The end of the slave contract is in sight…
Kenta Maeda (35, Minnesota Twins)’s 8-year, $20 million (approximately 33 billion won) contract has already reached its end. Ahead of the 2016 season, Maeda signed an eight-year, $20 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers that included a complex option. At the time, the Dodgers did not set Maeda’s guaranteed annual salary high, saying he lacked the ability to handle innings during his time in Japanese professional baseball.
As a result, the Dodgers’ choice was correct. The Dodgers transferred Maeda to Minnesota through a trade ahead of the 2020 season. However, Maeda won 16 wins, 13 wins, 8 wins, and 10 wins over the four years until the 2019 season, but unfortunately, his performance dropped after moving to Minnesota.
He was fine with 6 wins, 1 loss, and an average ERA of 2.70 in 11 games in the 2020 season, which was held in a shortened season. However, in 21 games in the 2021 season, he performed poorly with 6 wins, 5 losses, and an average ERA of 4.66. He underwent Tommy John surgery in August of that year and was completely sidelined until the 2022 season.토토사이트
This season, he suffered a triceps injury after the game against the New York Yankees on April 27th and took a two-month break until his return against the Detroit Tigers on June 24th. After his return, he showed stable progress, but his performance was not good, with 1 win, 1 loss, and an ERA of 5.04 in 5 games in August. He pitched against the Texas Rangers on the 4th, allowing 9 hits (1 home run), 3 strikeouts, 2 walks, and 3 runs in 5 innings. No decision.
In 17 games this season, he has 3 wins and 7 losses, an ERA of 4.73, a hitting percentage of 0.259 in 83.2 innings, and a WHIP of 1.27. It’s not that his grades are terrible, but it’s also true that the numbers aren’t eye-catching. This is the 35-year-old pitcher’s first season after completing Tommy John surgery and rehabilitation, and his performance should be considered poor.
Maeda has a career record of 62 wins, 48 losses, and an average ERA of 3.96. He is 9th in Asian major leaguers’ career wins and 3rd in active wins, following Darvish (San Diego Padres, 103 wins) and Ryu Hyun-jin (Toronto Blue Jays, 78 wins). In order to chase Darvish and Ryu Hyun-jin, we must secure as much time as possible in the 2023-2024 free agent market. However, with this performance, not many clubs will be able to provide enough coverage to a pitcher in his mid-30s.
▲Top 10 Asian Major Leaguers with the most career wins
Chan-ho Park/Korea/124 wins, 98 losses/average ERA 4.36/1993 innings
Hideo Nomo/Japan/123 wins, 109 losses/average ERA 4.24/1976 ⅓ innings
Yu Darvish/Japan/103 wins, 85 losses/average ERA 3.59/1,624 ⅓ innings
Hideki Kuroda/Japan/79 wins, 79 losses/average ERA 3.45/1,319 innings
Masahiro Tanaka/Japan/78 wins, 46 losses/average ERA 3.74/1,054 ⅓ innings
Ryu Hyun-jin/ Korea/78 wins, 46 losses/average ERA 3.24/1,032⅓ innings
Wang Jianming/Taiwan/68 wins, 34 losses/average ERA 4.36/845⅔ innings
Hisashi Iwakuma/Japan/63 wins, 39 losses/average ERA 3.42/883⅔ innings
Kenta Maeda/Japan/ 62 wins, 48 losses/average ERA 3.88/827 ⅔ innings
Chen Wayne/Taiwan/59 wins 51 losses/average ERA 4.18/1064 ⅔ innings
Was the Dodgers’ contract from 7 years ago wise? Maeda needs to show that that wasn’t the case in the last month of this season.