LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — At PiratesFest on Saturday, general manager Neal Huntington and president Frank Coonelly told fans what had seemed all but certain for months: Third baseman Jung Ho Kang, tied up in diplomatic no-man’s land since last year, is probably not returning to Pittsburgh.
Because the front office uttered this news in stronger-than-usual terms, it sounded fresh. The reality, however, is the Pirates reached that conclusion not this offseason, but in the middle of the summer, when the team traded for Sean Rodriguez.
“We'll continue to go through the process — and hope that a year later and hope that a year of positive behavior from Jung Ho will allow a different decision to be made — but we actually had begun that process with the Rodriguez acquisition,” Huntington said Tuesday at baseball’s Winter Meetings, held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort.