that Brown has been on the citys two-year delayed-retirement program since February 2015 and has a final service date effective Jan. 31.He has been a mentor and guide to the young men in the program and has provided excellent professional service to those involved in the program, Rausch said.Rausch said Knoxville police would continue to provide support and serve the safety and security needs for the football program in partnership with the University of Tennessee police department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. ' ' '