SEOUL, South Korea -- A team in South Korea says one Major League Baseball club has bid nearly $26 million for a chance to sign pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin.
The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization said Saturday they have accepted a posting fee of $25.7 million for the 25-year-old left-hander. The big league team that submitted the winning bid was not revealed.
The Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers were among the clubs thought to be interested in Ryu.
The winning bidder now has 30 days to negotiate a contract with Ryu, who was 98-52 with a 2.80 career ERA during seven seasons in South Korea. He pitched for his country on teams that won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and reached the championship game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
The $25.7 million fee will be paid to the Eagles only if Ryu signs with the major league team.
The posting system brought Japanese stars Yu Darvish, Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka to the majors. Last winter, the Rangers gave Darvish a six-year contract guaranteeing him $56 million after submitting a record $51,703,411 posting bid to his former team, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
