Blue Jays send Richmond back to minors
Pitcher was ready to compete for Team Canada at Beijing Olympics prior to recall
Scott Richmond will spend Sunday night in Syracuse, N.Y., watching his triple-A Chiefs battle the Rochester Red Wings rather than preparing for a crucial baseball game against Japan at the Beijing Olympics.
The North Vancouver, B.C., pitcher missed out on his chance to contest for an Olympic gold medal when the Toronto Blue Jays recalled him from Syracuse on July 28 to take John Parrish's rotation spot.
The deadline for setting Olympic rosters was Aug. 1.
But with the return of relief pitcher Brian Tallet from a broken toe Friday, the Blue Jays farmed out the right-handed Richmond, the 14th Canadian-born player to suit up for the big club.
On a positive note, the 28-year-old impressed Toronto brass, posting a 0-2 record and 5.06 earned-run average in three starts. The Jays moved Richmond to the bullpen after summoning starter Jesse Litsch from triple-A.
"He [Richmond] did a really good job," Blue Jays manager J.P. Ricciardi, a member of the selection committee responsible for the 2000 gold-medal winning United States Olympic baseball squad, told MLB.com.
"He put himself on the map — came out of nowhere, really. Going forward, he's definitely in our plans."
Toronto signed Richmond as a non-drafted free agent last off-season. Before joining the Blue Jays, he went a combined 5-10 with a 4.29 ERA in 21 starts between Syracuse and double-A New Hampshire.
Since Toronto views the six-foot-five-inch Richmond as a starter, Ricciardi said the team would prefer he pitch every fifth day in the minor leagues.
"We need Scotty to keep stretching out and stay in that starter's role," Ricciardi told reporters. "This gives him two more weeks of pitching as a starter down at triple-A. We were not probably going to use him as much in the bullpen as maybe we thought."
The GM was non-committal about Richmond returning to the Blue Jays when major league teams expand their rosters on Sept. 1.