MIAMI _ It has been 283 days since Jung Ho Kang last put on a Pirates uniform, and there's no telling when, or whether, it will happen again.
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said their offices have attempted to aid the Pirates in presenting a solid case for Kang to be granted a United States visa, but they had no update on his situation.
"I don't know the current status of the situation except I know he doesn't have a visa," Manfred said in a meeting with BBWAA members. "Generally, visas are things that individual clubs deal with at the local level. We provide support on a routine basis to clubs that had particularly difficult situations?"
Does this qualify as one?
"Yes," Manfred said. "This would be a particularly difficult situation."
Kang, 30, remains in Seoul, South Korea, and on the Major League Baseball restricted list. The Pirates are not paying him while he is unavailable to them. Kang was arrested in December for his third DUI. In May, his eight-month suspended prison sentence was upheld on appeal, increasing the likelihood Kang will not rejoin the Pirates at any point this season.
The next question is whether he'll be granted a visa in 2018.
Clark, the union chief, visited Pirates camp in Bradenton, Fla., in February and said the players union has maintained a "constant level of engagement" with Kang and the Pirates. Asked Tuesday whether there was any clarity or reason for optimism regarding whether Kang is expected to be available to play for the Pirates next season, Clark declined to speculate.
"I'm not going to be able to get into anything going on there," Clark said. "I'll simply suggest to you, as I did in spring training, that there's a process in place, we stay connected to the process. As you know more than most, there are some challenges there. We're hopeful that as the process works its way through that things will settle a bit."
Kang signed with the Pirates Jan. 16, 2015, on a four-year contract worth $11 million, plus club options for 2018 and 2019. He was to make $2.75 million this season.
Kang posted an .838 OPS in 229 games over the past two seasons. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2015. Last summer, Chicago police investigated a sexual-assault allegation against Kang. He was not charged in the case, which has not yet been resolved.
