James Paxton, who had been evaluated as a mid-level free agent (FA) starter along with Ryu Hyun-jin, visited his destination. Attention is also focusing on Ryu’s future as he awaits his contract.
Major League Baseball’s official website MLB.com said on the 23rd (Korea Standard Time), “According to sources, the Dodgers have entered the final stage of their contract with FA left-hander Paxton. A one-year contract worth $12 million (about 16.1 billion won) will be signed.”랭크카지노도메인
The following day, the details of the contract were released. According to MLB.com , the Dodgers and Paxton agreed to a one-year contract. The annual salary is 11 million dollars, which includes 1 million dollars in bonuses and 1 million dollars in performance incentives for entering the 2024 season opener roster. Paxton can receive up to 13 million dollars.
The Los Angeles Dodgers already recruited two big pitchers, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, to strengthen their starting lineup this winter, and then embraced Tyler Glasnow in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Ohtani, who underwent surgery last year, will not be able to take the mound this season, but the weight of the starting lineup has changed significantly as two pitchers, Yamamoto and Glasnow, joined the rotation.
MLB Trade Rumors (MLBTR), which deals with the news of the Major League’s transfer market, said, “Faxon is likely to play as the fifth starter for the Dodgers, following Yamamoto and Glasnow, who joined this offseason, and Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler, who were previous starters. The Dodgers will not have to move separately to recruit Paxton because there was an empty spot on the 40-man roster.”
Paxton, who has 64 big league wins, played for the New York Yankees, Seattle, and Boston Red Sox since his debut with the Seattle Mariners in 2013. He achieved double-digit wins for three consecutive years between 2017 and 2019, but only pitched in six games for three years starting in 2020 due to the aftermath of his injury. Last year’s record was 7 wins, 5 losses and 4.50 ERA in 96 innings in 19 games.
The biggest problem is the durability of his body. MLB.com said that he has been on the injured list 12 times in his career, including a sprained light bulb, forearm and hamstring, and his health is always questionable. Nevertheless, he said that the year 2023 was as good as expected and there were positive signs for his future outlook.
Paxton’s biggest advantage is his pitching power. According to Statcast, a statistics system of the Major League last year, Paxton had 24.6 percent strikeout rate and 27.5 percent swing rate, respectively. In terms of pitching type, fastballs accounted for the largest portion (55.8 percent), followed by curves (19.3 percent) and cut fastballs (16.7 percent). In the end, the Dodgers seems to have reached out to Paxton as a pitcher proven in the big league.
There aren’t that many starting pitchers in the FA market anymore. Most pitchers have finalized their contracts and are preparing for the 2024 season, and those who have yet to decide on a team are monitoring the market’s moves. The most notable names are left-handers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, who were also classified as the “top tier.”
Snell, who has won the Cy Young Award in both leagues, made his big league debut as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016, and continued his upward trend until last season, recording 71 wins and 55 losses and an ERA of 3.20 in 992 ⅔ innings in 191 games. Many teams were nominated, but none were close to signing contracts.
Montgomery, who made his big league debut for the Yankees in 2017, received a passing score with 9 wins, 7 losses and a 3.88 ERA in 155 ⅓ in 29 games. After failing to show any significant performance for the next three seasons, he showed a possibility of rebounding in 30 games and 157 ⅓ in 2021 with 6-7 losses and a 6 wins, 7 losses and a 3.83 ERA, and maintained his upward trend with 9 wins, 6 losses and a 3.48 ERA in 178 ⅔ innings in 2022, and 10-11 losses and a 3.20 ERA in 32 ⅔ and 188 games last year.
On top of that, Michael Lorenzen, Mike Clevinger, and Ryu Hyun-jin, who are considered “middle-class” starting resources, have not been able to stamp their seals.
MLBTR hinted that Clevinger, Lorenzen and Ryu Hyun-jin remain the best options as one intermediate starting resource disappeared (to Paxton’s Dodgers).” This means that teams that want to reinforce their starters without investing much money can consider recruiting three players.
Ryu Hyun-jin quickly adapted to the big league in 2013 by recording 14 wins, 8 losses and an ERA of 3.00 in 192 innings in 30 games, and succeeded in achieving double-digit wins for the second consecutive year with 14 wins, 7 losses and an ERA of 3.38 in 152 innings in 26 games in 2014, the second year of the big league.
He had a hiatus due to surgery in 2015 and 2016, but in 2017, he garnered five wins, nine losses and an ERA of 3.77 in 126 ⅔ in 25 games. In particular, he was selected as an All-Star for the first time since his big league debut, winning 10 games for the first time in five years with 14 wins and five losses and an ERA of 2.32 in 29 games and 182 ⅔ in 2019. He ranked second in voting for the National League Cy Young Award that year.
Ryu Hyun-jin, who signed a four-year contract with Toronto at the end of 2019, recorded 5 wins, 2 losses, and an ERA of 2.69 in 12 games in 2020, and won 10 games in two seasons after moving to 14 wins, 10 losses and an ERA of 4.37 in 31 games and 169 innings the following year.