Toronto Blue Jays’ starting pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu and reliever Chad Green have been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in Tampa Bay. With both players largely restricted to the backfields of the Player Development Complex since the end of spring training, Ryu and Green leapt at the chance to rejoin their teammates at Tropicana Field and throw their latest bullpens.
Both pitchers threw the equivalent of two innings on Tuesday in front of an audience of nearly the entire Blue Jays staff. “It’s the first time seeing them after spring training and I felt really good to see them. In a sense I felt like it helped me rejuvenate where I am right now,” Ryu remarked through interpreter J.S. Park. “I think it’s the most fun I’ve had within the last month and a half, two months that I threw. I was able to actually concentrate more because of that,” Ryu continued.
Green chipped in, “The fact that they came out shows that they care, shows they’ve kind of been keeping tabs on me…It’s nice to have some spectators, for sure.”
An exact timeline for the duo’s return is difficult to map out, but a 12-month recovery from the surgery is considered best-case scenario, with something in the 14-month range more typical. Green had his surgery last June 1, and as a reliever, doesn’t need quite the same build-up as Ryu, who went under the knife on June 17.
Both players are progressing towards facing hitters, which could come soon, although work remains; Ryu still trying to get his pitch count up and his cutter going, Green still finding the confidence to really let his slider rip.
Although Ryu says his initial target of a return right after the all-star break remains “my goal right now and I have my schedule set up accordingly,” Green strikes a bit more of a cautious note. “There’s such a long process and so much can happen from now until then,” he explained. “It’s just trying to hit certain progressions, and then once you check one box, you move on to the next. To say, hey, I want to be back by this certain date, and you don’t end up meeting that date, you just don’t win. There’s just no reason to put a circle on that.”
A healthy Ryu, at minimum, would offer protection for injury or underperformance in the rotation as there is no breathe-easy depth option at the moment. The 36-year-old lefty could also open up the potential for creativity in terms of managing starters’ workload, be it with occasional spot starts or even some brief run in a six-man rotation, something the Blue Jays did with deadline add Francisco Liriano in 2016.
A return to form for Green would give the Blue Jays the type of elite leverage reliever that’s both hard to find and expensive to acquire at the deadline. Ryu and Green will be two intriguing wild cards in the coming weeks as the areas of need and opportunity on the roster really begin to harden. With the farm system thinned out in recent years by a slew of other future-for-present trades, their emergence would really help the club’s bigger-picture asset management.
Ryu, a pending free agent at season’s end, said what he misses most is simply being back up on the mound and staying on schedule with his recovery timeline is “what’s motivating me to rehab.”
Green, who signed a cleverly creative contract this off-season that can be extended three different ways this off-season, is eager to establish a place with his new team, having barely had the opportunity to do so thus far. “Being the new guy in the clubhouse, you don’t get much of a chance with so many people in the spring to really get to know guys,” he said. “It’s nice to be in this atmosphere, to be in this setting because the rehab process can kind of be lonesome at times – it’s kind of just me and Ryu down here. So it’s nice to talk in the outfield during BP, sitting down to have a bite to eat. It’s been good.”
Overall, Ryu and Green’s trip to Tropicana Field is a respite from the grind of rehab, but also a potential preview of things to come — the Blue Jays will certainly need to have a firm understanding of what can be reasonably expected from both in order to factor that into their trade deadline planning.
