Blue Jays appear likely to wait until after trade deadline to activate Hyun Jin Ryu

As Toronto Blue Jays’ fans has been desperately waiting for the activation of starter Hyun Jin Ryu off the IL to help out their current starting rotation, some impartial news has broken out indicating that it may not be happening anytime soon. As a matter of fact, it appears as though we might not be seeing Ryu until after the trade deadline.

Hyun Jin Ryu not likely to start vs. Angels this weekend though that hasn’t been fully ruled out. More likely he de-loads a bit with some sort of sim game before entering #BlueJays’ rotation per John Schneider
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) July 25, 2023

As per Ben Nicholson-Smith, Ryu is no longer likely to start in the upcoming weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels and will instead participate in a simulation game prior to re-entering the Jays’ starting rotation, according to Jays’ manager John Schneider.

Is this a wise move by Jays’ management, or does it make no sense at all?

From the Jays’ standpoint, this could be disappointing news because they were looking to gauge how well Ryu fits in with the team at the major league level after coming back from Tommy John surgery to get a sense of whether or not they need to pursue starting pitching depth at the trade deadline. By delaying his season debut until after the trade deadline, the Jays will pretty much have to decide on whether or not to go ahead with acquiring pitching reinforcements at the deadline without seeing what Ryu could provide. If the Jays don’t end up upgrading their starting pitching and Ryu falters, they could be in really big trouble down the stretch.

On the other hand, if the Jays saw something during Ryu’s rehab assignments that raised some red flags, indicating that perhaps he may just need a little more time to get to 100% full strength, giving him the extra rest now before he starts the grind for the rest of the season would be a wise move by management. After all, the Jays had waited for him for so long, the last thing they would want is Ryu coming back too quickly, get injured again and end up losing their valuable pitching asset for the playoff run.

In hindsight, the Jays should have really tried their best to get Ryu into a game prior to the trade deadline, but if his health is at risk, it’s better to be safe than sorry so playing the waiting game is the right thing to do.

Nevertheless, we hope to see Ryu back in action with the Jays sooner than later, and provide the much-needed impact in their pursuit of a playoff berth.