With the World Series coming to a close with the Texas Rangers winning, Major League Baseball has finalized its schedule for the 2023 season. Now it’s time for the offseason. We’ve already seen a few players become free agents. After signing a four-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, Ryu Hyun-jin, 36, is one of them.토토사이트
In 2019, Ryu went 14-5 with a 2.32 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading the National League in ERA and finishing second in the Cy Young Award voting. Entering free agency with the best performance of his major league career, Ryu was able to hit the “jackpot” when he signed a four-year, $80 million deal with Toronto. The deal included $20 million per year in salary.
After a season-ending Tommy John surgery last year, Ryu worked hard to rehabilitate and was able to return to the big league mound in August of this year. In 11 appearances this season, Ryu has gone 3-3 with a 3.46 ERA, showing that he is still a viable starter.
As a veteran pitcher who is already past his prime, it will be difficult for him to command the same level of salary as he did this year, and it will be difficult for him to sign a long-term contract.
Local media outlets are already speculating on the size of Ryu’s contract. First, Jim Borden, a columnist for The Athletic, an American sports publication, ranked Ryu Hyun-jin as the 35th best pitcher in the free agent rankings and predicted that he will sign a contract worth $8 million a year (about 10.5 billion won).
With an annual salary of just over 10 billion won in Korean won, it is unclear if Ryu will accept a 60 percent decrease in salary from this year. Borden is a former general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals. It will be interesting to see if he can come up with a contract that fits Ryu’s projections.
On the other hand, there is also a “rosy outlook.” NBC Sports, another American sports media outlet, ranked Ryu 40th in its free agent rankings released on March 3. NBC Sports projected Ryu’s contract to be worth $14 million per year (approximately 18.4 billion won). This is a lower ranking than Borden’s free agent ranking, but it is a higher salary.
“Ryu has returned from Tommy John surgery in good shape, although his velocity is not as high. His strikeout rate was a bit low at 17%, but he pitched to avoid hard contact,” explaining the value he has proven, “Health remains a question mark, but he looks like a better option for a postseason start than many in his price range,” emphasizing that he also has big-game traits.
He’s certainly worth a look for teams looking to bolster their 3-5 starters. MLB.com took the time to highlight the needs of the 11 teams in the postseason, excluding World Series champion Texas, and five of them – the Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Rays, and Minnesota Twins – had Ryu’s name on their list of potential free agent targets. All of these teams are in need of starting pitching reinforcements, and Ryu has been mentioned as a possible target.