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Ryan was assigned to minor league camp Wednesday, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports. The relief pitcher was invited to spring training as a potential third left-handed option in the Cardinals' bullpen heading into the 2022 season, but he'll begin the campaign with Triple-A Memphis. Ryan struggled to a 6.75 ERA and 1.73 WHIP over 13.1 innings with the Cubs in 2021. He'll look to bring those numbers back down closer to his career figures of a 4.05 ERA and 1.38 WHIP this year.
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Ryan signed a minor-league deal with the Cardinals on Friday which includes an invitation to spring training, source reports. Ryan owns a solid 4.05 ERA over parts of seven major-league seasons. While that might ordinarily be good enough to earn a left-handed reliever a major-league deal, he hasn't been nearly as good over the last two years, struggling to a 5.90 ERA in 29 innings of work while striking out just 14.8 percent of opposing batters. If he bounces back in his age-30 season, he'll be a perfectly capable middle reliever, but he's unlikely to find himself in a high-leverage role.
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Ryan elected free agency Tuesday after refusing an outright assignment from the Cubs to the minors, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports. Ryan has some decent season on his resume but hasn't been good in either of the last two campaigns. Since the start of the 2020 season, he owns a 5.90 ERA in 29 innings while striking out just 14.8 percent of opposing batters. If he finds another employer soon, it will likely be on a minor-league deal.
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Ryan was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports. The back end of the Cubs' bullpen is wide open following the team's teardown at the deadline, which helped Ryan record his second career save back on the final day of July. He hasn't been anywhere near closer material overall, however, struggling to a 5.54 ERA in 13 innings of work. He could find himself bouncing between Chicago and Iowa throughout the rest of the campaign.
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Ryan walked one in a scoreless ninth inning Saturday to record his first save of the season in a 6-3 win over the Nationals. The southpaw got the nod in the save situation with lefties Andrew Stevenson and Juan Soto due up for the Nats in the ninth, and Ryan was able to get the job done after inducing a double play from Soto. It's a sign the Cubs could deploy a closer committee in the wake of the Craig Kimbrel trade, with Dan Winkler or Codi Heuer (who worked a scoreless eighth inning Saturday) getting the call when right-handers are required and Ryan perhaps splitting portside duties with Rex Brothers.
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