Blue Jays outright Romero

The Toronto Blue Jays have outrighted former ace Ricky Romero to Triple-A Buffalo, the team announced. In order to be removed from the Blue Jays' 40 man roster, Romero had to pass through waivers, which means all of the other 29 teams in baseball passed on an opportunity to acquire the 28 year old left-hander.

C MIKE NICKEAS and LHP RICKY ROMERO have been outrighted to @BuffaloBisons of the International League (AAA).

— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) October 4, 2013

Romero has seen his stock fall significantly from his All-Star 2011 season which put him in the conversation of baseball's rising star pitchers.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Romero was drafted by Toronto 6th overall in the loaded 2005 amateur draft. He reached the big leagues four years later in 2009 at the age of 24. In his rookie year, Romero went 13-9 with a 4.30 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 178 innings, accruing a 2.2 WAR. Despite his success, Romero did not receive any votes for the Rookie of the Year award.

In 2010, Romero's performance took another step forward as he put up a 112 ERA+ with a 3.1 WAR in 210 innings. He was rewarded with a five year, $30.1 million contract extension. For their investment, the Blue Jays were rewarded with 225 masterful innings from Romero in which he posted an outstanding 6.3 WAR with an ERA+ 46 percent above league average. He would finish 10th in AL Cy Young voting and was named to the 2011 American League All-Star team.

Romero underwent elbow surgery following the 2011 season, and since then, his performance has been atrocious. In 2012, he issued a league leading 105 walks and was worth approximately 1.4 wins below replacement. His performance in 2013 has only been worse as the former phenom appeared in just 4 games for the Blue Jays this season, allowing 9 runs in just over 7 innings.

Romero is still under contract through 2015 (with an option for 2016), however, it remains unclear if the the Blue Jays plan to give Romero another chance in the majors.