Quality starting pitching is becoming increasingly scarce in Major League Baseball. There are so few healthy, quality starters that there are only five pitchers with a sub-2 ERA in regulation innings pitched. This is why the value of starting pitching will inevitably increase in free agency.
The market value of Hyun-jin Ryu, 36, who will become a free agent after this season after signing a four-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, is also on the rise. Since returning to the major league mound 14 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June, Ryu is 3-3 with a 2.62 ERA, 35 strikeouts, and a 1.12 WHIP in nine starts (44⅔ innings).
He hasn’t thrown more than 90 pitches since returning from injury, and he’s only gone six innings once, but he’s been pitching well. He’s held seven of his nine starts to two earned runs or less, and he’s been counting. As he returns to full strength in his second year back from Tommy John surgery, expectations are high for Ryu next year.
The local media is also interested in Ryu’s future after the season, with the New York Post listing him as a possible free agent signing for the New York Mets. Joel Sherman, a veteran journalist, wrote about the Mets’ first year under new President of Baseball Operations David Stearns on the 17th and mentioned Ryu as a free agent who could be a good fit for the team’s retooling.
Sherman wrote, “The best-case scenario for the Mets’ starting rotation next year would be to acquire Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes) and sign Ryu Hyun-jin and Luis Severino (New York Yankees) to one-year deals. “We need to add players who can help us compete immediately without disrupting our payroll in the future,” he said.
‘Ryu, who turns 37 next March, has missed most of the last two seasons with Tommy John surgery, while Severino is coming off a career-worst year with an oblique injury. Both pitchers have physical red flags, but the demand for starting pitching could be high enough to warrant a one-year deal or more,” he said.
However, they both have great upside and should be acquired to bolster depth. Sherman said, “Ryu is not easily shaken. He’s organized, and he knows how to use his repertoire,’ and ‘Severino still has good pitches. The Yankees put pressure on him to prove himself, but he has the potential to make a difference when the environment changes,” Sherman said.
The Mets, who slipped to fourth place in the National League East this year (70-80) and are far from fall baseball, traded both of their highest-paid pitchers, Max Scherzer (Texas Rangers) and Justin Verlander (Houston Astros), in July and August to rebuild the team. The Brewers aren’t looking to win a championship next year, but rather to retool the team to be able to compete next year. Stearns, who led the Milwaukee Brewers to their first four consecutive years of fall baseball from 2018-2021, has agreed to a five-year contract. Stearns will begin his duties in October. 토토사이트