I'd call that a buzzer beater!
With only minutes left before the 2:00 PM deadline, the Dodgers signed Korean pitching phenom Hyun-Jin Ryu this afternoon to a reported 6 year, $31Mil contract. On top of that, add in a
$5Mil signing bonus, and a potential $1Mil per year in performance bonuses
UPDATE I: (
based on innings pitched: $250k ea for 170, 180, 190, 200 IP). So, he is guaranteed
$36Mil over 6 years with a potential for $42Mil over the contracts lifetime. Another quirk is that he can
opt-out of the contract after his 5th year if he pitches at least 750 innings.
UPDATE II: (
Ryu's base salary can also increase based upon CY Young voting, and he
can't be sent to the minors w/o his written consent. Oh... BTW,
he will wear number #99.)
Wow! What a weekend to be a Dodger fan.
In honor of todays news, I made the above Hyun-Jin Ryu fantasy card using a photo from the recent press conference held at Scott Boras' offices. I though the 1962 Topps design would be perfect. I had also made 5 of other Ryu fantasy cards several weeks ago,
so go here to check those out. The below Street Fighter card I photoshopped (this is my favorite one) features him on an actual RYU card while sporting a Hanwha Eagles uniform.
UPDATE III: Here is the official
Dodger press release. Of special note, his name is pronounced: "He-YUN Jin Ree-YOO"
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the signing of
left-handed starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu to a six-year contract. The
announcement was made by Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti.
“We are excited to welcome Hyun-Jin Ryu to Los Angeles and the United
States, continuing the tradition of Korean pitchers with the Dodger
organization,” said Colletti. “The Dodgers continue to show the
commitment to signing players from Asia and other international areas
where baseball is played at the highest levels. We are looking forward
to watching Ryu pitch for the franchise.”
Ryu, whose
name is pronounced He-YUN Jin Ree-YOO, has gone 98-52 with a 2.80 ERA in
190 career games with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball
Organization. The 25-year-old was selected as a KBO All-Star in all
seven of his professional seasons from 2006-12 and won the KBO strikeout
title five times (2006-07, 2009-10, 2012), while holding the circuit’s
single-game strikeout record (17 set on May 11, 2010) and averaging
nearly a strikeout per inning with 1,238 Ks and only 383 walks in 1269.0
frames. After winning the pitching triple crown by having the league’s
lowest ERA (2.23), most strikeouts (204) and highest win total (18) in
2006, he became the first and only Korean player to be named rookie of
the year and player of the year in the same season. Ryu added a second
ERA title in 2010 (1.82), when he also won the second of his two KBO
Gold Glove Awards (also: 2006).
Last season, the
6-foot-1, 215-pounder went 9-9 and ranked fifth in the league with a
2.66 ERA in 27 games. He limited opponents to a .232 batting average and
led the league with a career-high 210 strikeouts, 66 more than any
other KBO hurler.
Ryu has made 14 appearances at the
international level, winning a gold medal as a member of the South
Korean team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and earning a silver medal
pitching for Team Korea in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In the
Olympic competition, he went 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA and tossed a five-hit
shutout in a win over Canada during pool play. In the WBC, the
left-hander went 1-0 record with a 2.57 ERA (2 ER/7.0 IP) in five games
(two starts), including two scoreless relief appearances at Dodger
Stadium in the semifinals against Venezuela and the championship against
Japan.
When he makes his Dodger debut, Ryu will become just the 14th
South Korea native to play in the Majors and the fourth to play for the
Dodgers behind Hee-Seop Choi (2004-2005), Jae Seo (2006) and Chan Ho
Park (1994-2001, 2008), who was the first Korean to play in the Majors
when he made his debut in 1994. Park went 84-58 in 275 games (181
starts) in nine seasons with Los Angeles and pitched in 17 big league
seasons with the Dodgers, Rangers, Padres, Mets, Phillies, Yankees and
Pirates from 1994-2010. He earned an All-Star selection in 2001, when he
finished third in the NL with a career-high 218 strikeouts.
"Congratulations to the Dodgers and Ryu on this great signing,” said
Park. “I'm excited to see him carry on the tradition of great
international pitchers in Dodger blue and have Ryu represent Korean
baseball in the United States."
The Dodgers have a
long history with the development of Korean baseball dating to 1981,
when Tommy Lasorda hosted clinics and lectures in Korea with Japanese
pitcher Senichi Hoshino. The relationship continued in 1990, when the
club hosted team presidents from the Korean Baseball Professional League
for a baseball workshop and seminar and the club became the first Major
League team to have a game broadcast in the Korean language on Sept. 9
of that year. On several occasions the Dodgers have hosted Korean
baseball teams during Spring Training at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL,
doing so with the Hanyang University team in 1995 and in 2000 with the
LG Twins of the KBO following the clubs’ working agreement, signed in
1999. Most recently, Korean fans flocked to a sold out Dodger Stadium
and created an electric atmosphere in support of their team during the
finals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
