Casey Janssen shut down, Jose Reyes returns Saturday for Toronto Blue Jays

Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

According to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, the Toronto Blue Jays have shut down reliever Casey Janssen for at least a few days while Jose Reyes will return to the lineup on Saturday as opposed to Friday.

Manager John Gibbons provided the rationale behind both decisions.

"“It’s just not right; it’s not like it’s a lot worse, but he doesn’t feel quite comfortable yet to start cutting it loose,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “He’s going to take a few days off, from what I understand. … I don’t think he went backwards, but it’s not completely out of there to where he feels comfortable.”"

Gibbons said Janssen didn’t go backwards but if based on Casey’s comments last week it sure sounds like he did. Janssen said after a bullpen session on Saturday he was throwing “pretty much as hard as I could” without any noticeable pain but it appears now he’s nowhere close to being ready to go. I wouldn’t be surprised if Janssen is put back on the 15-day DL before he is activated and Chisholm points out he’s in jeopardy of missing the entire month of April.

The update about Reyes is much more positive:

"“We heard the weather is supposed to be [bad] Friday night, so the plan as of right now is to bring him back hopefully for Saturday’s game instead of tomorrow,” Gibbons said. “That way, you won’t have a night game and then a day game, and you [won’t] have to play him two games in 24 hours."

It sounds like for the most part the fact the Jays have a day game after night is the primary reason for his delay, which isn’t that bad if you assume he would have sat one of the two regardless. Hopefully this will be the last DL stint of the season for Reyes, who when healthy helps the Blue Jays maximize the effectiveness of their lineup.