The Cardinals, who have been linked to ace Los Angeles Dodgers Hyun-jin Ryu, a 32-year-old Korean-born lefthander, on Monday were reported deep in contract talks with Korean lefthander Kwang-hyun Kim, who has been pitching for the SK Wyverns in the Korean Baseball Organization for the past 13 seasons. Korean news agency Yonhap News reported that Kim was in St. Louis for a physical on Monday.
Kim, 31, was 17-6 with a 2.51 earned run average and had 180 strikeouts this past season. He is 136-77 in his career for the SK team, which posted him on Dec. 5.