When the Chicago Cubs signed former Blue Jays closer BJ Ryan to a minor league deal, the hope was that he could become the second lefty in the bullpen if he recovered his Major League stuff.
Well, that was assuming the Cubs didn’t acquire another lefty for the pen who never lost his Major League stuff. That’s why, when the Cubs traded for John Grabow, they also signed BJ Ryan’s pink slip.
Ryan saw the writing on the wall, and asked for his release yesterday, which was granted by the Cubs. Ryan pitched a handful of scoreless innings at AAA Iowa, but his control was poor, and his velocity was way down.