It feels like a dream to become an ace who was so promising that he would give me a 7-year long-term contract. Jose Berrios (28) tasted the humiliation of being expected to be the 5th starter in a year.

American media ESPN’s Buster Olney predicted the starting rotation for the 2023 season of five teams in the Eastern Division of the American League through his SNS on the 16th (Korean time).

In this offseason, various starting pitchers such as Carlos Rodon (30, New York Yankees) and Jack Adelin (28, Tampa Bay) were recruited to the American League East Division, which consists of Baltimore, Boston, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay, and Toronto, making them look forward to next year.

Toronto was also one of the teams that strengthened. Having had fun by recruiting Kevin Gaussman (31) last year, they brought Chris Bassit (33), a free agent, on the 13th for 3 years and 63 million dollars (approximately 82.5 billion won).

Looking ahead to Bassit as the third starter, Olney predicted the order of next year’s Toronto starting lineup as Gaussman, Alec Manoa (24), Bassit, Yusei Kikuchi, and Berrios. It is not surprising that Gaussman, who recorded a 12-10 ERA of 3.35 in the 2022 season, and Manoa, who marked a 16-7 ERA of 2.24, expect a one-two punch.

Bassit also sent a career high with the New York Mets this year with a 3.42 ERA, 15 wins, 9 losses, and 167 strikeouts in 181⅔ innings. It is somewhat surprising that Berrios was expected to be the fifth starter next year, behind Kikuchi, who was demoted to the bullpen during the season. 토토

Berios, who made his debut in Minnesota in 2016, showed steady performance and came to Toronto through a trade last year. Even after joining midway through, he showed a good pitch with an average ERA of 3.58, 5 wins, 4 losses in 12 games, and 78 strikeouts in 70⅓ innings.

However, from the first year of his extended contract, he showed signs of insecurity. He finished the season with 172 innings, but his performance was not good with an earned run average of 5.23. It was the worst performance that was helpful rather than coming out as -0.5 even though it was calculated by WAR (contribution to victory against substitute players) based on the baseball reference standard of the American baseball statistics media.

Kikuchi, who was the ace representing Japan, was not good this season either. Kikuchi also recorded 6 wins, 7 losses, an average ERA of 5.19 in 32 games (20 starts), and 124 strikeouts in 100⅔ innings. He was even demoted to the bullpen in mid-August, and his WAR was -1.1 lower than Berrios’. However, Kikuchi showed some potential in the bullpen. Thanks to being a lefty with an average speed of 95 miles per hour (about 152.8 km), he has yet to let go of expectations in Toronto.

What is more unfortunate is the position of Ryu Hyun-jin (35), who has undergone elbow ligament joint surgery (Tommy John surgery) this year and is not even listed in the expected starting rotation next year. Ryu Hyun-jin, whose 2023 season is the last year of a four-year contract, is expected to return in the second half at the earliest, but there are also negative predictions that Toronto may end his companionship as it is.