Good As Gold: Choo Avoids Military Service

Source: Yardbarker.com

The Indians had been saying all along that they weren’t concerned about right fielder Shin-Soo Choo’s military service requirement, a law of South Korea that requires all able-bodied men under the age of 30 to serve 30 months in the military. Their faith was rewarded as Choo led the South Korean team to the gold medal at the Asian Games. Although I can’t find any links to the actual law (and I doubt I’d be able to read Korean anyways), this seems to mean that Choo and his South Korean teammates will be exempt from service.

This is obviously good news, as now the Indians can proceed with getting Choo signed to some sort of contract without any kind of worry that he will miss time due to his service. I’m not sure this will make Choo any easier to sign (and it may make things more difficult), but at least the Indians will know they aren’t going to be without Choo for extended periods of time.

Don’t forget, Choo is under team control through 2013. If the Indians do nothing, they will still have Choo for three more seasons. Highly doubt the Indians sit on their hands, but now there’s really no reason to panic.