Former Jays closer B.J. Ryan has signed a minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs.  He'll look to join former Toronto teammates Ted Lilly, Reed Johnson and Randy Wells in the Windy City.  He's to report to the Cubs rookie-level club in Mesa, Arizona on Sunday.

Roy Halladay, recently named the American League's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game tomorrow, shared his thoughts recently on the possibility of being traded.

Fresh on his return from the minor leagues, Jonathan Sanchez tossed a no-hitter for the Giants as they hosted the Padres tonight; the home team won 8-0.

Too bad nobody had Sanchez in the official Batter's Box "Who Will Toss the 2009 Season's First No-No" pool. The cash award, after factoring in the odds, would have been approximately four hundred billion dollars (Canadian).

 

Jordan Bastian from bluejays.com reports that former closer B.J. Ryan has been released.  His replacement, Scott Downs, has been activated from the disabled list after suffering a toe injury trying to run out of the batter's box in Philadelphia.

A tweet from Bastian - Scott Richmond to the DL with biceps inflammation. Brett Cecil will fill in tomorrow, Brad Mills is coming back to start against Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

The Jays have called up outfielder David Dellucci from AAA Las Vegas.  To make room, Russ Adams has been designated for assignment.

Update July 3/09 @ 1:00 p.m. - Dellucci will be batting eighth for the Jays and playing in left field in this afternoon's game and will be wearing Lyle Overbay's old number 17.  For those of you who have the #17 Overbay jerseys, just slap some duct tape over the name plate and write in Dellucci.  Imagine how cool you're going to look at the next home game.  You also save hundreds of dollars by not having to order another jersey.  Another money-saving tip courtesy of Batter's Box.  You're welcome!

Jordan Bastian reports on his blog that Jesse Litsch will be undergoing Tommy John surgery this week.

The Blue Jays have sent Travis Snider to AAA Las Vegas to get his swing back in order.  The 21 year-old left fielder has struggled this season with a .242/.292/.394 mark with just three home runs and 12 RBI.

Update May 22/09 @10:20 a.m.:  Joe Inglett gets the call back to the bigs according to the FAN 590.

Update May 22/09 @ 11:25 a.m.:  Jays assistant GM Alex Anthopoulos confirms Inglett's call-up on the FAN 590.

Update May 22/09 @ 5:15 p.m.:   "Rapid" Ricky Romero and "The Fugitive" Casey Janssen are back.  Bobby/Robert Ray and Brett Cecil will say yo to Cosmo!  Tip o' the cap to our posters for pointing this out.

Thirty is the mark when a conscutive-games hitting streak really first bears noticing. Oh, 28 is a nice number -- "halfway to DiMaggio" and all that. But Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals is at the big three-oh now.

Zimmerman matched the great George Brett's 30-game streak in 1980 for the longest by a third baseman in the last three decades. In these the aughts, the only other 30-game streaks have been posted by stalwart Moises Alou in 2007, the unlikely Willy Taveras in 2006 and the finest hitter of his generation, Albert Pujols, in 2003. None of them reached 31, though three others did that and more -- Luis Castillo had a 35-game hit streak in 2002; Chase Utley also had a 35-game hit streak, but in 2006; and Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game hit streak spread over two seasons in 2005-06.

Will Zim? And how far does the kid go? Place your bets, make your predictions, presuppose your wild suppositions ... and -- bear with me, Ex-pos fans -- pay attention to those Nats!

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Manny Ramirez has tested positive for a banned substance and will be suspended for 50 games.