Blue Jays: Don’t get your hopes up for a Hyun-Jin Ryu signing

The Toronto Blue Jays are said to have Hyun-Jin Ryu in their sights, however, don’t hold your breath waiting for him to sign north of the border.

The Blue Jays brain trust keeps proclaiming they have been in on nearly every free agent and are prepared to commit financially in a big way yet they still have nothing to show for their efforts. Ross Atkins is selling the same unfounded lip service without opening his purse strings and putting his money where his mouth is.

Hyun-Jin Ryu would provide stability to the rotation and be a legitimate offseason acquisition, however, there is one problem and that is the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Blue Jays are going to have to outbid Ryu’s former employer if they plan on securing the southpaw’s services for the next four or five years.

The Dodgers missed out on Stephen Strasburg and if all holds true with the Gerrit Cole to the Yankees rumours, the Dodgers will be going all-in to bring Ryu back after failing to land a premier arm in Strasburg and Cole.

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Aside from the money, the Jays will be in tough attempting to match what the Dodgers can offer Ryu in terms of familiarity, weather, taxes, and travel. That is, in fact, the Blue Jays will even make a serious multi-year offer that is in the ballpark with the Dodgers.

The front office has already been outbid by the Texas Rangers in their quest to land Kyle Gibson. Manager Charlie Montoyo claimed the team made a good offer but it wasn’t enough to sway the hurler to choose Toronto.

So if Atkins couldn’t better the 3 year/ $28 million dollar offer for Gibson, how the heck do we expect him to win the negotiating battle over Los Angeles when the offer is going to be north of $100 million.

It is still too early to put the final nail in the coffin on the offseason but don’t expect Ryu to land anywhere near Toronto once the ink dries on his new contract.