The decision of FA Ryu Hyun-jin (37) is not far away. It is predicted that the market for starting pitchers of the semi-final FA, which includes Ryu Hyun-jin, will move quickly within January.
John Hayman, a prominent major league reporter for the U.S. “New York Post,” predicted on the 18th (Korean time) that the market for semi-class FA starters would be revitalized on the live streaming of “Blitzer Report.”
“We expect that the market for pitchers such as Ryu Hyun-jin, James Paxton, Brandon Woodruff and Michael Lorenzen, who can become ace pitchers when they are healthy, will be brisk in the next seven to 10 days. There will be several contracts,” Hayman said.
“Teams that are looking for starters in that range include the San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, and Washington Nationals,” Hayman said, referring to the team’s name, before stressing that the spring training is less than a month away. Before the spring training, which starts in the middle of next month, it is time for each team to complete its power structure.
Nearly a month has passed since Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers decided his future. Since then, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, the top-rated free agents in the remaining FA markets, have yet to sign a contract. Scott Boras, the “superagent” who owns the two players, is not moving easily. Boras is a good negotiator who can hold out for a long time until the offer he wants is made.
Consequently, the semi-quasi-quick starting market is moving first. In the last two weeks, Sean Manaea (New York Mets, two years, 28 million dollars), Shota Imana (Chicago Cubs, four years, 53 million dollars), Marcus Stroman (New York Yankees, two years, 37 million dollars), and Jordan Hicks (San Francisco Giants, four years, 44 million dollars) have signed contracts.
Cuban pitcher Yariel Rodriguez also agreed to a four-year, 32 million-dollar contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on the 18th. Toronto plans to use Rodriguez as an insurance starter and swingman to prepare for the sluggish performance of Alec Manoa, the fifth starter. He also has a personality to fill the vacancy of Ryu Hyun-jin, who left for the FA.
Although it has become difficult to reunite with Toronto, Ryu’s market value has not declined. The official Major League Baseball website “MLB.com ” also selected Ryu as one of the five “hidden gems” who can play well in 2024 among the undrafted FA starters on Wednesday. “His heyday is definitely over, but his profile shows that he still has hope of becoming a strong starter. Although he is not close to his overwhelming record of 2.30 ERA in 56 games between 2018 and 2020, he still possesses the capacity as a good starter. As long as he maintains his health, he has all the tools to have a good season in 2024,” he said positively.
As Hayman said, chances are high that one of the five teams that is looking for a starting pitcher with a relative rank will be chosen as Ryu’s destination. Among them, the most notable team is San Diego. San Diego has two Korean players, including Gold Glove infielder Kim Ha-sung and reliever Ko Woo-suk, who was hired as a free agent for two years and 4.5 million dollars earlier this month, and is a friendly club. Park Chan-ho, the first Korean Major Leaguer, is also a special assistant to San Diego, which directly or indirectly influences the team’s decision-making.
Four starters including Snell, a winner of last year’s National League Cy Young Award, Seth Lugo, Michael Waka (Kansas City Royals), and Nick Martinez (Cincinnati Reds) left the team. Only Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove remain among the core starters. He acquired Michael King from the New York Yankees in a trade with slugger Juan Soto, but he still remains uncertain about the two starting pitchers. Matt Waldron and Pedro Avila are among the starting pitchers, but they have no full-time experience in the Major League yet. 라바카지노
Over the past few years, San Diego has seen its finances deteriorate significantly due to reckless overuse of long-term contracts and contract cancellation due to the bankruptcy of broadcasting companies. In order not to exceed the luxury tax standard, the team is reducing the size of its players to lower the payroll to below 200 million dollars this year. Although it is difficult to spend a lot of money on Ryu, he has about 40 million dollars to spare until 200 million dollars, which is not difficult if he decides to recruit him.