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Promise the highest courtesy and exercise patience... Hanwha saves Ryu Hyun-jin’s pride
“I couldn’t get a $10 million offer from MLB”… Based on participation in the post 12 years ago, Hanwha continued to woo and delivered a contract at the end of January... Son Hyuk’s friendship also played a role.
The KBO League's home team, the Hanwha Eagles, saved the pride of 'Korean Monster' Ryu Hyun-jin (36).
On the 22nd, Hanwha announced that it had signed an eight-year contract worth up to 17 billion won with Ryu Hyun-jin.
The total amount of 17 billion won is the highest ever in Korean professional baseball, surpassing the previous record of 15.2 billion won for 4+2 years by Yang Eui-ji (Doosan Bears).
Ryu Hyun-jin, who faced the cold reality in MLB's Stove League, is grateful for the hospitality of his home team. 카지노사이트킹
Several clubs, including the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates, were mentioned as destinations for Ryu Hyun-jin, who became a free agent (FA) in October of last year, but they were unable to reach an agreement.
If it had been a strategy to raise the price, there would have been no problem, but Ryu Hyun-jin said his pride was hurt by the poor evaluation of MLB clubs.
In particular, no team offered an annual average of $10 million, which was a psychological Maginot line.
An official on Ryu Hyun-jin's side said, "This winter, we did not receive contract offers worth more than $10 million per year on average from major league clubs, and during this process, Ryu Hyun-jin considered returning to the KBO League."
'$10 million' is also the minimum amount that Hanwha set when it posted Ryu Hyun-jin (private competitive bidding) in 2012.
At the time, Hanwha did not plan to allow the company to enter the U.S. unless there was a big league team offering more than $10 million.
However, MLB teams' evaluation of Ryu Hyun-jin was beyond imagination.
The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Hanwha 25,737,737 dollars and 33 cents, which ranks fourth in the major league posting system, and later signed a large six-year contract worth $36 million with Ryu Hyun-jin.
Twelve years have passed since then, and Ryu Hyun-jin may feel the passage of time.
He could not avoid cold evaluations from the local American media.
Jim Bowden, a former MLB general manager, set Ryu Hyun-jin's price at $8 million per year and advised, "Due to the risk of injury, we will have to accept a one-year contract."
'MLB Trade Rumors', which specializes in transfer news, mentioned Ryu Hyun-jin's strikeout rate (17.0%), number of innings (11 games, 52 innings), and average fastball speed (88.8 miles per hour) in the 2023 season, calling him a '5-inning pitcher'.
“It seems difficult to receive more treatment,” he predicted.
During this process, Hanwha silently waited for Ryu Hyun-jin's choice.
He fully understood the position of Ryu Hyun-jin, who had no choice but to consider between staying in the big league and returning to Korea, and showed patience.
It is said that Hanwha has been consistently sending love calls to Ryu Hyun-jin since he became a free agent in October of last year.
And around January 20th of this year, a task force (TF) was formed within the club to begin a full-fledged recruitment campaign, and at the end of January, multiple contract proposals were delivered to Ryu Hyun-jin.
There was no separate deadline for negotiations.
The decision was made that no matter when Ryu Hyun-jin joins, it will not only strengthen the team's power but also be a blockbuster boost to the club's success.
There was an atmosphere that it would not matter at all if his contract was pushed back beyond March.
Kim Gwang-hyun's contract to return to SSG Landers in 2022, which was announced on March 8 of that year, was also mentioned as a model.
Even if Ryu Hyun-jin decided to stay in the big league this year, there was confidence that his promise to 'play for Hanwha for the last time of his career' would be kept.
The faith worked.
Ryu Hyun-jin, tired of endless big league contract negotiations, eventually took Hanwha's hand.
In this process, the 'sales' of Hanwha General Manager Son Hyuk, with whom Ryu Hyun-jin is close, also played a role.
General Manager Son developed a relationship with Ryu Hyun-jin while serving as a pitching instructor for Hanwha from December 2008 to March of the following year.
It is reported that General Manager Son has been in constant contact with Ryu Hyun-jin since he returned to Korea after the 2023 season.
Negotiations began to gain momentum after the Lunar New Year holiday, and Director Son, who was in spring camp in Australia, returned to Korea on the 18th, three days earlier than the team, and finalized the contract.