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Not all the recent news about the Cardinals is of the happy-go-lucky "we're headed to October!" sort. In fact, at least one current headline is really sad. On Tuesday, the team voided the contract of 16-year-old Wagner Mateo, a prospect from the Dominican Republic who signed for a team-record $3.1 million bonus back in July. (The deal was also a record for a Latin American amateur position player.) The team cited "pre-existing injuries and physical defects" as the reason for nixing the deal and pulling back the bonus cash. ESPN.com reported that Mateo has vision problems and while the team won't confirm or deny that (citing privacy laws), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the team sent Mateo to a number of specialists to "ascertain the problem and any possible solutions." In the ESPN.com report, Mateo's agent said the vision problem could be blamed on "faulty contact lenses" that infected his corneas. Given that the Cardinals had 90 days to get out of the contract, they're not doing anything incredibly out of line here. Still, you have to feel for Mateo, who's back to being a free agent and you can also expect an even higher level of scrutiny when it comes to teams signing international prospects. Also, let's hope this isn't it for Mateo, too. That's some awfully tough news to take when you thought you were already well on your way to the top.