LHP Ryu gives Blue Jays ace to pair with talented young core

TORONTO (AP) — Hyun-Jin Ryu is the ace the Toronto Blue Jays needed to pair with a lineup flush with “baseball royalty.”

That’s the view agent Scott Boras has of the four-year, $80 million deal that brought the Korean left-hander north of the border.

Ryu agreed to join the Jays last weekend, then flew in from Korea for an introductory news conference Friday, greeting a live television audience with a wide smile and a few words in each of his new home country’s official languages.

“Hello, Canada,” Ryu said. “Bonjour. I’m happy to be here and I’m going to make the Toronto Blue Jays proud.”

Note to self: Check in in a few years’ time, so see how things developed for this team.

Blue Jays To Sign Hyun-Jin Ryu

The Blue Jays have signed left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu to a four-year, $80MM contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  Ryu’s deal doesn’t have an opt-out clause, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link), while MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports that there is a partial no-trade clause involved.  Ryu is represented by the Boras Corporation.

The news ends a spirited market for Ryu’s services, as at least six teams (the Dodgers, Angels, Braves, Padres, Cardinals, and Twins) were all known to have some degree of interest in the southpaw this offseason.  While all of those teams were either playoff clubs in 2019 or are planning to contend in 2020, it was the rebuilding Blue Jays who made the big strike, announcing that their own return to contention is coming sooner rather than later.  The Jays were known to be looking at both the top tier and the lower tiers of the pitching market, though the signing still comes as a surprise, given how Toronto’s previous acquisitions had been more modest.

Ryu joins Tanner Roark, Chase Anderson, and Shun Yamaguchi as newly-acquired members of Toronto’s rotation, completely overhauling a starting staff that was expected to be a major point of emphasis this winter.  Yamaguchi could wind up in the bullpen if the Jays go with some combination of in-house candidates Matt Shoemaker, Trent Thornton, Ryan Borucki, Anthony Kay, or Jacob Waguespack for the final two rotation places.  Star prospect Nate Pearson is also expected to make his big league debut at some point in 2020, so one of those rotation spots could ultimately be earmarked for him down the stretch, or the Jays could ease Pearson into the majors as a reliever.

While Pearson may be the ace of the future, Ryu is now firmly the ace of the present.  The lefty finished second in NL Cy Young Award voting last season on the heels of a league-best 2.32 ERA and 1.2 BB/9, as well as a 6.79 K/BB rate, 8.0 K/9, and 50.4% grounder rate.  ERA predictors weren’t quite as impressed (3.10 FIP, 3.32 xFIP, 3.77 SIERA) with Ryu’s performance, while his modest 90.6mph fastball finished in the bottom 11th percentile in both fastball velocity and spin rate.

Well, we shall see if this was the right move for the Blue Jays to make.

MLB Rumors: Hyun-Jin Ryu Deal Could Exceed Madison Bumgarner’s $17 Million Average

Stephen Strasburg has signed. So too has Madison Bumgarner and Zach Wheeler. The next best starter on the market, Hyun-Jin Ryu.

Just one day after Bumgarner inked a five-year, $85 million deal with the Diamondbacks for an average annual salary of $17 million, people within baseball are expecting Ryu to fetch a larger contract in terms of annual value, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

Rosenthal notes that a number of teams still could use some starting pitching help, including the Blue Jays, Angels, Twins and White Sox. While Ryu is 33 years old and has an extensive injury history, he was among the NL Cy Young award finalists this past season, winning 14 games with a 2.32 ERA and 1.007 WHIP.

If given a choice between the Bumgarner contract and a hypothetical Ryu contract for the same or a great amount, which would you take?

A position-by-position look at the free agent market

Patrick Corbin was an exception last offseason.

Amid a slow free agent market — some stars didn’t sign until after the start of spring training — Corbin’s search for a new home was over in December when he received a $140 million, six-year contract from Washington.

That worked out pretty well for both team and player. Corbin was a key part of the Nationals’ starting rotation this year, and he threw three scoreless innings in relief in Game 7 of the World Series, helping the team win its first World Series title.

Now, another offseason is in full swing. It’s hard to say whether teams will be more aggressive in pursuing free agents, hoping to land the next Corbin, but the Atlanta Braves already made a significant move, signing reliever Will Smith away from San Francisco.

A consideration of the free-agent market of the moment.

MLB free agency: Pros, cons for Giants signing pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu

The Giants have their new general manager in Scott Harris, and are expected to announce their next manager this week. Their next move will be reshaping the roster.

San Francisco refuses to use the word “rebuild,” often leaning on a “reload” instead. Harris, who was an essential part to the Cubs becoming contenders again, said at his introductory press conference Monday that the Giants’ goal is to soon be competitive again after three straight losing seasons.

But how soon? The Giants’ farm system is on the rise, and they have seen the effects of having an aging roster the past few seasons. In free agency, however, they could hold onto their top prospects while also adding proven talent.

One free agent that MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand recently pegged to the Giants is a name president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi is well familiar with. Should the Giants pursue Dodgers free-agent pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu?

Hyun-Jin Ryu claims NL ERA title

Lefty hurler Hyun-Jin Ryu wrapped up his first All-Star campaign on Saturday, tossing seven scoreless innings as the Dodgers dominated the Giants 2-0 to take their final series of the regular season. The win not only boosted him to a 14-5 record, but enabled him to capture the National League ERA title with a league-best average of 2.32.

It was a remarkable finale for the 32-year-old southpaw, who not only held the Giants spellbound through seven frames, but supplied the Dodgers with their first run of the afternoon: an RBI single that plated Gavin Lux to get the team on the board in the fifth. Their one-run lead was soon padded by a Max Muncy home run — his 35th of the year, good for second-most on the team — and the bullpen handled the remaining two innings with ease, limiting San Francisco to a pair of base hits as they closed out win no. 105.

Citi Field duel shows why the NL Cy Young is a two-horse race

NEW YORK—As the baseball season draws to a close, awards debates tend to draw life from the players that can perform their best in a stretch run.

A crowd of nearly 40,000 was treated to just that Saturday night at Citi Field.

“That’s kind of what I was hoping for,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his team fell to the New York Mets, 3-0.

Hyun-Jin Ryu and Jacob deGrom worked in lockstep throughout the evening. Whether they care to admit it, Ryu and deGrom were bidding against each other for the National League Cy Young Award.

Max Scherzer, meanwhile, wonders if it was that he was entered into a competing race and couldn’t make this one, or that no one remembered to pay the fee to enter him into the race.

Here are baseball’s top 20 free agents to be

If it feels like last year’s free agency just ended, that’s because it did. The “winter” technically stretched into early June, when Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel finally signed with the Braves and Cubs, respectively.

But it won’t be very long until we fire up free agency yet again, and, despite some rumors to the contrary, there’s a ton of talent on the table after the 2019 World Series wraps.

Here, we’ll take a look at some early free-agent power rankings (20 players for 2020). But like so much of life, it gets complicated. The market will be drastically affected by what happens with various opt-outs and option clauses. For this list, we’re going to leave off guys whose options are likely to be exercised or whose opt-outs aren’t. This currently applies to Kenley Jansen, David Price, Corey Kluber, Anthony Rizzo, Starling Marte, Nelson Cruz, José Quintana, Yu Darvish and Elvis Andrus, among others. But as always, stay tuned!

We will, however, include a few others who aren’t necessarily as likely to remain attached to their current contracts, and have noted those with an asterisk (*). All ages as of Opening Day 2020.

So, what thoughts do we have concerning this list?

LEADING OFF: DeGrom aims to right Mets, Ryu tries to rebound

DOING IT ALL

Jacob deGrom (8-7, 2.56 ERA) tries to stop the Mets’ five-game skid when he faces Cubs lefty Jon Lester (10-9, 4.49) in a series finale between playoff hopefuls at Citi Field. Last year’s NL Cy Young Award winner, deGrom has pitched himself right back into contention this season and leads the league with 207 strikeouts. He fanned 13 over seven innings and homered last time out but the Mets lost 2-1 to Atlanta in 14 innings. The right-hander is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to homer and strike out 13 or more in the same game twice in one season.

BUMP IN THE ROAD

Major league ERA leader Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-4) looks to rebound from a rough outing when he pitches for the NL West-leading Dodgers at Arizona. The All-Star lefty gave up a grand slam to Didi Gregorius last Friday and was tagged by the New York Yankees for a career high-tying seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings — his shortest outing since June 28. It was Ryu’s second consecutive loss, and his ERA jumped from 1.64 to 2.00.

The Mets being what they are, is this something deGrom has a chance at?