Around the League: Dodgers sign Ryu Hyun-Jin

The Dodgers have officially signed 25 year old left hander Ryu Hyun-Jin, to a 6 year $36 million contract.  This is a great signing, especially for a franchise that has more money than they know what to do with.  In the KBO, he was a 7 time allstar, 5 time strikeout leader, lead the league in ERA twice, and won the MVP award.  Needless to say he was one of the elite Korean pitchers.  Here's what BR said about him:

He throws a fastball around 90 mph (tops out at 95 mph),a decent curveball,a slider, and a deceptive changeup. Scouts say that the changeup is his best pitch and is a legitimate out-pitch at the big league level. As the team's ace he'd had a heavy workload since his rookie season in teen-age.

He definitely isn't as highly regarded as someone like Yu Darvish, but he is a good talent.  The biggest knock that I have heard about him is that some feel like he is just a reliever.  Even so, $6 million dollars is about what Jeremy Affeldt,  the lefty signed by the Giants who also received $6 million a year.  So even if Hyun Ryu-Jin can't make it as a starter, he can still justify his contract as a durable left handed reliever.  It's a little hard to predict how foreign players will do in their transition to the Major Leagues, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him be able to hang in the starting rotation.  

Overall, a good signing by the Dodgers, who again, do not have many monetary restrictions right now.  Seems like a very low risk signing to me.  And as a team who already has a ton of rotation depth, there won't be too much pressure on him to perform.  Only time will tell.