Cardinals void big-bonus contract with Latin teen
HOUSTON — The St. Louis Cardinals have voided the biggest contract they’ve ever presented to a Latin American free agent, citing the teenagers inability to pass a physical.
The Cardinals signed Dominican outfielder Wager Mateo to a $3.1-million bonus earlier this summer. The deal was the largest giving to a position player during this year’s free-agent period, and it was the largest bonus the Cardinals had ever awarded an amateur free agent. But organization since learned that Mateo, 16, had eye problems, and on Tuesday the club announced that it had voided the contract.
Mateo signed July 2.
The release from the Cardinals cited “pre-existing injuries and physical defects” as the reason for voiding the contract. More from team officials later this afternoon at StlToday.com and here at Cardinal Beat.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
We can use the money not spent on the teenager to help our attempt to sign Holliday.