Jays give B J Ryan his unconditional release
July 8th, 2009 | by jays1992 |
By Paul Bruno
The Blue jays announced earlier today that they have decided to cut ties with their one-time closer, B J Ryan.
The move comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the big lefty struggle to regain some speed on his fastball following his recent arm surgery. It was eveident in several of his recent outings that he had lost some serious speed in his pitches. Ryan leaves Toronto after having registered 75 saves as a Blue Jay during his four seasons with the club.
Over the course of this season, Ryan had already lost his closer’s role to Scott Downs. He was given a bit of time to try to regain his form while Downs was on the DL with a toe injury, suffered during inter-league play. The Ryan dismissal comes on the same day that the Jay’ brass decided to reactivate Downs, who will resume his role at the back of the bullpen.
The Jays do retain a couple of other former closers among their relief corps. Jason Frasor did a decent job filling in for Downs, converting three of five opportunities. Jeremy Accardo has also closed for the Jays in 2007, converting 30 of 35 chances and also have one save in his only save situation so far this year.
Meanwhile, the flurry of Roy Halladay rumors is expected to heat up between now and July 31, the trade deadline.
That should make the next three weeks rather interesting, wouldn’t you say?
Tags: b j ryan, Jason Frasor, Jeremy Accardo, scott downs, toronto blue jays
