Dodgers Come to Terms With Hyun-Jin Ryu

After winning the right to negotiate with Hyun-jin Ryu with a $25.7 million bid back in November, the Los Angeles Dodgers have ensured it wasn’t all for naught by inking the Korean southpaw to a contract. Ryu, 25, has seen his share of success pitching in Korea and will now get the chance to see how well his stuff translates to the major leagues.

The Dodgers were able to lock up Ryu with a six-year deal worth $36 million and have now spent a combined amount of nearly $62 million to obtain his services. He will join a rotation that already features the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, and the recently added Zack Greinke. Starters Chris Capuano, Ted Lilly, and Aaron Harang are also still under contract for the 2013 season, so it seems very likely that the Dodgers attempt to work out a trade with a team that needs rotation help before the offseason concludes.

Ryu has been pitching in Korea for seven years, and he boasts a career record of 98-52 with a 2.80 ERA over that time period. The six-foot-two, 215 pound hurler features a fastball that tops out in the mid-nineties, a curveball, slider, and an effective change-up scouts rate as his best pitch. Whether this assortment will prove good enough to make the Dodgers’ investment worthwhile is anyone’s guess, but thanks to the talent of his rotation mates, the organization will not need him to make an instant impact as a starter, and as such they can bring him along slowly if need be.

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