Jung-ho Kang

Injury Updates: Strasburg, Shoemaker, Pirates, Hamilton

By Mark Polishuk | September 4, 2016 at 6:02pm CDT

Here’s the latest health updates on some key names from around baseball…

Stephen Strasburg could “possibly” start for the Nationals on Wednesday, manager Dusty Baker told reporters, including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Strasburg was placed on the DL with a sore right elbow on August 21, so he would have only missed slightly beyond the 15-day minimum should he indeed return on Wednesday. Baker said Strasburg threw well in a bullpen session today but the club will see how the star righty is feeling tomorrow before any decisions are made.
Angels righty Matt Shoemaker was hit in the head with a line drive off the bat of Kyle Seager today. Shoemaker didn’t lose consciousness during the scary incident, and the Halos announced that he had suffered a laceration but was alert and responsive. A CT scan revealed that Shoemaker suffered a small skull fracture and a hematoma, and he’ll stay in hospital overnight and visit a neurologist (as per Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times).
The struggling Pirates could get some reinforcements in the form of Jung Ho Kang and Gerrit Cole, skipper Clint Hurdle told reporters (including Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Kang, who went on the DL with a left shoulder injury on August 20, could return to the active roster as early as Monday. Cole’s DL placement due to right elbow inflammation was retroactive to August 25, and the Pirates have him tentatively scheduled to start on September 12 against Philadelphia. Cole threw a 30-pitch bullpen session yesterday and has to get through two more side sessions scheduled for next week before the Bucs give him the green light to return.
Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton exited today’s game with the Cardinals after suffering a left oblique strain during the third inning. The severity of the injury isn’t known, as while Reds manager Bryan Price told reporters (including Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that Hamilton will likely be out of action for a few games, oblique injuries generally take much longer to heal. Jose Peraza is the Reds’ top center field option while Hamilton recovers. It’s not out of the question that Hamilton will miss the rest of the season, which would bring a disappointing end to a campaign that saw Hamilton (.260/.321/.343) post career highs in batting average and OBP over 460 plate appearances, while stealing a league-leading 58 bases.

Pirates To Place Jung Ho Kang On DL, Recall Josh Bell

By charliewilmoth | August 20, 2016 at 4:52pm CDT

The Pirates have announced that they will place third baseman Jung Ho Kang on the 15-day DL and will recall first baseman Josh Bell to take his place on the active roster. Kang sustained a left shoulder injury while sliding into second base during yesterday’s game against the Marlins.

Kang has batted a robust .243/.326/.481 in 267 plate appearances this year, although those numbers have dipped and his defense has flagged in the past two months (although he has three home runs in the past week). He has also faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a Chicago hotel earlier this summer.

With Kang on the shelf, David Freese will likely take most of the Pirates’ playing time at third base. Meanwhile, Bell will likely share time with John Jaso at first. Bell, one of the Bucs’ top prospects, had a brief stint in the Majors earlier in the summer and didn’t disappoint, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances and hitting a grand slam. But the Pirates opted to return him to the minors and continue playing Jaso, despite Jaso’s underwhelming performance at the plate. For the season, Bell has batted .295/.382/.468 at Triple-A Indianapolis, although his glove, rather than his bat, appeared to be the main source of the Pirates’ reluctance to give him regular playing time.

NL Notes: Rupp, Guerra, Kang

By Jeff Todd | July 14, 2016 at 8:36am CDT

It’s quiet today, but baseball’s second half begins in earnest tomorrow. Over the break, a roster of American League All-Stars defeated an assortment of National Leaguers by a score of 4 to 2. Owing to one of the most confounding rules in all of sport, this means that the A.L. entrant in the World Series will own home-field advantage for the Fall Classic.

As the A.L. post-season hopefuls celebrate their victory, here’s the latest from the N.L.:

Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com writes that a breakout first half from Cameron Rupp has made him a potential trade chip for the Phillies. While the 27-year-old comes with another four years of club control beyond the 2016 season, he represents a rare, controllable option for teams in need of offense behind the dish. A number of contenders meet that criteria, Seidman notes, listing the Indians and White Sox as a pair of clubs that have received well below-average production from their backstops this season. While the Phils needn’t feel compelled to move Rupp, GM Matt Klentak showed with the offseason Ken Giles trade that he’s willing to move assets with considerably more club control than the typical trade candidate if the right offer presents itself.
Brewers righty Junior Guerra has been one of the game’s most remarkable stories in the first half, turning from a waiver claimee (in GM David Stearns’s first transaction) into a quality starter. As Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes, it was his discovery — and mastery — of the splitter that made him a Rookie of the Year candidate at 31 years of age. Harnessing that key offering “was a long process,” he says, explaining that he didn’t feel comfortable with it until about two years ago. Because of his age, Guerra is in a rather unique position with regard to contract rights; he also could be a more likely trade candidate than might otherwise be anticipated given his meager service time (though I didn’t feel compelled to include him in our list of potentially available starters). “Right now I’m not thinking about money,” he tells D’Amato. “I’m just thinking about working hard and providing for my family. I want to keep working hard in order to keep getting chances.” Field questions about his trade status is probably quite an unexpected luxury, but Guerra says he hopes to continue pitching in Milwaukee.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says that the league won’t take any action with regard to Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang until the Chicago police have advanced their investigation into allegations of sexual assault, Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. “We are aware of the situation and are working with law enforcement,” said Manfred. “We will make a decision when we have sufficient facts as to whether application of, for example, the administrative leave provisions in the new policy are applicable.” The league had moved more swiftly to place Hector Olivera on administrative leave earlier this season, but he was arrested and charged in the immediate aftermath of the incident in question. In many ways, Kang’s situation will represent a new challenge for the commissioner’s office, who has already dealt with several cases under a still-new policy addressing domestic violence and sexual assault. This is the first case falling under the latter rubric, and also the first involving an important player whose team is involved in a post-season race.

Manfred On Athletics, MLB Diversity, Minor League Wages, Schedule, Kang

By charliewilmoth | July 12, 2016 at 2:40pm CDT

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had a wide-ranging conversation with reporters today in San Diego. Here’s a little of what he had to say, via Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8), Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller (1 2 3), David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1) and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Manfred lists the number of African-American players (currently 8%, although he says 20% of recent first-round draft picks have been African-American) as a significant concern. “This is an economic imperative for us,” he says, noting that, as the US becomes increasingly diverse, MLB must strive for diversity as well. On a somewhat related note, Manfred also said that the lack of a Latino manager in the game right now was “glaring.”
MLB will not consider expanding until the Rays and Athletics get their stadium issues resolved, Manfred says. Manfred sounds determined to keep a team in Oakland, however. “I am committed to Oakland as a major league site,” he says. If the A’s were to depart, “we would be looking backwards and saying we made a mistake.” He adds that he thinks the Oakland market will be increasingly appealing going forward. “I think the growth in that area, the way the growth has moved up into San Francisco, I think Oakland is more likely than not to be a better market five years from now than it is today,” he says.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Manfred said he was confident that labor talks this offseason would not result in a strike or lockout.
Of the current clamor to raise wages for minor league players (which has included a class-action lawsuit brought by former minor leaguers), Manfred says, “Excessive regulation could have a really dramatic impact on the size of minor league baseball,” seemingly suggesting that increased wages might result in the folding of some minor league teams.
It sounds like Manfred expects some form of draft pick compensation for free agents to continue into the next Collective Bargaining Agreement — he says owners would be making a “major concession” if draft-pick compensation were to be dropped.
It sounds like Manfred did not come out in support of an international draft today quite as strongly as he has in the past, but he did say MLB needs “a more transparent operating system in the international player acquisition process.”
Manfred admits that the current 162-game schedule is tough on players, and says players and owners are currently discussing ways to reduce the difficulty of the season by optimizing game times and improving teams’ travel schedules. Of the possibility of reducing the number of games, however, he says, “You want to work less, generally you get paid less.”
The league has not received enough information from law enforcement to decide whether Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang, who has been accused of sexual assault, should be placed on administrative leave.

Police Investigating Sexual Assault Claim Against Jung Ho Kang

By Jeff Todd | July 5, 2016 at 4:40pm CDT

The Chicago police department is investigating an allegation of sexual assault against Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang, as Stacy St. Clair and David Henzmann of the Chicago Tribune report. The ballclub has issued a statement, signed to CEO Frank Coonelly, in which it declined comment but did acknowledge the investigation.

According to the report, the investigation relates to events that occurred during the Pirates’ trip to Chicago last month. Pittsburgh played a series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field from June 17th through 19th. You can find further details of the claims at the link provided above.

Kang, 29, has played with the Pirates since the start of 2015 after previously featuring as a star in his native Korea. He has been a high-quality player for Pittsburgh, though certainly on-field considerations are not of primary concern given the seriousness of the matter at hand.

The Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy governs the investigation and punishment of matters such as these, as well as many related issues. Commissioner Rob Manfred has the authority to place Kang on paid administrative leave for seven days while the league begins looking into the matter, though no such action has been taken to this point.

This news comes even as Jose Reyes returns today for the Mets after serving a lengthy suspension for a domestic violence incident. Major league baseball has doled out suspensions to two other players — Hector Olivera and Aroldis Chapman — under the above-noted policy, which was announced last August. So far as has been publicly reported, none of those situations involved allegations of sexual violence, but instead fell under the policy due to their domestic implications.

NL Central Notes: Votto, Cardinals, Kang

By Connor Byrne | May 1, 2016 at 3:13pm CDT

Superstar Reds first baseman Joey Votto has hit a surprisingly poor .233/.333/.314 in 102 plate appearances this year while walking less than usual and striking out at a rate higher than normal. Votto, who’s making $20MM this season and is owed up to $192MM from 2017-2024, is embarrassed by his early season performance and told C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’d rather retire and forfeit the money than stick around and fail to produce. “I’m here to play and be part of setting a standard. It’s something I’ve always taken pride in,” he said. “I love to play at a really high level. So far this year, it’s not been that. I will not be a very satisfied, happy person if I don’t perform at the level that I expect.” The 32-year-old Votto, a career .309/.421/.529 hitter, is coming off a 7.4-fWAR season, so he seems like a prime candidate to return to form as 2016 progresses. “I signed up for a high-level of performance. I didn’t sign up for this just to make money,” he added.

And now for some news on a pair of Cincinnati’s division rivals…

There was a report Saturday stating that the Cardinals gave right-hander Carlos Martinez permission to leave the team Friday because of a civil lawsuit he’s facing in Florida. Now there’s more details on that suit, courtesy of TMZ (link via Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com). The woman suing Martinez is seeking upward of $1.5MM in damages for battery, negligent transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and fraud. She and Martinez have had an on-again, off-again relationship since 2012, according to her. As of Saturday, the Cardinals were in the process of determining whether the allegations against Martinez will lead to an investigation by Major League Baseball under its domestic violence rules. Martinez rejoined the Cardinals after his brief departure and started their game today.
The Pirates will ease shortstop/third baseman Jung Ho Kang back into their lineup when he returns soon from a left knee injury, general manager Neal Huntington said Sunday (link via Adam Berry of MLB.com). That could mean starting Kang two of every three games and using him as a pinch hitter or defensive replacement when he’s not in the lineup, Huntington suggested. Kang has amassed 32 at-bats during his rehab stint with Triple-A Indianapolis, and he could rejoin the Pirates once he gets anywhere from 45 to 60.
Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta is progressing quickly in his recovery from left thumb surgery in March and could return to the majors later this month, reports Langosch. Peralta fielded grounders at short Sunday for the first time since the surgery, and the club currently plans for him to start a rehab assignment May 21. The Cardinals haven’t missed Peralta nearly as much as expected because of the virtuoso performance Aledmys Diaz has turned in at short, which means they’ll have to find a way to play both when Peralta returns. “What he’s doing, he needs to be on the team,” Peralta said of Diaz, who has hit .417/.447/.722 with four homers in the first 76 PAs of his big league career.

Injury Updates: Pirates, McCullers, Santana

By Connor Byrne | April 17, 2016 at 12:02pm CDT

Here’s the latest injury news from around Major League Baseball:

The Pirates announced that both infielder Jung Ho Kang and right-handed reliever Jared Hughes will begin rehab assignments at Triple-A Indianapolis in the upcoming week. Kang, who will play for Indy on Monday, is certainly the bigger piece of the two, having put up a 3.9-fWAR season as a rookie in 2015. After coming over from Korea, the shortstop/third baseman hit .287/.355/.461 with 15 home runs before suffering torn ligaments in his knee in September. Kang is allowed 20 days on his rehab assignment, which means the latest he can return to the Pirates is May 7, tweets Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hughes, meanwhile, has exceeded 60 innings three of the last four years out of the Bucs’ bullpen, and his ERA hasn’t surpassed 2.85 in any of those seasons. Although the ground-ball pitcher owns a 2.77 ERA in 250 career innings, FIP (3.95) and xFIP (3.93) aren’t quite buying his bottom-line results.
Astros right-hander Lance McCullers threw Sunday without any problems, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (on Twitter). The 22-year-old has yet to debut this season because of shoulder troubles, and he had to be scratched from a rehab start earlier this week because of “lingering recovery issues” from his prior outing. McCullers burst on the scene as a rookie in 2015, tossing 125 2/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball (3.26 FIP, 3.50 xFIP) to accompany a stellar 9.24 K/9. Without McCullers, the Astros’ rotation has put up a lofty 4.82 ERA this year.
Twins outfielder Danny Santana, who landed on the disabled list April 9 because of a hamstring injury, could begin a rehab assignment midway through the upcoming week, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press (Twitter link). Santana played all three outfield positions for the Twins during his first four games prior to the injury, though he went just 2 for 12 with no extra-base hits or walks at the plate. Twins outfielders have been putrid in general this year, so Santana could work his way back into the lineup when he returns. However, he was ineffective over 91 games last season in putting up a .215/.241/.291 line and -1.4 fWAR. Those numbers served as a stark contrast to Santana’s red-hot, 101-game rookie campaign in 2014 (.319/.353/.472, 3.3 fWAR).

NL Central Notes: Diaz, Kang, Cards, Hazelbaker, Cubs

By Steve Adams | April 13, 2016 at 9:11pm CDT

The Pirates have shut down top catching prospect Elias Diaz due to concern over lingering soreness in his right elbow, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Diaz is seeking “multiple opinions” on the injury, but as Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets, there’s concern about structural damage. The 25-year-old Diaz spent last season at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he batted .271/.330/.382 in 363 plate appearances. Baseball America, MLB.com and Keith Law of ESPN rank Diaz as the Pirates’ No. 10, No. 8 and No. 14 prospect, respectively. Each of the scouting reports notes that his defensive prowess gives him a high floor, but his bat, too, has come around recently and given him a chance to be an everyday catcher at the Major League level.

Pirates Notes: Morton, Pitching, Melancon, Niese, Nicasio, Kang

By | December 12, 2015 at 5:49pm CDT

The Pirates are one of several teams holding a FanFest today. Reporters, including MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth, were on hand for the Q&A with GM Neal Huntington. The Pirates’ GM admitted that today’s Morton swap was mostly about payroll relief, although the club does like David Whitehead.

Here’s more Pirates notes:

Today’s trade of Charlie Morton will likely instigate “multiple moves,” tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. After the move, the Pirates payroll is around $88MM with a target of about $105MM per Biertempfel (tweet). Huntington told reporters including MLB.com’s Adam Berry (tweet), “A big part of the motivation was to free some dollars to allow us to deepen the club, to reestablish some depth.“
Industry sources implied to Biertempfel (tweet) that pitchers like Scott Kazmir, Mike Leake, or others over $10MM per season are not on the Pirates radar. However, there is no doubt that at least one starting pitcher is on the agenda. The rotation presently consists of Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, Jon Niese, and Jeff Locke. Presumably, the club prefers for Locke or Niese to fill a long relief role with Allen Webster serving as minor league depth. Top prospect Tyler Glasnow is not expected to reach the majors early in the season.
Closer Mark Melancon is expected to earn $10MM in arbitration per MLBTR estimates, but the club is under no pressure to trade him, tweets Biertempfel. The team could potentially get by in the late innings with Tony Watson, Arquimedes Caminero, and new acquisition Juan Nicasio. However, a bullpen with Melancon is certainly more robust. With the market for quality closers at a premium, Pittsburgh would find it difficult to replace Melancon. Per Huntington, “if somebody steps up and gives us a return that’s significant enough to motivate us to get a little bit uncomfortable, then we get a little bit uncomfortable.” (h/t to Wilmoth for the quote).
In commenting on Nicasio, Huntinton told Wilmoth, “We do think there are some things we can help him with. Now, is it going to be enough to make him a good starter? Time will tell. Is it going to be enough to make him a really good reliever? Time will tell.” The Pirates have developed a reputation as a haven for reclamation projects which could make Nicasio an interesting player to watch.
Comparing recent acquisition Jon Niese to the market, Huntington said “he’ll continue to put up numbers similar to guys who are getting sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety million dollars in free agency — we have three, essentially, one-year contracts with Jon Niese.” While Niese comes with less cachet than somebody like Mike Leake, it’s true that they project to perform similarly. As such, Huntington may very well beat the market with this swap.
Huntington says Jung-ho Kang is more likely to return in April than May, per Berry (tweet). If true, this is a lucky break for the club. They currently have some combination of Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer, Alen Hanson, and Pedro Florimon penciled in for second base, shortstop, and third base. An injury or poor performance from Hanson could leave the club scrambling for reinforcements.
The Pirates will retrench in 2016 with an aim to contend again in 2017, writes John Perotto of the Beaver County Times. While the club will still pursue a postseason berth next year, they’ll have their eyes on developing top prospects like Josh Bell, Glasnow, and Jameson Taillon.

Latest On Byung-ho Park

By Zachary Links | November 9, 2015 at 8:52am CDT

8:52am: Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the White Sox aren’t the winner, either. That leaves the Brewers and Twins in addition to the Cubs and Reds, though the latter duo doesn’t have much of a spot for Park to play (unless Cincinnati feels he can handle left field). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported last week that the Twins have scouted Park quite a bit, though the Brewers seem to be a better fit from a roster standpoint, in my eyes.

8:37am: Heyman also eliminates the Rockies and the Phillies from the mix (via Twitter). That leaves the Brewers, Reds, Cubs, White Sox and Twins as the remaining options. As I noted before, the presence of Joey Votto in Cincinnati and Anthony Rizzo on the Cubs’ roster makes that pair of NL teams seem like long shots, to say the least. The White Sox and Twins each have long-term first base options in Jose Abreu and Joe Mauer, though Park could certainly split time at first and DH with either player.

8:22am: The Astros didn’t submit the winning bid for Park, either, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

NOV. 9, 7:29am: We’re down to seven possibilities on the mystery team for Park, as ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link) and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Biertempfel (Twitter link) report that the Pirates have not won the bidding.

There have been reports eliminating all but seven teams from the Park bidding, leaving the Phillies, Brewers, Reds, Cubs, White Sox, Twins and Astros as possibilities. And while the Reds and Cubs are technically possibilities, it’d be surprising to see either NL club post the winning bid on a first baseman, given the stars that each has entrenched at that position. The Rockies haven’t been completely ruled out, though the report below seems to indicate they’re more of a long shot than anything else at this point.

Alan Nero, Park’s agent at Octagon, tells Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that even he does not yet know which club won the bidding, adding that both league offices were closed over the weekend (Twitter link).

NOV. 8, 9:51pm: The winning bid wasn’t posted by the Royals or Braves, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports (Twitter links). “It’s safe to assume” the Rays didn’t have the winning bid either, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin tweets.

9:10pm: The Athletics and Marlins also didn’t have the top bid, Heyman tweets.

7:24pm: The Mariners and Diamondbacks didn’t place bids on Park, as per tweets from CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman and Zach Buchanan of AZCentral.com. Also, the Giants can be eliminated from contention, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Rockies might also be out, as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding doesn’t “think anything is happening there.”

2:39pm: Italian artist Michelangelo is famously misquoted as saying that he sculpted the historic David statue by chipping away the parts that did not look like David. Perhaps that is how we will whittle down the field of suitors for first baseman Byung-Ho Park until we unravel the mystery team that submitted the winning bid to negotiate with the Korean star. Failing that, we might just have to wait until Monday, when the announcement is formally made.

On Friday, Korea’s Nexen Heroes accepted a $12.85MM bid on the rights to negotiate a big league contract with Park. As of today, we still don’t know which MLB club won the posting process, but one team out there now has a thirty day window with which to hammer out a deal with one of the winter’s most intriguing and mysterious free agents.

The Blue Jays are not the winning team, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter), and the winning bid was not submitted by the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, or Angels, either (link), The Cardinals, who are looking at various first base options, tendered an unsuccessful bid for the 29-year-old, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. James Wagner of the Washington Post (on Twitter) heard that the Nats did not have interest. Late last week, the Indians, Tigers, Rangers, Orioles, Padres, and Red Sox were also crossed off the list by various reporters.

If Park and his new club do not reach agreement on a contract, Nexen will lose out on the posting fee and the winning team will have to move on to a Plan B at first base. The reported $12.85MM fell shy of the $25MM+ posting amount commanded by lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, but it easily tops what the Pirates paid Nexen last year (~$5MM) for the rights to reach a deal with infielder Jung-Ho Kang. After the team-to-team transfer was arrived at, Kang and the Bucs agreed to a four-year, $11MM guarantee.

In the recently-released list of MLBTR’s top fifty free agents, Tim Dierkes predicted that Park would command a $10MM posting fee and a five-year, $40MM contract from the winning team. The first part of that was close, but it remains to be seen how negotiations will proceed.

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