There are many Toronto Blue Jays fans still harbouring the dream that Ricky Romero can conquer his pitching demons and make it back to the Blue Jays and, in turn, again become the pitcher who won 42 games for the club from 2009 through 2011. But maybe its time to face facts, cut Ricky loose and give him a fresh start with another organization. After showing a little bit of progress at Triple-A Buffalo, the 29-year-old southpaw has regressed with three rocky starts in a row. Friday night at Charlotte, against the Chicago White Sox-affiliate Knights, he only lasted three innings, giving up five hits and five earned runs, walking five and striking out three. He also gave up a pair of home runs, a season high. In six games, all starts, Romero is 0-1 and has pitched only 27 innings, or just a little over four per start. Hes given up 30 hits, struck out 20 and has given up an alarming 23 walks. Remember the slide began in 2012, when Ricky went 9-14 with a 5.77 ERA and routinely melted down on the mound. Last season in a brief stint with the big club, he went 0-2 before getting shipping to Buffalo, where hes been ever since. So essentially, this is Ricky Romeros third season of trying to rediscover himself. You can see why the Blue Jays are going the extra mile with this. Romero was a staff ace and an All-Star. The Jays also owe him whats left of his $7.5 million for this season, another $7.5 million next year, plus a $600,000 buyout on his $13.1 million for 2016. So thats at least $15.6 million guaranteed, owed for the next two-plus years. Youve heard that old cliche a million times about pro sports being a business where tough decisions have to be made. Well, maybe its time the Blue Jays made the call on Ricky Romero. Set him free and give him the chance to start with another organization, where he can put the struggles of the last three years behind him. The Blue Jays cut ties with J.P. Arencibia with little regret. Now is the time for Ricky Romero. - There is another interesting reclamation project going on with Buffalo right now. Georgetown, Ontario native Shawn Hill is trying to rebuild his pitching career at age 33. Hill has battled his way through two Tommy John surgeries and had two previous stints in the Blue Jays organization, albeit brief ones, in 2010 and 2012. Hill signed with the Jays in March and started out with Double-A New Hampshire going 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA. He was promoted to Buffalo last week and dropped his first start in Georgia against the Gwinnett Braves. He gave up six hits, including two homers, and walked two in six innings to take the loss in a 5-0 game. Can Shawn Hill make it all the way back? Maybe, but more likely than not, hes just an emergency depth arm the way Chien-Ming Wang was a year ago. Hill does hold one unique distinction, though. He won the last game contested between the Jays and the Montreal Expos. It came on July 4, 2004. The game was played in Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the Expos played out a 20-game portion their schedule in their final year in Montreal before moving to Washington. Hill and the Expos won that game 6-4. - One arm that might help the Blue Jays out before the end of the season is that of Kyle Drabek. A key piece of the Roy Halladay deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, Drabek has battled his own control demons, and like Romero, has had some epic mound meltdowns. He appears to be improving now at Buffalo. Hes 3-2 with a 4.04 ERA. Over 35.2 innings, Drabek has allowed seven homers, which is not good, but hes also struck out 30 while walking only 15. So there is a bit of hope there. - The strange thing about the Los Angeles Angels taking the first three games of this four-game set over the weekend: the Angels two best hitters, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, had so little to do with the outcome. Pujols who recently smacked his 500th homer and is one of the greatest players of his generation, if not all-time, went 1 for 13 (a double) and walked twice. Trout went 2 for 14 with a walk. He slugged a solo homer off Dustin McGowan on Friday night and hit an RBI double on Sunday out of the DH slot. Trout also earned the old "Golden Sombrero" on Sunday by striking out 4 times. - Ive got to admit, I was shocked when the Baltimore Orioles traded ace closer Jim Johnson to the Oakland Athletics in the off-season, but Tommy Hunter, who I always felt was prone to giving up inopportune home runs, has stepped in without missing a beat. Hunter has 11 saves, tops in the American League, and the Orioles are 17-0 when leading after eight innings. - The New York Yankees pitching depth is being push right to the brink. Ivan Nova is gone for the season. Michael Pineda, who was first suspended, is now gone for another week or two with a muscle strain. That would serious impair most staffs, but now the Yankees will have to get by without C.C Sabathia.Hes gone on the 15-day disabled list with right knee inflammation. Its the same knee he had meniscus surgery on in 2010. You have to start wondering if its the beginning of the end for C.C. He was 3-4 this season with a 5.28 ERA and also leads the American League with 10 homers allowed, including three in the final game he pitched before going on the DL. I wonder if theyve got Andy Pettittes number on speed dial. - At the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse, you wonder where the Blue Jays would be if they could have convinced Ervin Santana to sign with them rather than the Atlanta Braves. In six starts with the Braves, Santana has made five quality starts. Hes 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA, with 43 strikeouts, just nine walks and only two home runs allowed. The Brave,s riding a three-game win streak, are in first place in the NL East, two games up on the Miami Marlins. - Kudos to White Sox captain Paul Konerko, who, like Derek Jeter, is in the final year of his career. Konerko slugged his first home run and 435th of his career on Saturday and, thus, moved into 43rd place on the all-time list just ahead of Juan Gonzalez and Andruw Jones. Air Max Nz Cheap . Rasmussen didnt have a decision during his four appearances in May, when he gave up two hits and no runs in two innings. Toronto used five relievers while pulling off the second-biggest comeback in franchise history on Friday night, rallying from an 8-0 deficit to a 14-9 win. Cheap Air Max Nz Free Shipping . 5 Trade Deadline isnt that far away and teams will be making decisions on whether to buy, sell and decide which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. http://www.cheapairmaxnz.com/ . Roy says he will know more about Duchenes potential playing status Sunday. Duchene has been out since damaging the MCL in his left knee when he ran into a teammate against San Jose on March 29. Hes been skating on his own all week, before joining the team Saturday hours before a pivotal game in a series tied at 2. Cheap Air Max Nz Sale . You can catch all of the action LIVE on TSN2 at 6pm et/3pm pt. The Heat reached that mark Saturday night when they ruined the Philadelphia 76ers home opener. Cheap Air Max Nz Online . It certainly isnt a coincidence that Dwight Howard has scored at least 20 points in each game of the winning streak.It was supposed to be a dream come true. A marriage made in soccer heaven. The hometown star returning back to his roots to help guide his new team to a level of success he had reached many times. Sure, there were some good moments. The all-star appearances, the first goal at BMO Field when he headed the ball into the net against Dallas, but for Dwayne De Rosario it wasnt enough. This was not how he had imagined it going. On the field, De Rosario was able to forget the issues, play a game he loved in front of fans he adored. Sometimes the result would even go the teams way, but often it wouldnt and after the match, as he made the walk from the dressing room to his car, his mind would be cloudy and full of distractions about how the club was run. "Id definitely sit in my car and shake my head," he admitted in a sitdown with TSN.ca. "I know it was my hometown but I never wanted them to take that for granted and use that as leverage against me. I wasnt willing to stand for anything, its who I am, I am very passionate and hungry for success." As he started his third season with Toronto FC in 2011, it became very clear the two were heading in different directions. De Rosario had hoped to be loaned to Celtic during the offseason but didnt get his wish and three months later he was packing his bags from Toronto for, what appeared, good. It wasnt an April Fools joke, but on April 1, 2011, De Rosario was dealt to New York Red Bulls for what can now be labeled nothing more than a bag of balls. On a flight later that day, De Rosario thought he would never play for Toronto FC ever again but admitted he hoped to one day return when the direction of the club was different. "I never closed the door and turned my back on that option. How it was presented to me this time was a situation I couldnt refuse, I always wanted to create special moments and have special memories with my hometown, Toronto FC, and I am looking to live those moments I envisioned and hopefully we can create those this season." It is clear the Canadian international spent many hours dreaming of playing for his hometown club before it happened and it is also clear that a lot of those dreams didnt come true the first time around. "I demand success, first and foremost from myself, but from my teammates and from the organization and to have a situation where we now have it demanded from the top is absolutely ideal. Its the right way and I am happy to be a part of that." When Toronto FC kick off the new season in Seattle on Saturday afternoon, much of the attention will, rightfully so, be placed on star signings Jermain Defoe, Michael Bradley and Julio Cesar. The club has completely reinvented itself this winter and the return of De Rosario is almost an after-thought, a small scene in a blockbuster movie. With De Rosario now 35 that is, probably, the right thing for a team who want to contend for the MLS Cup this season, but the 2011 league MVP believes he can still play a major part on and off the pitch. He said: "I am really looking forward to this year. Jermain Defoe is a world class player, a winner, throughout the season it will be great to pick his brain and see how he runs and moves and create that relationship. Gilberto has a very bright future and so far I have enjoyed playing together with him. Anytime you have an opportunity to play alongside players of that calibre it is always fun, the most important thing is developing the understanding. So far its comee along and we are excited to get it started.dddddddddddd" De Rosario has been in MLS long enough to know that tough times will still come Torontos way this season, even if they are successful. He admits expectations are high but thinks the team is ready to drag themselves through the rough patches because of the personnel general manager Tim Bezbatchenko has assembled. "Thankfully when we look at every position we have strong leaders. Julio Cesar to Steven Caldwell in central defence, Michael Bradley in the midfield and myself, Defoe up top, all strong personalities with experience, its important. All of these guys know its a long season, they understand we havent done anything yet, on paper it looks good but we have to continue to show that on a day-to-day basis and we have to work hard to accomplish something." De Rosarios second stint in Toronto gives the club a player whose best days are clearly behind him but he still thinks his versatility can help head coach Ryan Nelsen in many areas throughout 2014. "I dont have a specific favourite position. I like creating and scoring goals, up top, on the left, attacking mid, all these provide those opportunities for me but it depends on the team and its shape. Sometimes I am on the left and I dont really like it because I dont feel I get as much ball as I would like, sometimes I am in the midfield and you just defend a lot so that can be frustrating but sometimes, even, up top you can not get the balls, so it depends on the situation and the team." Throughout his career, he admits he is constantly learning and developing more and more on the tactical side of the game: "Spatial awareness is a big part of my game, knowing when to leave it and attack it and I have been working with a lot of the forwards here about that as well. You want to continuously move but sometimes you need to stop and let the space develop and attack it at the right moments." De Rosario will be hoping to find some of the space in behind Brad Evans and Osvaldo Alonso against the Sounders on Saturday. (You can read my piece on Toronto FCs strategy against Seattle here) March 15 has been circled on the calendar for many Toronto FC fans because it is their first game but De Rosario cannot wait for the following week when he will get to pull on the red number 14 shirt in front of the home fans. "Those fans are my family, the relationship with them means everything to me. Every time I step out for training or in a game with that badge it is for them. I do not just represent myself, I represent my direct family and the fans and I take a lot of pride in that. One day I want the youngsters to look at me and say I want to be like him, and because of that, I want to set as good an example as possible." On paper, the words look cliché but you dont have to be around De Rosario for long to know just how much he truly means it and how much he loves his city and his club. Toronto FC have lacked a lot of things in their short history. Above all else they have lacked wins, but in recent years there has been a distinct lack of people caring about this club. Whether the signing of De Rosario the player turns out to be a success only time will tell, but to have a winner talk so passionately about this club is already a positive step before a ball has even been kicked. Join Luke Wileman, Jason DeVos and myself in Seattle for Toronto FCs first game of the season live on TSN at 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. 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