3 Biggest Losers From Hyun-Jin Ryu Signing With the Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays shocked the baseball world on Sunday night, signing Hyun-Jin Ryu to a four-year, $80 million contract. Signing Ryu, who went 14-5 with an MLB-best 2.32 ERA in 2019, is a major step in the right direction for a young team in need of an ace to lead their rotation.

However, teams in need of a frontline starter now find themselves scrambling for a different way to upgrade their rotation this offseason. With that in mind, here are the three biggest losers from Ryu signing with the Blue Jays.

3. Minnesota Twins

Jake Odorizzi pitching against the New York Yankees. / Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

The good news is that Minnesota Twins have already have a pretty solid one-two punch at the top of their rotation heading into 2020. The bad news is that there's a noticeable drop-off in talent after those two. Minnesota has a promising young arm in Randy Dobnak (1.59 ERA) who could blossom into a respectable mid-rotation starter. However, Michael Pineda (4.01 ERA) will miss the first 39 games of the 2020 season and Devin Smeltzer might be better suited for the bullpen (4.11 ERA as starter, 3.44 ERA as a reliever). Retaining their AL Central crown is definitely within the realm of possibility thanks to the powerful lineup that the Twins boast (.832 OPS in 2019), but making a deep postseason run will be much more difficult without another ace like Ryu.

2. Los Angeles Angels

Mike Trout takes a swing against the Oakland Athletics. / Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Angels have already begun to improve their AL-worst starting rotation (5.64 ERA, No. 15 in the AL) by signing Julio Teheran and trading for Dylan Bundy this offseason. However, neither pitcher projects to be the ace that this club sorely needs. With Ryu now in Toronto, there aren't any top-end starters available in free agency. Acquiring Teheran and Bundy certainly helps, but the Angels needed to make a pretty big splash in order to fix their starting rotation, and Ryu was likely their best hope.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw walks off the mound against the Washington Nationals. / Harry How/Getty Images

The Angels aren't the only L.A. team to end up on the losing end of the Ryu deal. The 32-year-old lefty spent his first six professional seasons with the Dodgers, and was a huge reason why the club led the bigs in starter ERA last season (3.11 ERA). Even without Ryu in the fold, the Dodgers will still enter 2020 with an impressive rotation that features Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias and Dustin May. However, losing a Cy Young-caliber talent like Ryu makes the Dodgers' quest for that ever-elusive World Series title much harder going forward.

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