OXON HILL, Md. — Day 1 at the winter meeting is nearing its conclusion. Here’s the latest on Jung Ho Kang.

This is the full text of Attachment 27 in the CBA, which pertains to Kang’s mandatory appearance before a treatment board:

The purpose of this letter is to confirm that the parties have agreed to

establish a Joint Treatment Program to deal with certain alcoholrelated

conduct and off-field violent conduct by Major League Players

during the term of the 2012-2016 Basic Agreement. Specifically, the

parties have agreed as follows:

1. The Treatment Board, as defined under the Joint Drug Program,

will be responsible for creating and supervising individualized

treatment programs for Players with an alcohol use problem or

Players who have engaged in off-field violent conduct.

2. Referral to the Treatment Board will be mandatory when:

(a) A Player is arrested or charged by law enforcement authorities

with driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence

of alcohol, or any other criminal violation relating to the

use of alcohol.

(b) A Player is arrested or charged by law enforcement authorities

with a criminal violation in which the authorities allege

that the use of alcohol may have been a contributing factor in

the misconduct.

(c) A Player appears intoxicated during any of the Club’s games,

practices, workouts, meetings or otherwise during the course

and within the scope of his employment.

(d) Club medical personnel reasonably suspect that the Player

may suffer from an alcohol use problem.

(e) A Player is charged by law enforcement authorities with a

crime involving the use of physical force or violence, including

but not limited to, sexual assault, domestic violence,

resisting arrest, battery, and assault.

3. Any Player who is referred to the Treatment Board will be evaluated

by the Medical Representatives of the Treatment Board in the

case of an alcohol use problem, or by a neutral expert selected by

the Medical Representatives of the Treatment Board in the case of

off-field violence. The purpose of the initial evaluation is to determine

whether the Player could benefit from a treatment program,

and if so, the type of treatment program that would be most effective

for the Player involved.

4. A Player’s participation in any Treatment Program is voluntary. A

Player’s failure to participate in any Treatment Program shall not

subject the Player to discipline. A Player’s referral to the Treatment

Board is not intended to supplant any right a Club or the

Office of the Commissioner may have under the UPC or Basic

Agreement to discipline a Player for his conduct, or any potential

defenses of the Player or the MLBPA to such discipline. The

Player’s participation in any Treatment Program shall be considered

as a mitigating factor in any discipline imposed by either the

Club or the Office of the Commissioner.

Among the other interesting notes from our session with Neal Huntington: 

***Huntington acknowledges the “special factors” at work in a potential Andrew McCutchen trade.

“We’re not oblivious to it, but our focus and our goal, albeit sometimes our moves may seem counterintuitive to it, is to put a consistent playoff caliber team on the field as frequently as possible,” he said. “There are times where we’re going to have to make some challenging moves that, again, may seem counterintuitive to that in the short-term, but in the long-term, should the moves play out the way we anticipate and the way we expect, it will become apparent after time.

“Our job is to make logical and rational decisions for the betterment of this organizations, and sometimes those decisions are going to be really hard. Sometimes that decision is to hold the player that’s being talked about in trade rumors incessantly. Sometimes the decision is to hold the player and let him walk via free agency.”

***McCutchen is “not unaware” that the Pirates might move him to a corner.

“We have had a lot of internal discussion,” Huntington said. “As we go through this process – obviously he’s not unaware of the entirety of the process. We’ve not had the ultimate decision, the ultimate discussion, but he’s not unaware of the process.”

***The Pirates still want a veteran starter.

“We’ve got a good core in place with [Gerrit] Cole and [Jameson] Taillon, two very good starters,” Huntington said. “[Nick]Kingham on the horizon. [Chad] Kuhl had a very nice 20-some start run for us. [Drew] Hutchison has had success as a major league starter. Would we like to add a veteran major league starter to it? Sure we would. To go with that many young starters — Hutchison as a three [years]-plus, Cole as a three-plus, Taillon and Kuhl going to be in their first full seasons. [Tyler] Glasnow in his first full season. Kingham would be in his major league debut. You’d like to get a little bit more certainty.”

Huntington said Cole, whose season ended early because of elbow issues,is on a normal offseason program, as is Josh Harrison.

***Huntington anticipates that more Pirates will appear on final World Baseball Classic rosters.

***Chasing down the Cubs will be hard, but the Pirates plan to compete.

“Obviously, we respect the Cubs,” Huntington said. “They are the defending World Series champions. It’s not the first time we’ve had the defending World Series champion in our division. It’s not the first time we’ve had the defending National League champion in our division. We’ve got to show up and do what we can do. We want to be competitive in 2017, and we want to be a postseason team in 2017, and we want to be a postseason team in ‘18, ‘19 and beyond.”

***They don’t have a good feel for how the revamped draft-pick compensation rules will affect the decision between letting a player walk and trading him before free agency.

First Published: December 6, 2016, 12:43 a.m.