Jays release B.J. Ryan; activate Downs from DL

The Blue Jays have released B.J. Ryan! After stinking the entire season, Toronto finally parted ways with the former team’s former closer after activating the incumbent stopper Scott Downs off the disabled list Wednesday. The Blue Birds are letting Ryan go with 1 ½ seasons left on his 5 year/$47 Million dollar contract he signed prior to the 2006 season. They will be obligated to pay the $10 million left on his deal for next year.

Ryan struggled this season with a poor 6.53 ERA, losing his job as closer due to an inability to find the strike zone consistently. After he continued to prove unreliable, the Jays couldn’t find a role for him in the bullpen and were considering using him only in mop up duty. Ryan grew increasingly frustrated with his lack of playing time, and should benefit from a change in scenery.

Despite the fact Blow Jay Ryan was horrendous this season, he did many good things for this organization that can’t be dismissed, including saving 38 games in his first campaign in 2006 with a 1.37 ERA. Following Tommy John Surgery that cost him most of the 2007 campaign, he was solid last year, shutting down 32 games.

Having Downs back in the fold will be remarkable for a bullpen that has been taxed with a heavy workload and mostly devoid of any reliable arms. Downs returns from his sprained toe suffered against the Phillies June 16th.

Marc Rzepczynski with solid MLB debut

After a surprise promotion to fill in for a depleted Jays starting rotation, Marc Rzepczynski had a very solid major league debut against the Rays. He lasted 6 innings, giving up just 1 run scattering only 2 hits while striking out 7 batters. The southpaw made history, becaming the first American League pitcher to strike out at least 7 and allow two or fewer hits in his ML debut since 1973.

The young lefty was the 5 Jays starter to make his major league debut this season, setting a new club record. He looked poised on the mound, only running into trouble in the 4th frame. That's where his control wavered a little bit, as Rzepczynski issued three free passes in the inning, including a walk with the bases loaded that accounted for the only run he surrendered.

The solid debut has to be considered somewhat of a surprise, but not if you examine Rzepczynski's numbers this year in the minors. In 16 starts, he went 9-5 with a svelte 2.86 ERA. He was recently promoted to AAA Las Vegas, and in two outings fashioned a minuscule 0.79 ERA with 16 K's. The 23 year old, selected in the 5th round of the 2007 draft is a strike out pitcher, having struck out 104 batters in 88 innings with class AA New Hampshire and AAA Las Vegas this season.

With Scott Richmond on the shelf, Rzepczynski could most certainly be given a couple more opportunities to prove he belongs at the big league level.

League letting me down

I think it might be about time that I start to face facts about Brandon League. This is very difficult for me because I've remained fiercely loyal to the young fireballer throughout his struggles this season. However, the fact remains that he has been wildly inconsistent and extremely unreliable.

How fitting that a day after I lauded him for shutting down the Yankees that he serves up the game winning home run to Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, I called that home run in the 11th inning. I turned to a colleague at work and said "Wow, Pat Burrell's numbers are terrible this year. Knowing my luck he'll hit a walk off against my boy League." Sadly, i proved prophetic.

League has been good in the past, putting up ERA's of 2.53 in '06 and 2.18 in '08. This year, however, he is 1-4, has blown 3 saves while sporting a bloated 5.31 ERA. It's hard to believe he is in fact only 26 years old, considering he's been with the team for 6 seasons. He's still a young talent, but has a lot to learn about mixing fastballs with his devastating splitter.

If it sounds like I'm making excuses for him, I probably am. Can you blame me? I'm extremely loyal. Perhaps loyal to a fault with Brandon League.

End of an era; Russ Adams bolts Blue Jays

Mercilessly, the Russ Adams experiment is over in Toronto. Forever linked with Jays General Manager J.P. Ricciardi's first draft pick with the club in 2002, Adams has been the perfect metaphor for Ricciardi's tenure with the team; disappointing.

Adams was tabbed to be the Blue Birds shortstop of the future after being selected with the 14th pick in the '02 draft, and he quickly rose up the ranks to the big league level. By 2005, he was the incumbent at short, but persistent fielding problems (26 errors in '05) that continued into 2006 saw him lose his job midway through the campaign. He toiled in the organization, bouncing back from AAA with brief stints in the major leagues in '07 and then again this year.

After giving Adams one more opportunity to prove he could at least be a utility man with the team Adams languished. In 8 games, Adams hit just .200 (for 4 for 20), and was designated for assignment to AAA Las Vegas to make room for David Dellucci. Adams had the option of reporting back to AAA or to declare free agency, and he chose the latter.

In 286 career games, Adams hit .247 with 17 HR and 113 RBI racking up 46 errors.

League shuts the door on two of A.L's best

I heard all the Brandon League haters chirping when he coughed up a 2 run single to Nick Swisher after inheriting the bases loaded from Ricky Romero in the 7th inning. The boo birds were out in full force, with several proclamations that Brandon "Minor League" would screw up another contest.

League is damn good. And he proved just that, shaking off his misfortune by whiffing Mark Teixiera and Alex Rodriguez, 2 vaunted hitters in the American League back to back. Boom, end of threat!

That sure shut up the peanut gallery.

Boom!

Rolen extends hitting streak to 23 games

Scott Rolen continues to RAKE at the plate extending his career best hitting streak to an extremely impressive 23 games. Should the 14 year veteran rack up hits in 5 more consecutive games, he'll tie Shawn Green's franchise record with 28 straight contests with at least one hit.

Rolen's double in the 7th inning drove in a pair Monday, with those runs marking the difference in the ball game. In his remarkable 23 game span, most of which has spanned the big 3rd basemen hitting in the cleanup spot, Rolen has gone 37 for 95 for a scintillating .389 average, including 3 HR and 14 RBI.

He didn't quite have the home run and RBI totals to make the all-star team despite having the 3rd highest average in the American League, but Rolen has shown he most definitely still has the ability to play at a high level.

Johnny Mac hits first homer in nearly a year!

What a spectacular sight to see, John McDonald blasting a home run! The long fly was his first since July 27th of last year. Johnny Mac, making only his 4th start of the season, hit a solo shot off Andy Pettitte in the 7th inning.

There isn't much more to say, but McDonald deserves as much credit and discussion on this blog as possible, because he's amazing. In only 30 at bats on the campaign, he has a respectable .267 batting average. Yet he still hasn't complained about his lack of playing time.

As I've mentioned before, if the Jays fall out of the hunt and I'm Theo Epstein in Boston with two poor defensive shortstops, I'm calling J.P. Ricciardi to see if I can't take the seldom used McDonald off Toronto's hands. Imagine him in Boston. That team would be even more scary!