Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda (34), who missed an entire season due to elbow surgery, is rumored to be traded.
The Athletic of the United States reported on the 15th (Korean time), “The Minnesota Twins may consider trading Maeda and Sonny Gray (33) with one year remaining until free agency.”
It is said that they actually received attention from other teams. The media said, “Maeda and Gray received interest in a trade this year along with Luis Araez (25), the American League batting champion (0.316).”
When Maeda joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, he signed a contract for eight years and a guaranteed amount of $25 million. He won 16 games his first year with the team, and then added 10 wins on two occasions despite struggling to and from the bullpen.
Maeda, who showed good form with the Dodgers, moved to Minnesota through a trade ahead of the 2020 season. In his 60-game shortened season, he had the best record of 6 wins and 1 loss with an ERA of 2.70, and an amazing achievement of second place in the American League Cy Young behind Shane Bieber (Cleveland).
However, last year, he went 6-5 with an ERA of 4.66 in 21 games, and fell into a slump. To make matters worse, in August, he felt an abnormality while pitching, and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery (elbow ligament joint surgery) and was out of the season.
Initially, there was a prospect that it was possible to return within a year, but in the end, Maeda decided not to come back impatiently. Accordingly, Maeda joined the squad, but ended the season without appearing in a single game this year. 메이저사이트
Maeda’s strength is his low base salary. He has only $3 million (about 3.9 billion won) in his guaranteed annual salary next year. He can receive up to 10 million dollars (approximately 13 billion won) depending on the number of appearances or innings, but even if he is not in good physical condition, the club has nothing to lose.
However, he will be 35 next year, so age is a stumbling block. Another problem is that he has undergone Tommy John surgery and has yet to pitch in the major leagues.