Blue Jays: Looming roster decisions when Hyun Jin Ryu returns

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TORONTO, ON – APRIL 16: Hyun Jin Ryu #99 and Alejandro Kirk #30 of the Toronto Blue Jays walk to the dugout before playing the Oakland Athletics in their MLB game at the Rogers Centre on April 16, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) /

The Toronto Blue Jays currently have a few players on the injured list who will potentially be ready to go in the next few weeks like Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio, as both players are down in Buffalo working back to getting into game shape. Another name in the mix who made a rehab start just a couple of days ago is southpaw Hyun Jin Ryu, who looks to be the first player of this group ready to return to the big leagues since being added to the IL with arm inflammation back on April 17th.

The 2022 season has been rough for Ryu, as the left-hander has only appeared in two games and they haven’t been his best outings. He currently has just 7.1 innings on the season while allowing 11 earned runs off 11 hits compared to five strikeouts. Opponents are seeing the ball well off Ryu, especially his fastball, where opposing batters own a xBA of .392 and xwOBA of .731 off that particular pitch, and overall he is just getting hit hard (42.9 Hard-Hitting percentage and a 91.7% average exit velocity).

That being said, Ryu made his rehab start in Buffalo on Saturday against the Durham Bulls and went four innings while allowing five hits, five runs (only two earned), one home run, and six strikeouts with zero walks. Now that he has a rehab start under his belt and given the Blue Jays’ current schedule, it wouldn’t be surprising if the club is ready to activate him from the roster come the weekend series in Tampa Bay.

Once he is ready to go, the Blue Jays are going to have some roster decisions when it comes to whose spot on the roster Ryu will be taking. The club is allowed to switch him out for a position player to bring the pitcher total to 14 but can only have that many hurlers until the end of May when it drops back down to 13. It seems unlikely that the Jays would drop someone like Vinny Capra or Tyler Heineman when Jansen and Biggio will be needing roster spots in the near future as well but stranger things have happened.

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.

Ryan Borucki

Not even a month and a half into the season and Ryan Borucki has already been on the IL twice. He started the year on the IL and missed Opening Day and only recently returned after a blister issue saw him on the shelf once again after only two appearances from his first stint.

The former starter turned reliever has experienced his fair share of struggles over the past couple of seasons, whether it be performance or injury, and the 2022 campaign has been a mixed bag for Borucki on the mound. Through three outings and 2.1 innings, Borucki has allowed two earned runs and three walks compared to two strikeouts. His first two outings of the year were clean, although he did walk two batters against Boston before allowing the two earned runs against Cleveland in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday.

The sample size is small, which makes this decision hard to judge compared to someone like Thornton. Borucki is also out of minor league options and would need to be DFA’d and I would think another rebuilding team would take a chance on the left-hander should he be put on waivers. He is also one of the two left-handers in the relief corps besides Tim Mayza, and with internal southpaw options like Andrew Vasquez and Tayler Saucedo (currently on the IL) not fairing well early, it would be a tough call to remove Borucki from the roster in exchange for Ryu without seeing more.

Next. Time to make a switch with Bradley Zimmer’s roster spot. dark

Conclusion

If I had to guess, I would think that Thornton will most likely be sent down to AAA barring an absolute implosion of Borucki if he is used in the upcoming two-game New York Yankees series. I don’t think the Jays brass is ready to move on from the left-hander and with Thornton still having options at his disposal, the decision becomes more clear.

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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.

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