Ryu's return a welcome sight for injury-plagued Blue Jays

It’s not often the Toronto Blue Jays get good news from the well-being department these days. But the sight of Hyun Jin Ryu — fresh off the injured list after leaving his last start with a glute issue — jogging out to the mound to start Thursday’s 10-4 triumph over the Oakland Athletics certainly qualified.

During this schlep of a season in which every win tacked on to an above-.500 record is qualified by a fresh health concern, every run added to a top-five MLB run differential is overshadowed by grim doubt in how sustainable this rate of attrition is, and every returning player seems to take the place of yet another fallen one, the club’s best pitcher having avoided an extended absence is an unusually fortunate turn of events.

Mind you, this was certainly not peak Ryu. And not to go there this quickly, but it’s fair to wonder if he’s still pitching through something. Featuring a diminished fastball that sat 88-m.p.h. and broke 90 only three times — he typically averages 90-91 when healthy, in case you were wondering — Ryu leaned heavily on his changeup and cutter, missing out over the plate far more often than he typically does but finding a way to not pay too steep a price for it.

Most importantly, Ryu got through five, helping keep his manager, Charlie Montoyo, from needing to dig too deep into a relief staff that’s thrown the fifth-most innings of any bullpen in the majors. And while he allowed four runs on six hits, Ryu appeared to get stronger as the game went on, retiring seven of his final eight and making some of his final pitches his hardest on the day.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen him not as sharp. But that tells you how good he is. He wasn’t sharp at all, in my opinion. And he battled just to keep us in the game,” Montoyo said. “That’s who he is. That’s why he’s a good pitcher. Because when you don’t have your command, a lot of guys will just crumble.”

Meanwhile, Toronto’s offence turned up against a shaky Mike Fiers, as Randal Grichuk and Danny Jansen both took the Oakland starter deep. Marcus Semien had a big day with four knocks, including a double and a homer. And back up in the sixth with a couple runners on, Grichuk laced a double to right-centre field off A’s reliever Sergio Romo, plating his fourth and fifth runs of the game.

That would be the same Randal Grichuk who’s now hitting .306/.345/.514 with 11 extra-base hits and a 140 wRC+ on the season. The same Randal Grichuk who routinely struck out upwards of 30 per cent of the time over the first five-and-a-half seasons of his career, but has lowered that rate to around 20 per cent since the middle of 2019, a span of over 600 plate appearances. The same Randal Grichuk many were writing off coming into the season as being the odd man out in a crowded outfield, and yet, five weeks later, has been the team’s most indispensable hitter this side of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

“He’s really been a glue guy to this lineup,” Semien said. “Nobody talks about him a lot. But his routine and his work is as consistent as anybody in the game that I’ve seen.”

The Blue Jays will need more pleasant surprise performances like Grichuk’s, and good turns of health fortune like Ryu’s, in the coming days and weeks, as the club continues rumbling forward taking on damage like Furiosa’s War Rig through the desert. With nine players currently on IL, several of them rather consequential pieces, the Blue Jays are not exceptional amidst the context of MLB’s slow-motion injury armageddon. But that does not make it any easier to withstand.

The George Springer will-he-won’t-he character arc will at least take a back seat for now, as the 31-year-old and his stubborn quad strain have returned to the 10-day IL. Springer was feeling better Thursday, according to Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins, but still isn’t expected to be ready to play when his 10 days are up on May 13. A late-May return seems like the best-case scenario at this point but, as has been the case throughout Springer’s unpredictable injury journey to this point, your guess is as good as anyone’s.

“He’s more encouraged by the day — but obviously very frustrated,” Atkins said. “What’s been consistent with George is just his desire to play. The MRI results we have read will continue to get a more thorough assessment. But there was a re-aggravation of the injury. And we’ll determine timelines as we move forward.

“With the re-aggravation, there will be a minimal workload. And as we get other medical opinions, and dependent upon where the resources are used, this will be a time of rest.”

Springer is travelling with the team to Houston this weekend, where he’ll be reunited with a cavalcade of familiar faces from the organization he spent the first decade of his professional career with. And he could continue taking on-field batting practice with his new teammates in spite of the quad issue. As evidenced by the pair of rockets he hit against the Atlanta Braves last weekend — including one that travelled 470 feet — swinging the bat isn’t an issue. But Springer’s running workload will be decreased significantly as he seeks to put the injury behind him once and for all.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Kirk is expected to miss at least a month — possibly longer — with the hip flexor strain he suffered last weekend. That leaves the Blue Jays with a combination of Jansen, an excellent defender whose -23 wRC+ entering Thursday’s game was dead last among MLB catchers with at least 20 plate appearances, and Reese McGuire, another capable defender who passed untouched through waivers at the end of spring training, behind the plate.

There are veteran catching alternatives available on the open market, such as Jonathan Lucroy, Caleb Joseph, and Matt Wieters. But the Blue Jays seem intent on going forward with Jansen and McGuire for now. And that made Thursday a particularly timely occasion for Jansen to come up with his third hit in the span of 51 plate appearances — a two-run no-doubter off a hung Fiers slider in the fourth.

On the pitching side, the latest plot developments are more encouraging. Nate Pearson’s healthy and pain-free after a nagging groin issue disrupted his spring training and is currently with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons awaiting a major-league opportunity. Anthony Castro’s 10-day IL stint is up on Sunday, and the rookie revelation is expected to return to action shortly thereafter — if not as soon as he’s eligible. Soft-tossing left-hander Tommy Milone will also be a candidate to return from the IL shortly after his 10 days are up on May 12.

Thomas Hatch, Patrick Murphy, and Julian Merryweather — all on the 60-day IL — are further off but have been making sound progress in their recoveries from various injuries. Hatch (elbow impingement) is expected to be built up to an 85-pitch workload by the time he’s served his 60 days late this month. Merryweather (strained oblique) is throwing on flat ground and, according to Atkins, “will be full steam ahead when he is eligible on June 13 to come off the IL.”

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Of course, these are the Blue Jays, so any good news must be accompanied by bad. Thursday, it was David Phelps hitting the IL after he suffered a right lat strain throwing warmup pitches on the mound during Wednesday’s game. Phelps was joined in the MRI room by Joe Panik, who left that same game with left calf tightness.

Panik could join Phelps on the IL as soon as Friday, depending on the results of his imaging. In fact, the club might have already made that move by now if not for the reality that, as Montoyo put it, “we don’t really have anybody else to activate here.”

The club brought only two taxi squad players to Oakland, and after Jonathan Davis was recalled Wednesday to take Springer’s place on the 26-man roster, the only player remaining was AJ Cole — a non-roster reliever whose activation would necessitate both the opening of a 40-man spot and the club committing to pay him a prorated portion of his $1-million salary over the remainder of the season. Which isn’t even to mention the fact that Cole, a pitcher, would be an unideal fit at second and third base, where Panik plays.

So, that left the Blue Jays with two options: either play Thursday’s game with Panik on the bench enclosed in break-only-in-case-of-extreme-emergency glass or turn around Riley Adams, who the club optioned to triple-A Wednesday and was en route to joining the Buffalo Bisons.

The club chose the former, but that’s obviously not sustainable going forward. And with Montoyo allowing after the game that Panik wasn’t available in any capacity Thursday because “he’s got something there,” a move prior to Friday’s opener in Houston seems likely.

One option would be to recall Rowdy Tellez, who was optioned last week when it was believed Springer would block his playing time at designated hitter. That impediment no longer exists. And if the club puts Panik on IL, it can recall Tellez as an injury replacement before he’s served the required 10 days optioned players must spend in the minors before they can return to the big leagues.

Josh Palacios — Toronto’s everyday right-fielder for a spell in mid-April — could also be summoned. Or left-handed hitting outfielder Forrest Wall, who would require a 40-man spot. But with Davis already on the club, adding another outfielder doesn’t make as much sense as adding someone like Tellez, who could at least give Vladimir Guerrero Jr. the occasional day off from first base.

Everyday it’s something. If you’re waiting for that magical moment when the Blue Jays are whole, when everyone’s healthy and performing and completely pain-free, you’re going to be waiting until November. It’s not going to happen. It’ll be like this all season. They’ll never put out all the fires.

But maybe they can contain them. Ryu did Thursday. Springer might yet if he returns come June healthy enough to resume crushing 470-foot bombs. And in the meantime, if you can avert your eyes from the trees, you’ll see a forest that’s two games above .500, second in its division, and a top-five MLB club in terms of run differential. All things considered, the Blue Jays will take it.

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