The 28th marks the one year since major league pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu (33) joined the Toronto Blue Jays in the US professional baseball.
American baseball site Fan Said’s’Jace Journal’ gave a good evaluation by looking back on Ryu Hyun-jin’s one year joining in an article titled’Happy Anniversary for Toronto Fans’.
The media said, “A year ago, Toronto signed Ryu Hyun-jin for 4 years and 80 million dollars to strengthen its power,” and said that this contract helped accelerate the rebuilding of the team.
Ryu Hyun-jin, who held the inaugural ceremony at the Rogers Center, Toronto’s home stadium, on December 28 last year, led the advancement to the postseason as a starting pitcher for Toronto this year with 5 wins and 2 losses and an average ERA of 2.69.
“In fact, Ryu Hyun-jin was not the most coveted pitcher in the free agent market last year,” Jace Journal said. Garrett Cole, who was expected to have the largest contract, signed a nine-year contract with the New York Yankees for $324 million.”
Not only Cole, but also Steven Strasberg, Madison Bumgarner, and other free agents, who were considered more attractive pitchers than Ryu Hyun-jin, either renewed the contract with the Washington Nationals or chose the Arizona Diamondbacks. The contract size reached $245 million for 7 years and $85 million for 5 years, respectively.
Ryu Hyun-jin was likely to go to Minnesota, but Toronto was successful.
The media recalled, “When the contract between Ryu Hyun-jin and Toronto was announced, Toronto made excessive spending (overpayment) to a player with a long injured void, and I thought I would regret the contract in about a year.”
However, “Hyunjin Ryu played an active part in meeting the ransom price of $20 million a year by recording an average ERA of 2.69 without skipping the rotation in the first season of the recruitment, which was shortened by the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19). It was ranked 3rd.”
He said, “I hope Ryu Hyun-jin will continue to maintain the dominant performance like this season and prove that I am wrong,” he said. “Congratulations to the Toronto fans.”