KANG CAN’T FIND HIS WAY BACK TO BASEBALL

Former Pirate Jung Ho Kang is trying to restart his baseball career, but he’s run into another  roadblock.

The Korean Baseball Organization has suspended Kang for one year because of his history of drunk driving.  He’s never been punished for that in Korea because he’s been playing in America since the latest incident, in December 2016, but he has filed for reinstatement.  The suspension will begin once the 33-year-old, signs with a KBO team.

Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan will open its season on June 19^th with games being played without fans in attendance. The NPB season, which was originally scheduled to begin on March 20, will be shortened from 143 games per team to 120.

As for Major League Baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays became the first team to welcome players back, as fourteen Rays players worked out at Tropicana Field yesterday under special restrictions.  There was no batting, but the players played catch and the team set up weight machines on the field.  The workout was voluntary and included All-Star outfielder Austin Meadows, the former Pirate.

MLB will hand over its latest economic proposal to the players’ union today.  They’d like to get a shortened season underway on July 1^st.  The players raised a number of objections to last week’s health proposal, but have not yet issued their final response to the 67-page document.