ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Rehabbing from Tommy John surgery is tedious and often lonely so when the Toronto Blue Jays arrived in Tampa Bay this week, Hyun Jin Ryu and Chad Green seized the opportunity to escape the monotony.
Largely relegated to the backfields of the Player Development Complex since the end of spring training in nearby Dunedin, Fla., the veteran starter and reliever rejoined their teammates at Tropicana Field, where they not only found some connection but also an audience for their latest bullpens.
Surrounded by nearly the entire Blue Jays staff, Ryu and Green each threw the equivalent of two innings Tuesday, remaining “right on target” in their recoveries, according to manager John Schneider. The hoots and hollers of encouragement as they got their work in provided a lift for two pitchers who have a chance to be significant trade-deadline-like adds if their rehabs land right.
“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 said 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.”
Said Green: “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 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 June 17.
Both 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 trust to really let his slider rip.
There are always stops and starts along the way and while 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.”
Without doubt, although by early July the Blue Jays will certainly need to have a firmer sense of what can be reasonably expected from both to factor that into their trade deadline planning.
A healthy Ryu, at minimum, would offer protection for injury or underperformance in the rotation as at the moment, with Mitch White still fighting through shoulder fatigue, Zach Thompson getting whacked at triple-A Buffalo and Ricky Tiedemann recovering from biceps inflammation, there’s no breathe-easy depth option.
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, meanwhile, would give the Blue Jays the type of elite leverage reliever that’s both hard to find and expensive to acquire at the deadline. Immediately throwing the 32-year-old into an eighth-inning role is unfair, but it’s not inconceivable that by September he’s getting important outs, lightening the load on Erik Swanson and Yimi Garcia ahead of closer Jordan Romano.
As such, 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. And 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, as well.
More runway is needed for all that to play out and for the time being, their time at the Trop is merely a respite from the grind of the rehab, not a symbol of the end of it.
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.”
Even better for the Blue Jays if their visit this week is merely a preview of things to come.