Park's Aboard Again; Shackelford Added To Mix

While the Dodgers are still actively seeking a starting pitcher, they have been searching among the bits and pieces floating around the free agent pool for perhaps some filler material.

One move would have the on-again, off-again reunion with Chan Ho Park now in the "on" mode once more. Another is the addition of Brian Shackelford, late of the Cincinnati Reds. Both have signed minor league contracts with invitations to spring training as non-roster participants.

Originally Park had been announced as having signed, only to have him back off with the intention of pitching for Korea in the Olympics instead. That didn't come off so he's once more a Dodger.

But a long, long way from the ace he was in his glory days- the guy who got a load of money from Texas when he defected to them. Last year, Chan Ho managed one big league game- that for the Mets in which he was raked.

They let him go and he later signed with Houston and wound up in the Pacific Coast League where he was little better, going a combined 6-14 with a 5.97 ERA. Now 34, he'll be trying as a reclamation project to make it as perhaps a set-up man.

Shackelford was once a position player who became a lefthanded reliever, putting in various times from 2005 through 2007 with the Reds. Last year he got into 26 games for them with a 1-0, 7.16 record. He was 0-5, 4.47 in the International League.

Drafted in the 13th round in 1998 by the Royals, Shackelford's 31 years old. When right, he throws a fast ball with good life and a nasty cutter.