FanHouse JeremyAccardo

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Team about to lose one of the best pitchers in baseball. Let's face it, with the economy in the tank for the rest of this calendar year, major league teams will be forced to cut costs. Roy Halladay makes a lot of money. The Blue Jays are going to be the worst team in the AL East (yes, they really will). People will stop attending games, and the Jays are going to have to deal him for about 30 cents on the dollar.

The Blue Jays presciently added a bit of depth to their outfield on Friday, acquiring Kevin Mench from the Rangers for cash considerations and signing Brad Wilkerson. Just hours later, Vernon Wells celebrated by breaking his wrist while attempting a diving catch. He'll miss the next 6-8 weeks.

The Jays will attempt to fill Wells' spot in the lineup by sliding Alex Rios to center and using Wilkerson in right field. Jeremy Accardo also went on the DL, and the Jays filled his spot in the bullpen with a familiar name, purchasing the contract of Armando Benitez from Triple-A Syracuse.

Yes, in case you lost track, Benitez signed a minor league deal with the Jays back in March and has down on the farm ever since. He only pitched a total of one inning for Syracuse after straining a hamstring and spending most of his time (seven whole innings) with Single-A Dunedin, but he's back in the big show, where he hopes to avoid picking up where he left off last year, which was pitching horribly for the Marlins down the stretch.

Can Benitez provide the Jays another weapon in their bullpen? My first reaction was that the guy was toast, but upon further reflection, he did strike out better than a batter per inning last year, even while getting shelled with the Marlins. So long as he's not put into a high pressure situation, there's no real reason to think he can't stick around a while with the Jays, perhaps providing inspiration for another failed closer trying to work his way back to the majors.

It's become an accepted fact that it takes one year of rehab before a pitcher can even start entertaining thoughts of returning to the mound after Tommy John Surgery. Based on that, we shouldn't have expected to hear anything about B.J. Ryan until a month or so into the season, with his actual return to the big leagues sometime around the All-Star break. There are exceptions to every rule, though, and Ryan might be the exception to this one.

He's already had two bullpen sessions and will throw off a mound on Saturday, Toronto's official first day for pitchers and catchers. He's had no physical setbacks and, if all goes well, could be ready to contribute on Opening Day. That would be astounding and, probably, a little bit unwise. If Ryan is looking strong when camp breaks, it would probably behoove the team to send him to extended spring training for the first month. Better to be sure of his health when he steps back into the closer's role.

The Jays got decent work out of Jeremy Accardo when Ryan went down last season so they wouldn't lose much by waiting. A healthy Ryan would have a beneficial domino effect on the Jays staff. Accardo would move into a setup role, joining Scott Downs and Casey Janssen in what should be an excellent bullpen.