Like his former battery mate Yasmani Grandal, we will know later today if 31-year-old left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu accepted or rejected the $17.9 million qualifying offer made to him by Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and now former Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi back on November 2. But unlike Grandal, who many believe will accept the one-year offer, they also believe that Ryu will not.

It’s not that the Dodgers don’t want the extremely popular Incheon, South Korea native back in Dodger Blue, in fact, quite the contrary is true. Realistically, who wouldn’t was a guy with a career record of 40-28 and a career ERA of 3.20 over his five MLB seasons – all with the Dodgers – back as their number three behind current staff ace Clayton Kershaw and future staff ace Walker Buehler, right?

Also unlike Grandal, should Ryu reject his qualifying offer as expected, the Dodgers will, in all likelihood, make a hard play to re-sign the 6′-3″ / 250-pound lefty on the free agent market. And even if they don’t re-sign him, they will have gained a competitive balance draft pick between the second and third rounds of the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft to be held in June.

Let’s be honest here, Hyun-Jin Ryu just plain looks good in Dodgers jersey number 99, right?
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Granted, if Ryu does indeed become a free agent, there is always the possibility that any one of the other 29 MLB teams could make a more attractive free agent offer to him than might the Dodgers. But none of those other 29 teams are more knowledgeable about Ryu’s medical history than are the Dodgers, not to mention the fact that no other team out there has been to back-to-back World Series … so the Dodgers have that going for them.

Then again, perhaps it is exactly that inside knowledge about Ryu’s medical history that prompted F&Z to make him a qualifying offer in the first place.

Either way, accept or reject, we will know by 2 p.m. PT today whether it will be Hyun-Jin Ryu once again sporting jersey number 99 or perhaps someone else.

Stay tuned…