Dodgers: An updated look at Hyun-Jin Ryu’s market

Interest in Hyun-Jin Ryu is picking up now that Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg are off the market.  The Dodgers remain one of the interested teams.

As expected, former Dodgers’ southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu is garnering strong interest on the free-agent market.  The latest report is that the Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are interested in Ryu who was a finalist for the National League Cy Young award in 2019.  Each of the teams interested in him is at varying degrees of contending.

The Dodgers, of course, are one of the top teams in Major League Baseball and the favorite to win the National League in 2020.  Ryu did tell the local media in South Korea that if the Dodgers have interest in re-signing him, they have not told his agent (Scott Boras).  The Dodgers certainly need no introduction to Ryu so they could be holding off to see if his price tag lowers.

Minnesota is coming off a surprise season in which they won the AL Central and are looking to hold onto the division in 2020 with the Chicago White Sox closing the gap this winter by signing Yasmani Grandal and extending Jose Abreu.  The Twins already lost starter Kyle Gibson to the Texas Rangers and Ryu would be an upgrade over Gibson.  In fact, Hyun-Jin would be the Twins’ ace.

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Then there is the Toronto Blue Jays who are trying to become relevant in the AL East where the Yankees have cemented themselves as the team to beat in the American League and the Tampa Bay Rays are expected to contend once again in 2020.  Toronto has added Tanner Roark this off-season and are looking to add a top of the rotation option like Ryu to their staff.

While most seem to think that Hyun-Jin Ryu wants to stay on the west coast he also told the media that he has no preference and will try to pitch his best no matter where he ends up.  For the Dodgers, it could come down to whether the team prefers to bring Ryu back over the current starters available on the free-agent market and the trade block.

Wherever Ryu goes, the team that signs him will be getting a very good pitcher who should age well since he does not rely on velocity to fool opposing batters.  Unfortunately for the Twins and Blue Jays, they would not get to see Ryu hit bombs which is something baseball fans would be robbed of.