Angels Reportedly Passed on Hyun-Jin Ryu to Keep Shohei Ohtani the Focus of Asian Marketing
By Sean Facey
They Los Angeles Angels entered the offseason in dire need of help in their starting rotation, and after guys like Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg were taken off of the free agent market, they seemed like they would be top contenders for Hyun-Jin Ryu's services.
Surprisingly, though, they did not even submit an offer to the Korean star. Their reported reasoning behind their lack of interest in him was that they wanted Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani to be the focal point of their Asian marketing, according to Korean news outlet, Naver Sports.
According to Hyun Jin Ryu’s camp, the #Angels never made an offer to sign Ryu. #mlb
— Daniel Kim 대니얼 김 (@DanielKimW) December 23, 2019
Ryu, of course, went on to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays on a four-year, $80 million deal.
While it's understandable that they wanted to focus on one marketable star on the foreign stage, it seems like having two would be a good problem to have.
It's also undeniably irresponsible to forgo submitting an official offer to last year's league leader in ERA when your team's starters finished with a mark of 5.64 and were dead last in fWAR (3.3).
The #Angels are adding Julio Teheran. Interesting fact: Of the Angels’ top five starters, all but Ohtani and Teheran, who signed as international free-agents, were first- or second-round draft picks. https://t.co/Bx38SZsUiX
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) December 19, 2019
The Angels could've had a top pitcher in the MLB for $20 million per season but decided against it due to non-baseball reasons. Perhaps this is why the team is going nowhere.