On the 21st (Korean time), the US media’Pax Sports North’ reported that “Minnesota has agreed to a free agency contract worth $8 million a year with starting pitcher JA Hap (38).”
Born in 1982, Hep made his debut at the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007 and has already reached 15 years of major league career. He played 324 games in his career, recorded 123 wins and 92 losses, struck out 1,539 in 1,741.1 innings, and averaged 3.98 ERA. There was no personal award, but he showed a good performance.
Hep, who recorded 2 wins and 2 losses in 9 games and an average ERA of 3.47 last year, during the 37-year-old season, is evaluated as a good low-ranking resource following Kenta Maeda (32), Jose Verios (26) and Michael Pineda (32).
Recently, Minnesota achieved remarkable achievements by reversely using the atmosphere of reluctance to older players. Sergio Lomo (37) and Rich Hill (40) also performed well, but the biggest achievement was Nelson Cruise (40), 37 years old at the time of signing.
Cruise, who joined Minnesota with a 1+1 year contract in 2019, performed the best with 57 homers and 141 RBIs, batting average of 0.308 and OPS of 1.020, winning the Silver Slugger for the second consecutive year. This year, Minnesota also offered a one-year contract to Cruise, but it is known that there is no progress so far because Cruise wants a multi-year contract.
Was it inspired by veteran players? ‘Pax Sports North’ mentioned the names of several veteran players such as Choo Shin-soo (38) and Ryan Bron (37), expecting that Minnesota, which has finished reinforcing the starter, will reinforce the left field position.
There are a number of players who can compete in left field, but their skills and experience weren’t good enough to meet Minnesota’s standards for winning.
‘Pax Sports North’ said, “Last year, Shin-soo Choo only played 33 games due to an injury, and struggled with recording an all-time low in the rowing OPS. If Minnesota tries to reinforce other positions, Shin-soo Choo, who is not expensive, will be replaced. I will be able to bring it.”
Choo Shin-soo, who finished a 7-year contract with the Texas Rangers last year, is still trying to sign a major league contract, revealing his will to play active role.
Photo = Getty Image Korea