Detroit Tigers: Myles Jaye and Kyle Ryan reportedly on outright waivers

Ryan’s 2017 struggles

In just 5.2 innings he was tagged for nine hits, seven walks and five earned runs. Ryan’s last appearance came in a 19-9 win over the Seattle Mariners on April 25.

That ended up being his final game in the Majors in 2017.

Ryan spent the rest of the season with Triple-A Toledo, pitching to a 4.96 ERA, a 5.04 FIP and a 4.36 xFIP in 45.1 innings.

He missed more bats (7.74 strikeouts per nine frames), but the run prevention numbers didn’t exactly help his cause in terms of returning to Detroit bullpen.

Even with Wilson’s mid-season trade, Ryan is seemingly buried on the depth chart where left-handed relievers are concerned.

The former 12^th-round pick has been passed up by Daniel Stumpf, while Jairo Labourt should warrant a spot in the bullpen going forward.

More on Outright waivers

MLB.com’s glossary lists the following as the definition for outright waivers.

"“A club attempting to remove a player from the 40-man roster and send him to the Minor Leagues must first place that player on outright waivers, allowing the 29 other Major League clubs the opportunity to claim him.  … Should the player clear waivers, he can be sent to any Minor League affiliate the club chooses.”"

If both go unclaimed, Detroit could end up keeping the two pitchers.

While neither exactly dominated in the minors or Majors in 2017, they could be useful depth pieces waiting in Toledo—especially considering they wouldn’t take up a 40-man roster spot.

This could be especially helpful down the line considering Jaye just made his Major League debut while Ryan—according to Spotrac—still has four years of controllability remaining.

Both reported moves should help the Detroit Tigers clear up more 40-man roster space.

Next: Moving forward, Tigers payroll should continue to shrink

This, in turn, will give Avila and the rest of the front office that much more flexibility heading into the offseason.