Hyun Jin Ryu is headed back to South Korea. The KBO’s Hanwha Eagles announced the signing of Ryu to an eight-year deal worth 17 billion won (equivalent to just over $12.4MM). The contract also contains an opt-out provision at an unspecified date. Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News relayed the details (on X). A Korean-language report from X Sports first reported the 17 billion won guarantee. It’s the largest contract in KBO history.
Ryu debuted with the Eagles in 2006 at age 19. He won the league’s MVP award as a rookie thanks to a 2.23 ERA through 201 2/3 innings. The southpaw turned in a 2.80 ERA in 190 appearances over a seven-year run with the Eagles. After the 2012 season, Hanwha announced they’d make Ryu available to major league teams through the posting system.
Under the MLB-KBO posting rules in effect at the time, teams placed blind bids for the right to exclusive negotiation with the player. The Dodgers bid upwards of $25MM to win that auction. That opened a 30-day window for them to sign Ryu. The sides eventually came to a six-year, $36MM guarantee with various performance bonuses.
It turned out to be an excellent investment. Ryu pitched to an even 3.00 ERA over 30 starts in his debut campaign, finishing fourth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. He turned in a 3.38 mark during his sophomore season before losing almost all of 2015-16 to shoulder and elbow problems. Ryu spent time on the injured list with various lower-body concerns between 2017-18 but remained effective when healthy. He finished his Dodger tenure with a flourish, turning in 182 2/3 innings with an MLB-best 2.32 ERA in 2019. He secured an All-Star nod and a runner-up finish to Jacob deGrom in NL Cy Young balloting.
That stellar year couldn’t have been timed any better. Ryu returned to free agency that winter, this time with all 30 teams eligible to put in offers. He signed a four-year, $80MM pact with the Blue Jays going into 2020. Through two seasons, it looked like a strong move. Ryu turned in a 2.69 ERA over 12 starts during the abbreviated schedule, finishing third in Cy Young balloting. He wasn’t as dominant the following season but managed a reasonable 4.37 ERA while starting a career-high 31 games.
Ryu’s final two seasons were impacted by injury. He battled forearm issues early in the ’22 campaign. An attempt to pitch through the injury was unsuccessful and he required Tommy John surgery in June. That kept him off an MLB mound well into the 2023 season.
The Jays reinstated Ryu on August 1. He managed 11 starts in the final two months, working to a 3.46 ERA. That’s solid production but wasn’t without some worrisome indicators. His fastball velocity sat at a personal-low 88.6 MPH. He struck out just 17% of opposing hitters and allowed 1.56 home runs per nine innings. The Jays deployed him in a very sheltered role. Skipper John Schneider called on Ryu to work beyond five innings just once. He only faced an opposing hitter for a third time in an appearance on 33 occasions.
That all worked against Ryu as he returned to the open market for what’ll be his age-37 season. At the beginning of the offseason, he said it was his preference to remain in MLB. It’s very likely that Ryu could’ve gotten a big league contract offer — the Mets and Padres reportedly showed interest — but it’s possible the market from major league teams wasn’t as robust as he’d anticipated.
Whatever the rationale, Ryu is returning to his home country. He’d spoken before about wanting to pitch for the Eagles between the end of his time in MLB and his overall playing career. He’ll do just that on a record-setting contract that runs through his age-44 season.
This almost certainly marks the end of Ryu’s time in the major leagues. He has had an excellent MLB career, allowing 3.27 earned runs per nine in 186 appearances. He tossed 1055 1/3 innings, struck out 934 batters, and collected 78 wins. A two-time Cy Young finalist, he also received down-ballot MVP votes in 2019 and ’20. Ryu made nine playoff starts over five separate seasons, working to a 4.54 ERA in 41 2/3 frames.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Ryu could have considerably more value to a team in Korea, where he’s a high profile rock star, than to a team in America, where he’ll likely be a lesser paid #5 starter. I certainly enjoyed watching this guy pitch in his prime and don’t even get me started about having him on my team in “MLB The Show”, where he was unhittable for a couple years.
4/12.4MM
I believe Ryu could make a decent bit more than that $3.1MM AAV if he wanted to stay in the MLB this year.
Realistically, he probably just wants to go home at this point. Makes it a little easier for him since $20MM per year salaries aren’t the trade off any longer. He’s banked plenty of cash
Don’t underestimate endorsements and the value of fame. Pitching in his home country may be more lucrative long term than 5th starter money on a random MLB team.
@stros
That probably closes the gap even further. It might’ve been more total comp over there for this season or at least very close. But I think with a healthy & productive season he could’ve probably set himself up for a $1/12 or possible 2/20ish deal over here. But I understand why he’d take this deal and go home.
Endorsements in his home country are still available to him even if he pitches in MLB.
He likely returned home for one simple reason: to return home. He set out to show he could pitch in the top baseball league in the world, and in the process opened the door for other players from his country. He amassed a great fortune in MLB, to the tune of $134 million. He also registered 11 years of service time, so a full pension. On a one year MLB deal, he might get in a single season what he’s getting the next four in Korea. This wasn’t about money. He decided to return home.
Agreed. He could make more than 12.4 per year. Let alone 4 years. The Tigers gave Flaherty 14 million for one year and there’s a ton of examples.
37
Declining skills
Ugly HR allowed rate
If the 12.4 is guaranteed, I could see him not being offered that in MLB.
I am surprised if no one did but this could be a magical career move, too. He CAN still pitch and reduced abilities might not be obvious immediately against lesser competition.
@kodion
Idk about that. He doesn’t count against the foreign player limit in the KBO. Unless he really blew up this year in the MLB— I’d have to think he could’ve gotten close to this deal again (over 3 years) from the KBO. Think he probably just wanted to go home and the US $ just wasn’t enticing enough to close the gap any longer.
Montas barely pitched for 2 years and got 16mil. Flaherty has been hot garbage for almost 3 years and got 14mil. Ryu is a better pure pitcher than both of them. He could’ve made 12-14 mil easily as a no. 5 in MLB. Would been perfect for a team like the Yankees. But clearly GMs around the league are sick of dealing with Scott Boras.
I don’t think it’s Boras’ fault. Players go to him. He’s merely doing his clients’ bidding. It’s annoying, but if his interviews can be trusted, the man loves baseball more than any owner ever could.
Then maybe he should love baseball a little more and stop holding up the market every off-season . At some point the powers that be will get together and talk about some sort of deadline for FA signings. Preferably before spring training starts so the players will have a full camp.
Flaherty and Montas are also 28 & 30 not 37. Ryu didn’t look great and has been battling injuries. I’m betting his MLB offers were closer to James Paxton than Jack F.
As an aside I think Flaherty will be a waste of money also..
Sure, blame the labor and not the owners
He’s 37 coming off 2 injury plagued seasons. Trying to say him returning home is indicative of teams being “sick of dealing with Scott Boras” is an absolute stretch.
FYI, 175 players with MLB contracts are represented by Boras Corp. Because a handful have yet to sign isn’t telling of anything.
Furthermore Boras is 71 yrs old and employees roughly 80 people. I doubt many teams deal with him veryuch if at all. They in most cases likely deal with his employees.
And most likely those 80 people have to report to Scott Boras to get the final say on anything I would imagine. It’s called the Boras Corporation for a reason.
@MrMet
I don’t have any love for Boras but I’m pretty sure that “love of baseball” is a big factor in how he runs his company. I bet there are quite a few things that he loves more than that.
How about the owners or “powers that be” start Loving anything besides their money…..
Mr Met, he works for the players he represents. He doesn’t give a crap about holding up the market. Would you be willing to make less money and do a half ass job in your own line of work to help out the fat rich greedy owners because of your love of baseball?
I understand what you’re saying. My thing is that Boras clients are usually the last to sign their contracts and they wind up having to take lesser deals because the process was stretched all the way into spring training. That’s not exactly looking out for the best interest of a client. Waiting longer to get less money
I agree whe would have made 10-15 over 1-3 years. But now he is a league star, he likly has other perks like free road game suites rental cars etc. and who knows maybe even a home. Ryu will get tones of endorsement deals amd grow his favorite game while raising a family there, were its generally much safer
Sayonara. Ahahaha!
Wrong language.
Close enough. Ahahaha!
Wrong. Not even close.
I speak both languages. They are not close at all.
Vous savez pourquoi je vous ai arrêté ?
The man is Norwegian for goodness sakes!!
Not even of the same language tree. But congrats on outing yourself as a racist
That’s like saying ciao to a guy going home to Greece. Ignoramus!
That’s quite racist of you. But for a New Yorker that’s essentially par for the course.
Ignorant on foreign languages sure, but throwing the racist label is a bit much.
Nope! The “sayonara”, if being kind, could be seen as ignorant. Claiming that Japanese and Korean are “close enough” is racist. Full stop.
The word racist is a bit much. That implies some kind of hatred or a superiority complex, etc. Extreme liberals keep throwing that word around and you’ll end up taking the seriousness out of it eventually. Kinda like the crying wolf phrase. Basically, nobody will care because they know certain people misuse it and claim it for everything. Which does happen alot. Most times people’s own ignorance has them claim racist when in fact the correct word would be prejudice. In general.
Geez people throw the racist word around way to easy nowadays. World’s gone soft
Him being ignorant does not mean that he’s a racist. How do you know based off one slip up he’s a racist? Geez man go back to your woke chat rooms and spew that nonsense
That’s because racism is too easily accepted. Especially in America where it’s part of everyday life like an institution. Why else would Donald Trump become president? Look at what’s Israel is doing to do the Gaza Strip and what Russia is doing to the Ukraine and then tell us the world has gone soft.
Real, hatred based racism isn’t excepted. Things are much better than they used to be. It’ll get better, but it takes time. We’re not that far from WW2, the civil rights movement, etc. As for Trump, many I know like him because he doesn’t let us get taken advantage of. Like the world is doing right now with Ukraine. We foot the bill, while their rich neighbors do the bare minimum. That’s why they (Europe) hated him. Then, our government cries no money for our citizens. Him sending mean tweets isn’t enough to prefer your country to fall
Honestly speaking I don’t think a man who been convicted of fraud and a civil trial for sexual assault should be making any decisions regarding a country. The system is clearly broken if we’re allowing people like that to makes decisions that could affect our children’s future.
Or FU#K 0FF clown instead of by when racists leave your house
Yea its usually white people who feel some sort of git or want to show pity or that they care. People are so sensitive now honestly a littly bullying build character. Im not say every 1 should have a group of kids picking on them every day for 6 years straight but dealing with it and other adversities is what makes you a great person as an adult. I watched a YT video of a black guy wearing a traditional asian hat, thai i believe, but its pointed and straw and its used to block the sun in rice patty. Anyway as he walked thru some city he asked people what they thought and everyone, mostly white ppl, said things like, clown biggit, racist, be ashamed etc. He then went to the Thai part of town and everyone there loved that je was wearing it. Goes to show that white people cause amd start trouble trying to defend others and there totally out of pocket alot. Signed by a white guy
It’s not racism, it’s just ignorance. If you took 20 people and lined them up, 5 each from Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam, not many Americans would be able to correctly identify them. It’s just not something that very many people here learn.
And …cue the fake racism charges.
Giving money to Ukraine has nothing to do with Ukraine and everything to do with slowing down a Megalomaniac that is out of control. The world has one shot at stopping him in a non Nato country before he potentially moves on to the smaller Nato countries and starts world war three. Give as much money as you can now as that is all they are asking for so you don’t have to risk the lives of your sons and daughters in war.
Oh save the political stuff for a different site. You Americans can’t help but put politics in every argument. The world has gone soft, very soft
racism has never been less tolerated then it is right now
In order to properly test that theory you should walk up to a random dude in the street and call him soft instead of strangers on the Internet. Then you can see first hand how soft the world has gotten.
pretty racist of you to throw white people under the bus like that…
Why because that person would overreact Is that what your saying? Because that would only prove my point the world has gone soft lol
No being racist doesnt imply hatred. But cool story. This guy was being racist. And if he’s happy to say racist things online, he’s a racist.
You’re right. Guys are way too comfortable talking trash on the Internet without the threat of getting their ass whipped. Point taken.
Speaking of cool stories, lol
If u say so kiddo
Some guys might be, but not me, I say to your face your soft idc. But also some people are quick to call someone a racist online based off a comment that may be misinformed but no this soft world automatically jumps to hes a racist. Nobody said to him the comment was racist right? No it said he was a racist. Typical cancel culture you probably flagged him to lol anyways moving on children
Classic cyber gangster behavior. We don’t believe you
Wrong country moron ahahaha!
Ryu could make $12MM in one year in MLB.
If Lance Lynn can do it….
Sounds like the old “personal preference” option wins out. Didn’t get what it would take to stay in US so, going home to be treated
Like a national hero.
I don’t think he would have gotten 1/12 personally, but a 2/16 or something like that – sure. Some options even.
Yeah but endorsements. He’ll make a lot more off endorsement deals in Korea.
17 billion won !!!! That sounds amazing!! I wonder how much that is in pesos or rupis. If they defer it for 10 years does it come close to the 700 million Shohei got ??? 17 Billion anything just sounds cooler.
All contracts should be reported in won to blow American minds.
Go home and finish his career where it started.
Boras PR stunt. You better up your offers MLB teams or Ryu is going back to Korea!
The next article will say a “mystery team” has entered the bidding!
He already agreed to the deal
Forced him?
He has good stuff. He just can’t stay healthy.
Ryu has had a great career, hope he is happy with whatever he decides is next.
Twins should have given him a one year deal, he could have replaced Maeda…
Nah, he’d rather go home.
Well so much for the Boras conspiracies I guess.
Boras is probably pissed. This is way less than an MLB deal so he his commission took a hit!
Was a Better investment over time than snell is currently. Snell knows he’s going to stink so he can’t take a short term deal. He’s now scherzer or Verlander. He stunk for like 4 seasons in between CY wins. Imagine if you had him from 2018-2023 you’d be pissed with 2 CY’s and all those wasted sub 130 inning seasons.
Yeah, best to go to the KBO. MLB has watered down their product and turned it into a joke league. They have runners starting on 2nd base in extras like they would in Little League baseball. They use that rule in little league baseball to make sure they’re not putting much pressure on kids who are weaker and not even paid a single dollar. Then you have adults making multi-million dollars to stand on 2nd base in extras so they can get the game over with quicker. Plus, they have far too many teams in the MLB. I’d like to see them cut the teams down by 1/3rd to get better quality players in the league and less nonsense. Would also help to cut out a bunch of games as well as most o them are meaningless.
@Old York. How would you remove 10 teams. Lottery balls or some sort of televised Hunger Games survival competition?
@Brew88
Look at the standings. Problem solved.
All for it. From 2023, the de-expansion would be: Mets, Cardinals, Rockies, Nats, Pirates, Guardians, Angels, White Sox, As, Royals.
Who gets Trout, Goldschmidt and Alonzo?
@Brew88
They become FAs and can sign with the team they agree to a new contract with.
All perfect. Probably won’t happen though before Putin buys the Nats.
no shot they remove the cards
I understand that you are a Brewers fan, but including the Cardinals in your comment is moronic. They are always near the top in attendance, and have the 2nd most World Series wins. Be better!
@Nacho Cheese
Then they can be the highest attendance in the relegated league. Nothing to feel bad about; just means they have to work harder to get promoted back to the MLB.
Nacho – he isn’t a Brewers fan. He makes beer and is a Giants fan but follows SD too. I made the same mistake a few years ago!
He was merely reciting the 10 worst records (by name) in response to the ridiculous idea of Old York to show how it would eliminate such storied franchises like the Cards.
Cardinals de-expanded? Pretty clueless.
Mac – read the thread – Brew and I didn’t start this crap we were responding sarcastically to Old York – reply to him.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s
KBO has ties, so the game finishes even faster
@Eighty Raw
So does the NPB, which is better than having an unearned runner on 2nd base. Here’s how you score a run without actually getting a hit in the inning. Groundout to the right side and then a flyball to the outfield. 2 outs and a run scores. BP did their job and a run still came in. That’s nonsense.
Old York – it does seem easy to score thst unearned run in extras but when you look at the amount of 0’s put up in extras since the rule was put in place, the stats show a different story.
I’ve grown to like it because while it favors the home team (theoretically), it avoids staying up all night and exhausting a BP and/or having position players pitch.
The solution is really just scoring more runs than the other team in 9 and it becomes irrelevant.
@Longtimecoming
Nothing wrong with just ending in a tie and moving on. There are 162 games in a season. If a team can’t score enough runs in all those games, clearly, they had no intention to win in the first place.
Besides, baseball is pastoral, if we can call it even after the mayhem of violent sports such as hockey and football, then certainly we can accept such an allegiance in the slow-paced enduring game of baseball. I say tie one on.
I’d be ok with the tie as opposed to going back to 15-20 innings.
I’m just not ready to go back to 15-20 innings because the “ghost runner” rule appears Little Leaguish.
and the champs raise a big a$$ sword instead of a trophy
Sure along as the team Old York roots for is one for them. If the other fans have to lose their team then so should you.
Congrats on having the dumbest comment on this entire site
@Travis’ Wood
You must be a fan of mediocre players and watered down competition. Great!
David Peralta and Dom Smith are mediocre players and neither could even get a major league deal. You have the IQ of a rock
@Travis’ Wood
If all you have to post are insults, clearly, you’ve already lost the discussion. Come back when you’re ready for an adult conversation.
The first sentence was my response to your absurd statement. The second sentence was pointing out the reason for you absurd statement
@Travis’ Wood
No, your response to me was insulting me. So, as II said, if you need to resort to insults, you’re already lost the discussion and proven yourself to be a child.
Nope the first sentence had no insult whatsoever. Addressed your point completely. The second sentence was an insult to point out how insanely dumb your comments are
This dude would contract 10 teams including the Mets and cardinals and wonders why he’d get called out for an absurd take??? Lol
York – you started the conversation saying 10 mlb teams as defined by the standings – per Brew’s list, included the Mets and Cards – should disappear.
Now, without insulting you, I ask you, is that really a rational “adult conversation”?
@Longtimecoming
Yes, I don’t like rewarding failure. Do you?
How about this, best 20 teams next 5 years (as determined by best accumulated records over those 5 years) get to remain in MLB. The rest don’t dissolve altogether, nor do they go to MiLB, they go into the Mediocre League (MeLB). And every few years the best team from MeLB is migrated into MLB, and the worst team in MLB goes to the MeLB. That way the Cardinals and Mets have a chance to work their way back into the Show, should they perform well enough in the MeLB.
@Brew’88
I prefer the relegation system they have in England.
York – it’s a business for the people that own and play the sport that we love.
Ask all of the Mets and Cards fans if they are ok with your plan – I’m guessing most say no.
Why stop at MLB. Take on the Fortune 500 companies that don’t make the top 20 list and shut the other 480 down because they are “mediocre”.
Hmmm, but baseball is harder than making money. Only a few guys in the world can hit a Kodak Senga ghost forkball, but hundreds of thousands know how to swindle the masses. I’m sort of joking around a little LT. But there is some reality to the elite talent being limited in scope.
An adult conversation like “let’s remove 10 teams”. Maybe come back when you have something legitimate.
I thought the Orioles could have offered a one year deal with incentives
8 million base with a chance to 20 million
Or
1 year at 14 million which is what Jack Flaherty got
Jee-ho Yoo… I see you, Jon Heyman….
Syu ryu He had nasty stuff a crafty lefty. Very good pitcher he must have wanted to go home? I’m sure he had better offers here? Wish him well!
I don’t think he’d be a bad gamble for one year at that price, but multiple years, no.
Cyu Ryu!!
Isnt he Boras client?? First one to crack… Ryu should have played another 1-2 yrs in mlb before going back. He could have had another big contract if he pitches well next yr. His Korean deal would have always been there.
Aww, still had a bit to offer here, but I think he’ll be happy to go home again and finish up there. There’s always something about coming full circle that always feel important especially to international players. You see it in soccer all the time.
What a great story and career. I’m sure it’s bittersweet for Ryu to return to Korea. I hope it’s everything he could have hoped.
Almost 37yrs old, 11yr service time and @129million banked. And now another 4yr guaranteed money to play baseball in his home country. I’d say it’s been a successful career.
Just hope for him, that going back to Korea was his “dream”. Wonder where he spent his off seasons?
Ryu was a fun pitcher to watch, would have been cool if the baseball gods let him do it a little more often during his career here….
I feel like a MLB team missed out here. He would have been a good addition in my opinion to most teams.
You can blame Boras
Maybe he was done with MLB playing on the world’s highest stage. Masahiro Tanaka went back to pitch in Japan at 31 y.o. and left a lot of MLB money on the table.
Tanaka did bank 150+ and is still playing. Agreed he left money on the table, but maybe like you said -time to go home..
Had convo @japanese p’s with a friend of mine awhile ago. Unfortunately the topic had begun w/ the the thing sports websites should not bring up.
Convo turned to 2020 and my buddy said that he just thought Tanaka took his ball and went home. This was said by a normally non humurous guy – I still chuckle to this day….
Ryu will be back in an upcoming expansion draft.
In 1987 owners were found guilty of collusion for players salaries. I see far too much talent at this stage not to be employed. Exhibit A John Henry…..Mr Control salaries himself.
Would have been happy with Ryu back in LA’s rotation this year.
Instead of Paxton, maybe
Or in some nontraditional way such as follower or piggy backing to save innings on some of the other arms
17 billion won is only about $12.7m American. Padres really must be broke.
A very underrated pitcher who couldn’t stay healthy. I would have loved for him to come back to the Dodgers.
Boras should look to Korea
the doors to Cooperstown await
Was real good w/Dodgers when he was healthy, coulda helped a few pitching staffs this season in mlb
I remember the comments here when the Dodgers signed him, no way was he going to make it in the majors. Just didn’t throw hard enough, you know, all that BS we still hear every day.
He never looked the part of an athlete but he knows how to pitch and he could hit the ball hard too, back when pitchers swung bats. Still, I doubt his new team really expects him to be pitching at age 45. But who knows?
He was gamer n good teammate on those Dodger teams @beginning of their run. That was a fun team.
Eight years? That’s pretty unexpected. How many 35+ year old pro baseball players sign for more than 5 years, let alone one that’s a month away from turning 37?
Must be a way to defer the funds. 37 year old in a few weeks
8 years?!?
When I first heard that my reaction was, “Those people are smoking some seriously potent crack in Korea to give ANY 37-year-old 8 years!”
He definitely wasn’t getting that here. I’m guessing the odds were 17 billion to Won…
What a great bookend to a very good career.
Going back to where it started. Much like my own story of playing some high school ball, doing nothing for 20 years, then playing beer league softball just like my dad did when I was a kid.
I’ll never forget when the local bar got the Medieval Madness pinball table
Good for him! I’m sure the Korean BBQ is better at home. Best of luck and congratulations.
An 8 year deal for a 36 year old. Good luck to them.
Beats a 36 yr deal for an 8 yr old
That league isn’t that good so he might be fine
There are uncertainties whether KBO’s current salary cap is sustainable or not so teams have been bending the rules in different ways to avoid going over the cap right now until teams, who have the exclusive rights to making all the rules of KBO, decide to keep or abolish the salary cap in the near future.
If teams decide to keep it, the contract continues, but when they choose to get rid of it Ryu will opt out of his deal and agree to a new contract.
It’s the equivalent of Boras killing a hostage. And if at least 2 of his big four aren’t signed within a week, one of them will commit at least 2 years to a Pioneer League team. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
How I long for the days when ticket prices were affordable, stadium food was affordable and players made salaries like this
And my cable bill didn’t have absurd sports charges
Good for Ryu. Always enjoyed Vin Scully commenting on the antics of Puig, Uribe, & Ryu during their Dodger days. Good luck to Ryu back home.
8 year deal, makes sense
Came over late, had a good MLB career and then went home at age 36. Enjoyed watching Ryu in the MLB, sure he still has something to bring to the KBO.
Can we just talk baseball without bring race or politics into it. Geeze
Pitchers always hit their stride after age 42
Only Clemens, 7.8 war @42 yrs ol, 1.87 ERA in 211 innings, n made allstar tm, like he had a magical fountain to go to …