The St. Louis Cardinals have not had an especially active or robust offseason.
Despite losing Jason Heyward and John Lackey in free agency (to the Chicago Cubs, no less), and despite losing Lance Lynn to Tommy John surgery, so far, the Cardinals’ moves have been limited to signing Mike Leake, trading for Jedd Gyorko, signing back-up catcher Brayan Pena, and signing top Korean reliever Seung-Hwan Oh.
To be sure, the Cardinals might not be done for the winter just yet, but about that last one.
According to Daniel Kim, a former scout who covers MLB and KBO, Oh still does not have his work visa to come to the United States (h/t Hardball Talk).
[adinserter block=”1″]Worse, according to Kim, the process for getting that visa begins with an interview that hasn’t taken place, and then takes three to four days thereafter … but next week is a national holiday in South Korea, so that could push things back even further.
It’s possible, then, that Oh will not be able to arrive when pitchers and catchers report to Florida for the Cardinals’ Spring Training, which may not seem like a big deal, but the last thing you want is for a player coming over from another country to be behind the 8-ball right out of the gate. Oh was already going to have to make a number of adjustments to be successful in the big leagues, and is exactly the kind of player you would want to be getting a full Spring Training experience (and then some, probably).
In the end, will this be a big deal for the Cardinals’ bullpen? Probably not. But is it a little bit of admitted SCardenfreude? Yes.
Hey, remember that time the Cardinals were under investigation for hacking another MLB team?