OnlyBucs

407B717A56120 wrote: Pirates play Toronto (Canada) in August...Canada doesn`t allow people with DUI`s into their country. They are considered felons .



I can`t visit Canada. :-[



Sucks about Kang,but he made some good money and did great for us while it lasted.


Was thinking the same thing.

How does his contract work. If he's out all season, is he still our for 2 more years?

If  Kang is out the entire season my quess is the Bucs may try to void the contract and release him. They will not want to go another year wondering if Kang will be able to obtain a work Visa in order to play baseball for them.

7874752E272E262B2C33291E0 wrote: If  Kang is out the entire season my quess is the Bucs may try to void the contract and release him. They will not want to go another year wondering if Kang will be able to obtain a work Visa in order to play baseball for them.


I wonder if he has to sit out a year over here because of visa issues can he play back in Korea? And if he can would the Bucs want him to and thus invite some injury?

0C2D250C272F480 wrote: If  Kang is out the entire season my quess is the Bucs may try to void the contract and release him. They will not want to go another year wondering if Kang will be able to obtain a work Visa in order to play baseball for them.








I wonder if he has to sit out a year over here because of visa issues can he play back in Korea?  And if he can would the Bucs want him to and thus invite some injury?


I thought I read somewhere that Kang cannot play any games with Korean teams as well. His professional games are on hold due to some bad judgements he made.

My guess is that his visa issues relate to the probation part of his sentence, meaning in theory it's still an open case. This would explain his appeal. If he can show a judge that in his particular case the probation is equivalent to a six-million dollar (or whatever remains on his MLB contract) fine, the judge may be persuaded to change the sentence to just a fine. If that were to happen, he may then be able to get the visa.



At any rate, I wouldn't assume his season is gone. I'm expecting him here and on the field May 1.

0B2A220B20284F0 wrote:



They may not have expected it to happen, but I think they were preparing for the possibility when they put him on the restricted list earlier this spring.






They can take him off that list at any time.  One just needs approval by MLB to get on and off the list.




Not that simple in Kang's case.  He needs some big permission from the Korean Courts in form of a reduction in his sentence for being a drunk and from the US in the form of a valid work visa.  Neither of which he has right now.  When he gets that stuff then we can talk about taking him off the restricted list.



He is on the restricted list on to make sure the Bucs still have his MLB rights if things do get fixed so he can come to the US hopefully a sober drunk and play some baseball.




The restricted list has nothing to do with the Korean law or his US work visa. He can come off that list at any time with MLB approval. Putting Kang on this list was smart, but it wasn't a back up plan if he never made it back to the team.



The Pirates don't have to pay him while on the list. They can if they want, but doubt they will. They just own his rights unless a team makes an offer for him.



I just wish the Pirates would have brought on a replacement knowing this was a possibility. Unless they thought Freese was that guy and Gosselin replaces Freese on the bench, they didn't make a move. It's a big drop off from Kang.

353E363A3F3E256066112830393E3E7F323E510 wrote:



They may not have expected it to happen, but I think they were preparing for the possibility when they put him on the restricted list earlier this spring.






They can take him off that list at any time.  One just needs approval by MLB to get on and off the list.




Not that simple in Kang's case.  He needs some big permission from the Korean Courts in form of a reduction in his sentence for being a drunk and from the US in the form of a valid work visa.  Neither of which he has right now.  When he gets that stuff then we can talk about taking him off the restricted list.



He is on the restricted list on to make sure the Bucs still have his MLB rights if things do get fixed so he can come to the US hopefully a sober drunk and play some baseball.




The restricted list has nothing to do with the Korean law or his US work visa. He can come off that list at any time with MLB approval. Putting Kang on this list was smart, but it wasn't a back up plan if he never made it back to the team.



The Pirates don't have to pay him while on the list. They can if they want, but doubt they will. They just own his rights unless a team makes an offer for him.



I just wish the Pirates would have brought on a replacement knowing this was a possibility. Unless they thought Freese was that guy and Gosselin replaces Freese on the bench, they didn't make a move. It's a big drop off from Kang.


That's the problem. It was a possibility but not a certainty. How good a replacement should they have brought in while knowing it was possible he might not be needed for long if at all? What would be the cost (in both salary and players given up in a trade) to get a player that might possibly not be needed? Under the circumstances, I think they made reasonable decisions. Freese was resigned as a safeguard and had over 400 ABs last year. He played in 141 games and had more ABs than Jaso or Kang. So it's not as if he's an unknown commodity or isn't used to a lot of playing time. They brought in Gosselin who can play 3B to spell Freese. They have Frazier who they want to find ABs for and can play 2B if Harrison sees time at 3B, which was his position a couple seasons ago. And it's still not certain that Kang won't be playing at some point in the season. Kang put the Pirates between a rock and a hard place and I can't fault them for how they're handling it.



Geez, Dog, stop being so critical of Pirates management! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

I just feel the Pirates should have known more in what was going on. They come off as not knowing or weighing all options.



It wasn't like an injury that can't be predicted. The law was involved. Lawyers should know more. The Pirates had to be in contact with Kang's lawyer, their lawyer, any lawyer discussing what was at hand.



I don't know who they could have got. I understand what you are saying, but they are saving money with Frazier, Gosselin, Hanson, and even Kang. A bigger investment and improvement could have been done. I expected the Pirates would know more than the average fan with Google. If they didn't know, shame on them. If the did know, shame on them for not upgrading better.

575C54585D5C470204734A525B5C5C1D505C330 wrote: I just feel the Pirates should have known more in what was going on.  They come off as not knowing or weighing all options. 



It wasn't like an injury that can't be predicted.  The law was involved.  Lawyers should know more.  The Pirates had to be in contact with Kang's lawyer, their lawyer, any lawyer discussing what was at hand.



I don't know who they could have got.  I understand what you are saying, but they are saving money with Frazier, Gosselin, Hanson, and even Kang.  A bigger investment and improvement could have been done.  I expected the Pirates would know more than the average fan with Google.  If they didn't know, shame on them.  If the did know, shame on them for not upgrading better. 
Yes, but as you indicated, they were dealing with a possibility rather than a certainty. Even with due diligence the Pirates FO knew it was possible to lose Kang altogether but also possible they would not. So making a bigger investment might have been unnecessary. (And still might.) For all the Pirates know Kang could win his appeal and get his visa. I don't always agree with the FO but in this case I don't see how we can fault them for not knowing what we still don't know (will Kang be back this year?) when they already had options of Freese and Harrison/Frazier.