St. Louis Cardinals new Korean pitcher Seung Hwan Oh listens during a press conference at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on January 11, 2016.Oh, 33 has 357 career saves between Korea and Japan and earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2005. He was named MVP of the Korean Series in 2011 and reached 100 career saves faster than anyone in Korean history.  Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

St. Louis Cardinals new Korean pitcher Seung Hwan Oh listens during a press conference. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Cardinals are expected to sign Korean free agent Seung-Hwan Oh, to a two-year deal with a club option that can make the contract worth $11 million.  Oh is in St. Louis for a physical scheduled on Monday. Oh did not cost the Cardinals a posting fee because he was a free agent.

Oh’s numbers are incredible.  Over 11 seasons in Korea and Japan, spanning 498 games, he has a career 1.81 ERA, 10.7 strikeouts per nine and 646 1/3 innings. In 2013, after nine seasons in Korea, Oh played with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and had a 2.73 ERA and 8.6 K/9 in 2015.

The knock, or at least the question mark, is Korean hitters are not on the same level of major leaguers.  While there might be a learning curve, the advantage that most pitchers have when they come from the Pacific leagues is that MLB hitter are unfamiliar with their arsenal of pitches and have limited scouting.

Oh will most likely serve as an 8th inning setup man for Trevor Rosenthal.