Major League Baseball will void the contract between 17-year-old left-hander Seong-Min Kim and the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. The move figures to improve relations between MLB and Korean baseball officials, and it won't prevent the Orioles from signing Kim at a later date.
Soon after the Orioles announced their deal with Kim on January 30th the Korea Baseball Organization and Korea Baseball Association bristled at the breach of protocol. Baltimore completed a deal with Kim before he completed high school, so he was suspended from playing or coaching in South Korea and the Orioles were banned from scouting KBO games. The Orioles issued a formal apology less than a week ago.
Anybody think the orioles end up signing this kid in the end? I think this definitely makes this more complex, especially since this might have put this kid on the map for some other teams who weren’t paying a lot of attention to him otherwise.
He’ll probably end up with the O’s, but it is really up to him at this point. You would think that he was already on the radar being the top lefty on the Korean Jr. team.
So, his KBO veto will stay? Poor guy, they went for his blood.
Make it fair then. World wide draft for everyone and no posting fees.
I don’t understand why this 17 YO (who is not signed as a professional athlete) isn’t free to pursue a career in the majors. Why should he be treated different than a kid coming from Columbia?
Why should he be treated differently? Perhaps because the local country has its own rules and laws and such? Maybe because some of these Asian countries don’t want to see MLB stripping them of all their young talent, and leaving only the scraps for their own professional leagues?
I realize that MLB probably does have the best of the best talent, but that doesn’t mean that they can run roughshod over foreign countries and their own rules, etc.
Korea has no law against it’s citizens signing contracts with foreign companies in other countries, and he is old enough that he is not violating any child labor laws.
The professional leagues in most other countries (excpt Cuba countries like Cuba) are private enterprises, like MLB. In Korea, the teams are owned by large corporate/business conglomerates. Unless the player signs with one of their teams first, they have no legal hold over him.
This is a human rights violation preventing the freedom of a worker to choose his employment in his chosen profession by forcing him to serve at a private monopolies pleasure or change professions.
Oh, puh-leeeeze. Get off your high horse and stop acting like you think that MLB can tell other countries whether they (MLB) can sign sign players in that country or not.
What’s next? Are you going to claim that Japan’s posting system is a human rights violation? Get a grip on reality!!!
I hope the kid isn’t hung out to dry. I’m sure the KBA and KBO don’t want him around.
So MLB essentially gave this kid the short end of the stick even more than the KBA and KBO. Great move, Selig.
Absolutely. Selig caved in to somebody. KBO never publicly said they wanted the contract voided, just that they wanted some “punishment”. I think they were hoping for money. In the end, the kid gets screwed because it was the Orioles. If this was the Mighty Yankees, they would have been fined and allowed to keep the kid.
This military service is a big deal in South Korea. I read up on it. There was a fella named MC Mong who allegedly ripped out his teeth to avoid military service and now this happened to him. In September 2011, it was reported that Mong has been banned by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) from appearing in its TV shows, for draft dodging.[11]
They don’t fool around over there and Duquette should have known this. Plus, the fact I have zero idea as to what he’s really trying to accomplish with the Orioles other than making the O’s more of a laughing stock than we already are. I just hope the fans aren’t lumped into the same category, because we all aren’t silly! :p. Well maybe sometimes….
Lastly, I wish there was truth to a rumor that was going around that Peter Angelos was allegedly trying to quietly sell the team, but not MASN. If I had the money, I would take him up on that offer and buy the team. I could care less about the revenue stream from MASN. It would be the fact that he wouldn’t be owner of the team that I have loved since I was kid!
“we all aren’t silly”
Silliness is just a habit then?
“This military service is a big deal in South Korea.”
As it should be. They have technically been at war with their neighbor for the last 60 years and that said neighbor is armed to it’s teeth.
MLB better give Baltimore some compensation.
Why? Cuz they screwd up? Do they also get compensation for the last 15 years? Sorry, I like the Os but did any other GM make this mistake?
They didn’t break any MLB rules.
Baseball reasons
As a Blue Jays fan, I am so thankful that I am not an Orioles fan.
Uh… what?
Really, what’s the difference between a perennial fourth place finish and zero playoff appearances since 1993 and a perennial fifth place finish and zero playoff appearances since 1997?
The two championships in the early 90s. They say you get 10 years of bragging rights for winning one championship, but on the metric system, it’s like 30 years.
just kidding, Canada.
The difference is that the Blue Jays are a professionally run organization that is not too far of from contending. The Orioles, on the other hand, are hopeless. If you were to pick a team with the least chance of being a playoff contender in the next five years, it would be the Orioles. Sure, neither team has won anything in a long time, but their current situations are totally different.
Nailed it.
How can a non party entity cancel a contract? Seems like this Kim kid should have a claim against Major League Baseball if he chooses to sue.
let him get here on legal grounds first.
Apparently…
In 2008 a similar thing happened to the Angels. MLB said that the Angels couldn’t sign him for 30 days, but no other team jumped in and signed the kid so the Angels just resigned him.
Also, rumor going around the local websites is that since KBA/KBO didn’t demand that the contract be voided, what MLB is going to do is to delay approval of the contract for 30 days as a warning. What this will ultimately do is keep the kid out of the minor league spring training facility for a month and will allow the Koreans to save face.
Korean baseball probably told Selig they would not send a rep to the next World Baseball Classic.
What is the basis for MLB to void the contract? MLB teams have done the same in Taiwan (eg Wang) and all of Latin America.
Seems the player should have a choice where to sign. He is over 16 so not violating any child labor rules. His parents have agreed.
If this were the Yankees or Red Sox the contract does not get voided.
The Commissioner does have the power to make any decisions in the league based on the “best interests of baseball” clause in his description thanks to Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis taking the original Commissioner position back in 1921. Disconcerting move by Selig to say the least, but by no means outside his scope of authority.