Raúl Valdés will continue to be a bull. The Cuban left-hander and the Toros del Este formalized a contract for the next two seasons, preventing the star pitcher from reaching free agency, general manager Jesús Mejía announced.
The agreement includes a mutual option for a third campaign.
Valdés, who made his debut in the Dominican league in 2003, has a 52-50, 3.04 career record in 160 games, 147 of them as a starter, with 623 strikeouts in 810.2 innings.
Just one of eight pitchers in league history with 50 or more wins, he will start the season tied with Danilo Rivas (52) for the seventh most. His next goal will be to catch up with Pedro Borbón, who finished his career with 56 wins.
Valdés is two starts away from reaching Efraín Valdez, who is the absolute leader with 149 starts, no other active player reaches even 85 games started.
With Valdés, the Toros have already secured four of their main players who applied for free agency, joining captain Cristhian Adames, first baseman Yamaico Navarro and closer Fernando Abad.
The 45-year-old left-hander is just one of three pitchers in history to pass 600 strikeouts, Valdés is only surpassed by Federico Olivo (669) and Diómedes Olivo (742).
In addition, it is one of the seven arms that since the foundation of LIDOM has exceeded 800 tickets launched. He has a 119 ERA+, the 10th-best number for pitchers who have historically amassed at least 300 innings. In recent days, general manager Jesús Mejía has traded outfielders Víctor Robles, Narciso Crook, Luis Mieses, acquired right-handed reliever Rubby De la Rosa through free agency and announced Lino Rivera as manager for the 2023-2023 season. 24.