Former Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays' Pitcher Could Be Headed Back to Homeland to Finish Career

Free agent left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is reportedly close to heading back to his native South Korea in order to finish his career in the KBO.

Per Korean Baseball Insider Jee-Ho Yoo:

On the verge of reuniting with their former star pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin, the South Korean baseball club Hanwha Eagles have tendered a status check on the free agent hurler, sources familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

Per the sources, the Eagles, through the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) office, formally asked Major League Baseball (MLB) for the status on Ryu.

Under an agreement between the KBO and MLB, any KBO club hoping to contact a player under contract with or reserve to a big league club must carry out a status check through the MLB Commissioner's Office.

In that instance, MLB must respond within four business days.

This appears to be one of the final steps for the Eagles to bring back Ryu after a dozen years apart.

Reports out of South Korea even indicated that the deal is done, but team officials reported that wasn't the case. Either way, it appears to be an extremely real possibility that Ryu won't elect to sign with a major league team. There has been major league interest in Ryu - we heard him connected to the San Diego Padres just a few weeks ago.

The 36-year-old Ryu has spent 10 years in the big leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays and owns a 78-48 lifetime record. He's pitched to a sterling 3.27 ERA and led baseball in ERA (2.32) back in 2019.

He also made the All-Star team that same season and won double-digit games in four separate years.