Cubs Interested in Reliever B.J. Ryan

Here's an example of how badly the Chicago Cubs need another left-handed arm in their bullpen for the second half of this season. On Sunday night manager Lou Piniella had his lone lefty reliever Sean Marshall in to pitch the ninth inning. Well, with the bases loaded and nobody out, the Cardinals had Brendan Ryan at the plate so Piniella brought in righty Aaron Heilman to face him.

But Lou still needed Marshall to face Skip Shumaker after Ryan's at-bat, so he moved Marshall to left field for an at-bat before moving him back to the pitcher's mound. A somewhat ingenious move by the crafty Cubs skipper, but it speaks more to the team's lack of left-handed relief than anything else, which is why it's not all that surprising that the Cubs are interested in the recently released B.J. Ryan.

The Cubs are expected to make a run at former Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan when he clears waivers on Monday, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. If the Cubs did add Ryan, they could put Sean Marshall back in the rotation. Ryan was placed on waivers with $15 million remaining on his five-year, $47 million deal.

Now it says a lot about how much Ryan had struggled for the Blue Jays to team to release him while still being on the hook $15 million, but apparently that's not enough to keep the Cubs from giving him a shot. After all, their lone in-house option is Neal Cotts, and he just had Tommy John surgery and will be out the rest of the season.

If the Cubs do in fact sign Ryan, they could put Sean Marshall back in the rotation as Carrie Muskat suggested, but, in my opinion, that move would totally negate the purpose of the signing. The reason the Cubs are considering Ryan is because they only have one left-handed option, so if they move Marshall to the rotation, they're right back in the same boat.

Except now they have no idea what they're going to be getting.

To me it would make more sense to keep both Marshall and Ryan in the pen so that way Marshall doesn't have to worry about playing left field again anytime soon.