Blue Jays: Looming roster decisions when Hyun Jin Ryu returns

Trent Thornton

Flirting with the active roster over the past couple of seasons, right-hander Trent Thornton had a strong start to the month after his first outing against Texas. He currently has the most innings of any Jays reliever at 13.2 and had a four-game stretch where he pitched 7.0 clean innings and his ERA dropped to 1.00.

His past four outings have been a bit of a struggle however, as he has been tagged with five earned runs and just hasn’t looked as sharp on the mound compared to his earlier appearances, especially in his outing on Saturday during game one of the doubleheader against Cleveland.

Blue Jays starter Hyun Jin Ryu is inching closer to returning to the big leagues, meaning an upcoming roster decision will be needed to add him back.

While he has the most innings out of the Jays’ relief corps, once Ryu returns to the rotation and Ross Stripling becomes the long-man in the bullpen, Thornton could be dropped back down to AAA, especially since he still has MiLB options. He isn’t the worst member in the bullpen with his 3.95 ERA but the numbers game may see him head back to Buffalo.