Grilli opened the season in the Blue Jays’ bullpen following a very solid 2016 run in Toronto (after being traded there by the Braves). However, while he posted a 3.64 ERA and 12.4 K/9 in 42 innings with the Blue Jays last year, he limped out of the gates with a 6.97 ERA in his first 20 2/3 innings in 2017. Grilli served up a staggering nine home runs in that time, and the poor showing was enough for the Blue Jays to cut the cord; Grilli was designated for assignment on June 27 and traded to the Rangers less than a week later.

While things have gone marginally better for Grilli over his 18 1/3 innings in Arlington — he’s averaged 11.8 K/9 there to 10.0 in Toronto and yielded a more manageable three homers — the bottom-line results still haven’t been promising. Grilli owns a 5.89 ERA since being traded, and he’s posted a stunningly low 17.3 percent ground-ball rate in Texas.

For all of his struggles, Grilli is still averaging 10.85 K/9 this season and has posted an 11.5 percent swinging-strike rate that falls right in line with the league average among relievers. With a fastball that still averages nearly 93 mph, a healthy strikeout rate and 15 years of big league experience under his belt, Grilli should still draw some interest this offseason, though hey may still have to settle for a minor league deal and the opportunity to prove himself in Spring Training.

Kela, 24, opened the season in the minors as a disciplinary measure. But he has swiftly reestablished himself as a critical component of the late-inning relief corps. Through 30 2/3 innings on the year, he owns a 2.64 ERA with 12.3 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9.

Indeed, Kela’s importance has only increased as the season has progressed. Sam Dyson was shipped out after opening the year as the closer, while Matt Bush has since struggled in that role. While the team’s near-term intentions weren’t yet clear, Kela seemed the odds-on favorite to seize the reins in the 9th.

Without Kela as an option for at least some stretch, the Rangers’ struggling pen will be stretched yet further. On the positive side, the team has activated starter Martin Perez. To create space for just-added reliever Jason Grilli, the club optioned southpaw Dario Alvarez.

All of these moves will address a Texas bullpen that ranks near the bottom of the league in most categories, and is particularly in flux after the demotion of closer Matt Bush.  It may be unlikely to expect Grilli to factor into the Rangers’ closer-by-committee situation given the veteran’s rough start to the 2017 season.  The 40-year-old has a 6.97 ERA over 20 2/3 IP, and despite some decent peripherals (10.02 K/9, 2.56 K/BB rate), Grilli has simply been unable to keep the ball in the park, surrendering a whopping nine home runs in his brief time on the mound this year.

It’s worth noting that Grilli also pitched poorly at the beginning of the 2016 season, though he improved greatly after being dealt to the Blue Jays in May 2016 and was a key cog in Toronto’s run to the postseason.  The Rangers are obviously hoping for a similar uptick in performance from a change in scenery for Grilli, who is making his second stint in the organization (he pitched in 30 games for Texas in 2009).

Grilli was still owed roughly $1.4MM for the rest of 2017, so the money Toronto is sending along in the deal likely makes up a good chunk of that remaining salary.  In exchange, the Jays add a 22-year-old outfielder in Pinto who has a .309/.367/.390 slash line over 1683 career PA in six pro seasons.  Pinto played 22 games at Double-A last season, his highest level achieved, and this year has a .311/.358/.446 slash line over 191 PA at high A-ball.

Claiborne had his contract purchased by the Rangers two weeks ago and he appeared in one game for the team, which marked Claiborne’s first taste of MLB action since 2014.  The right-hander missed all of 2015 due to a shoulder injury and spent 2016 pitching in the Giants’ minor league system.

While Grilli proved to be an excellent reclamation project for Toronto last year, he fell off badly in 2017. The 40-year-old veteran has allowed 16 earned runs in his 20 2/3 frames. While he carries a respectable 23:9 K/BB ratio, Grilli has been touched for nine long balls already.

Teams weighing a move on the veteran will likely be deterred from a waiver claim by his $3MM salary. Despite the solid strikeout numbers, Grilli’s swinging-strike rate has dropped to 10.1% — well below his typical figure — though he is still sitting at 93 with his fastball.

Smith, meanwhile, will make his MLB debut as he nears his 29th birthday. He had pitched to a 3.93 ERA over 18 1/3 innings on the year at Tripe-A, where he recorded 7.4 K/9 against just 1.0 BB/9.

The fact that Toronto has moved on from Upton is no surprise, as ESPN’s Buster Olney reported Saturday that he wouldn’t crack the club’s 25-man roster. The Blue Jays had been working to trade Upton, whom they acquired in a deal with the Padres last summer, but weren’t able to find a taker, leading to his release. This is certainly a fall from grace for the 32-year-old Upton, who looked like a good bet to serve as a platoon left fielder with Ezequiel Carrera at the outset of camp. But a rough spring training and, more importantly, a .196/.261/.318 showing in 165 PAs with the Blue Jays led the club to bail on him.

Upton will make $16.45MM this season, the final year of the $75.5MM deal he signed with the Braves in 2012, but the Padres are on the hook for most of that. San Diego ate all but $5MM of the remaining $22MM left on Upton’s contract when it traded him. Upton was a useful player as a member of the Padres, with whom he slashed .257/.313/.435 with 21 home runs and 29 steals in 602 PAs and earned positive marks in the field (nine Defensive Runs Saved, 2.9 Ultimate Zone Rating). Not far removed from that production, he could catch on elsewhere as a low-cost option for an outfielder-needy team.

The 29-year-old Bolsinger came to the Blue Jays from the Dodgers last summer in a one-for-one swap involving righty Jesse Chavez. Bolsinger didn’t reach the majors with Toronto, instead throwing 25 1/3 innings with Triple-A Buffalo. He amassed 189 1/3 innings with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers from 2014-16, almost exclusively from the rotation (37 appearances, 36 starts), and posted a 4.61 ERA, 8.13 K/9, 3.38 BB/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate.

Osuna, whose DL placement is retroactive to Saturday, is on the shelf thanks to a cervical spasm. The star reliever’s loss, even if it’s brief, should be a notable one for a Toronto club that’s lacking in high-end bullpen weapons. Osuna has been just that during his career, having pitched to a 2.63 ERA and registered 9.84 K/9 and 1.88 BB/9 in 143 2/3 frames over the previous two seasons. The 22-year-old has also combined for 56 saves, 36 of which came last season. Either Jason Grilli, who has plenty of ninth-inning experience, or Joe Biagini will take over the ninth inning in Osuna’s absence, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB Network.

Jays GM Ross Atkins recently described exercising Grilli’s option as “as near to a no-brainer” as there exists in baseball, so the team’s decision comes as no surprise. Grilli turns 40 this week, but he was very effective with Toronto in 2016, posting a 3.64 ERA with 4.1 BB/9 and an outstanding 12.4 K/9 over 42 innings following a trade from Atlanta. His option was part of a two-year, $7MM deal he signed with the Braves following the 2014 season.

Grilli, the fourth overall pick in the 1997 draft, struggled for his first several seasons in the big leagues, but he emerged as a quality late-inning reliever and then a closer with the Pirates several years ago. In addition to the Bucs, Braves, and Blue Jays, he’s played for the Marlins, White Sox, Tigers, Rockies, Rangers and Angels over the course of a 14-year career in the Majors.

• The Blue Jays, as has been widely expected, will issue qualifying offers to both Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista barring some form of unforeseen injury popping up between now and the point at which that decision must formally be made. The Jays are “still working” on determining whether they’ll make a QO to Michael Saunders, who enjoyed a massively productive first half of the season before flaming out in the season’s final months. Toronto would, of course, receive a compensatory draft pick for any free agent that rejects the one-year, $17.2MM qualifying offer and signs with a new team. The Jays will “do everything” they can during contract talks with Encarnacion and Bautista in the exclusive five-day window they have with their own free agents following the completion of the World Series. Atkins added that he still feels Bautista can be an effective defensive outfielder.
• Atkins described right-hander Jason Grilli’s affordable $3MM club option as “as near to a no-brainer” as you’ll find in baseball, per Nicholson-Smith. The soon-to-be-40-year-old Grilli came over to the Jays in a minor swap back on May 31 after struggling with the Braves through the first two months of the season and rebounded tremendously with Toronto. In 42 innings with the Blue Jays, Grilli posted a 3.64 ERA with 12.4 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9. Those numbers would’ve been better had Grilli not served up six runs in his final 1 2/3 innings of the regular season (he had a 2.45 ERA in Toronto prior to that stretch), but he was terrific in the postseason, tossing 3 2/3 scoreless innings with three punchouts, one hit and no walks.
• Kevin Pillar had a thumb injury this season but played through the pain, the GM revealed. Surgery is being considered to remedy Pillar’s hand, but even if he goes under the knife he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training. A thumb injury could help to explain Pillar’s power outage over the season’s final couple of months. While he’s never exactly been a slugger, Pillar went homerless over his final 78 games of the season, hitting .270/.311/.333 in that time. Even with the thumb injury, Pillar was very arguably the best defensive player in Major League Baseball this season. His +21 marks in both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating ranked third and second among all players at all positions, with only Adam Eaton of the White Sox topping him in both categories. But, much of Eaton’s defensive work came in right field after being moved out of center partly due to poor defensive ratings there last season.
• There are no plans to stretch closer Roberto Osuna out to try him as a starter again, so it would seem that the 22-year-old phenom has laid claim to the Toronto closer’s gig for good. Osuna came up as a starter through the minors, of course, but he wound up closing games in 2015 out of necessity and has been one of baseball’s best stoppers since assuming that role. Over the past two years, he has a 2.63 ERA with 9.8 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 143 2/3 innings.
• Rule 5 pick Joe Biagini, on the other hand, could be stretched back out and given a look in the rotation, Atkins said (via Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star). Selected out of the Giants organization, the 26-year-old Biagini was perhaps the best pick of this year’s Rule 5 class, totaling 67 2/3 innings with a 3.06 ERA to go along with 8.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 52.2 percent ground-ball rate. Biagini was a starter with in the Giants’ minor league system and could give the Jays some valuable rotation depth if the team elects to go that route.
• Of course, if Toronto does move Biagini to a starting role, it’ll only further the need for bullpen help. Atkins said the team expects to address that need this winter and is willing to go to three or more years for the “right” free agent reliever, per Nicholson-Smith. The Jays are set to lose Brett Cecil and Joaquin Benoit to free agency this winter.
• Generally speaking, Atkins said the Jays will look to potentially add “more balance, more platoon advantage and potentially more speed,” via Nicholson-Smith. The Jays feel that the free-agent market suits their needs well (Twitter link), as the team has a good amount of starting depth but needs to add some corner outfield/first base/DH types, which are indeed fairly plentiful this winter.

Here’s more from the AL East:

• Several notable Blue Jays players may well end up heading to other organizations, of course. As Davidi writes, it appears rather likely that veteran knuckler R.A. Dickey will be among them. Dickey did not commit to continuing his playing career, but says he’ll listen to any opportunities as they arise this winter after taking some time away from the game. He spoke fondly of his four seasons in Toronto, over which he turned in 824 1/3 solid innings but was never quite as dominant as hoped when the club parted with significant talent (including then-prospect Noah Syndergaard) to acquire him after three outstanding years with the Mets.
• David Ortiz’s unbelievable final season with the Red Sox may have been more remarkable than most of us truly realized as it unfolded. As WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes, the aging slugger was fighting through lower-leg and foot issues that were far more serious than was known publicly. Widespread problems meant that Ortiz “was essentially playing on stumps,” in the words of coordinator of sports medicine services Dan Dyrek — the man who helped him hang on as long as he did. Boston fans, in particular, will want to read the entirety of this piece, in which Dyrek breaks down the immense challenges faced by Ortiz and the team’s medical staff dating back for several seasons.
• Orioles outfielder Joey Rickard never returned to action after tearing a thumb ligament on July 20, but the hope is he won’t need surgery to address the issue, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. More importantly, highly paid slugger Chris Davis is set for doctors to check out his hand after dealing with discomfort throughout the year. Though Davis battled through the injury all year, he didn’t quite perform as hoped, and the team wants to double check that some kind of offseason procedure isn’t necessary.

More from the AL East…

• Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out that if the Yankees want to option right-hander Michael Pineda to the minors in an effort to get the struggling 26-year-old back on track, their window to do so is closing. Pineda, Sherman notes, will reach five full years of MLB service time on June 14, at which point he will have earned the right to refuse a minor league assignment. Cashman tells Sherman that Pineda will make his next start on Thursday (in Detroit), and the club will have further discussions about him following that outing. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild cryptically tells Sherman that he’s aware of what Pineda’s problem is but is electing not to disclose the issue to the media.
• Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins spoke to reporters tonight about his club’s acquisition of Jason Grilli (video link via Sportsnet.ca). Atkins said that he’s been on the lookout for bullpen help since the day he arrived in Toronto, and Grilli’s penchant for missing bats made him an attractive option. “There’s a lot that we like about Jason and how he complements this team,” said Atkins. “The first thing that comes to mind is experience. He’s been on winning teams, [in] very high-leverage situations and gets a ton of swing-and-miss — has gotten a lot of swing-and-miss throughout his career.” Atkins expected Grilli to join the club on Wednesday.
• As Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets, Rays right-hander Brad Boxberger left tonight’s game with a strained muscle in his left side. Following the game, manager Kevin Cash told the media that the injury was “obviously not good,” and Topkin tweets that the sense in the clubhouse is that Boxberger is headed back to the disabled list. Further evaluation will be required tomorrow, he notes, but another absence for the Rays’ presumed 2016 closer appears to be a strong possibility.

4:02pm: The Blue Jays and Braves have agreed to a deal that will send right-hander Jason Grilli from Atlanta to Toronto in exchange for right-hander Sean Ratcliffe, reports Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray (links to Murray on Twitter). Additionally, he tweets that the Jays will pay Grilli the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for the remainder of the season, with the Braves paying the rest of his salary. Grilli has a base salary of $3.5MM, meaning Atlanta will still pay him $2.37MM, while the Jays are now on the hook for $344K plus a $250K buyout on his $3MM club option for the 2017 season.

Grilli, 39, is off to a rough start to his 2016 campaign but gives Toronto an experienced arm to add to the back of its bullpen. In 17 innings this year, he’s posted a 5.29 ERA with 23 strikeouts against 13 walks (one intentional). That control (or lack thereof) has been Grilli’s primary undoing, but he enjoyed plenty of success in the Atlanta bullpen as recently as last year, when he logged a 2.94 ERA and 24 saves in 33 2/3 innings before an Achilles injury prematurely ended his season. Grilli’s club option for the 2017 season is for $3MM, so if he’s able to right the ship with the Jays as he nears his 40th birthday, he’ll be an affordable piece for next season.

While he’s struggled for much of the 2016 season, Grilli worked to a strong 3.07 ERA with 11.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and 72 saves from 2011-15 with the Pirates, Angels and Braves, so there’s some reason to believe that he could rebound with a change of scenery. Then again, his velocity is down more than two miles per hour from last season, and his ground-ball rate is at an all-time-low 18.9 percent this year — a bad trend to exhibit for any player, let alone one that is moving to the homer-friendly Rogers Centre in Toronto. The prospect price, though, isn’t exactly steep in this deal, and the Jays are taking on a just a small portion of Grilli’s salary, so the risk they’re assuming is rather minimal.

The 21-year-old Ratcliffe has yet to climb higher than Low-A ball in his career. Toronto selected him in the 18th round of the 2013 draft, and he’s posted a 4.91 ERA with 6.5 K/9 against 5.3 BB/9 in 62 1/3 professional innings. Baseball America’s Vince Lara-Cinisomo writes that Ratcliffe has a fastball that will touch 93 mph and a “decent” slider with plenty of room for projection as a converted catcher with a 6’4″, 200-pound frame.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

• Jason Grilli’s return from a ruptured Achilles tendon and the 93-mph fastball he’s displaying in the Braves camp has generated trade buzz, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes.  Grilli was enjoying a very strong season as Atlanta’s closer last season (2.94 ERA, 4.5 K/BB rate, 45 strikeouts in 33 2/3 IP) before hitting the DL in early July.  Were it not for that season-ending injury, Grilli could very well have changed uniforms at the trade deadline since several teams were rumored to be interested in his services.  Cafardo speculates that Grilli could be a fit for the Red Sox now, as manager John Farrell is a fan of the reliever and Carson Smith is on the disabled list.
• The Braves will be responsible for all of the $900K owed to the newly-acquired Tyler Moore in 2016, James Wagner of the Washington Post reports (Twitter link).  Moore got his first taste of arbitration eligibility this offseason and agreed to the $900K deal with the Nationals well before figures had to be exchanged.
• Atlanta’s trade for Eric O’Flaherty may not be the only move the club makes to add a lefty reliever, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman hints.  Alex Torres is the only other southpaw reliever still in the Braves’ big league camp, and the club isn’t even sure if Torres is a fit for the Opening Day roster.

• Also via Bowman, GM John Coppolella also notes that the Braves will not let service time concerns dictate the promotion timelines of players like Aaron Blair or Tyrell Jenkins (neither of whom have yet pitched in the Majors) should those players prove they deserve to start the season in the Braves’ rotation.
• It doesn’t appear pitchers like Blair and Jenkins will win rotation spots, but perhaps it is possible. Via David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (on Twitter), Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez says that only three pitchers (Julio Teheran, Matt Wisler and Bud Norris) are penciled into rotation spots as of now, with the other two spots open. (Other potential rotation options include non-roster invitees Kyle Kendrick and Jhoulys Chacin, along with younger pitchers like Williams Perez, Manny Banuelos and Ryan Weber.)
• Braves reliever Jason Grilli believes he’ll be able to make a successful return from the ruptured Achilles tendon that caused him to miss the second half of last season, Bowman reports. Bowman writes that Grilli has been throwing off a mound without trouble. Grilli notes that he’s had tougher injuries in the past, including a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire 2010 season. “This was child’s play in comparison to the knee,” he says. “They told me I wasn’t going to walk again with my knee. So, with the Achilles, there are still some precautions you take, just like you do with your arm. I’m just coming in here and I’ve got six weeks to get ready.” The 39-year-old was having a terrific season in 2015 prior to the Achilles injury, posting a 2.94 ERA, 12.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 while saving 24 games in his 33 2/3 innings.

Some more highlights from Heyman’s article, though the synopsis won’t cover everything within the piece, so I’d highly recommend reading it in its entirety…

• The Braves will be deadline sellers, Heyman hears, with Jim Johnson, Juan Uribe and Cameron Maybin among the players that will be available to interested teams. Chris Johnson, too, continues to be available, but there are no takers for his contract, which Atlanta has aggressively tried to move in the past.
• With the Reds expected to trade so many veterans to other clubs, many in the industry expect the team to make a run at extending Todd Frazier beyond his current two-year deal, Heyman writes. (Frazier has one more year of arbitration following his current pact.) Jeff Todd and I have discussed Frazier’s situation on the MLBTR Podcast in the past (and will do so again this afternoon), and I’ve personally taken the stance that given the significant commitments to Joey Votto and Homer Bailey, the Reds could have a difficult time affording Frazier, whose 2014-15 breakout has hugely inflated his price tag. Given the lack of impact bats on the trade market, Frazier would net a king’s ransom and could rapidly expedite the rebuilding process, though the PR hit of trading him with so much control and on the heels of a Home Run Derby victory would of course be significant.
• In other Reds news, Heyman hears Mike Leake’s ground-ball tendencies are appealing to AL East clubs, and he’s drawn interest from the Blue Jays, Orioles and Red Sox in addition to the Royals, Dodgers, Rangers, Cubs and Giants. Manny Parra and Marlon Byrd are both “likely to go” as well.
• Asked about the possibility of signing with the Cubs this offseason due to his relationship with skipper Joe Maddon, Tigers ace David Price replied, “Wherever I play baseball next year it’s not going to be because of a manager.”
• The Astros are interested in both Cueto and Leake, and Houston seems willing to deal from its glut of MLB-ready outfield prospects, including Domingo Santana and Preston Tucker. (Previous reports have indicated they’re reluctant to part with Brett Phillips, however, who may be the best among the outfield bunch.)
• The Brewers are now showing a willingness to trade both Carlos Gomez and Jean Segura, Heyman hears. Though it was previously believed they were reluctant to move Segura, the emergence of Orlando Arcia (the younger brother of the Twins’ Oswaldo Arcia) may have changed Milwaukee’s thinking. However, Arcia himself is also drawing a huge amount of trade interest, and the Padres have called to express interest. One NL exec called him the best player he’s seen in the minors this year, while another comped him to Francisco Lindor, but said Arcia is better. Regarding Segura, Heyman hears that the Mets dislike his free-swinging approach.
• The Twins aren’t closed off to the idea of re-acquiring Gomez from the Brewers, but their primary focus at this point is bullpen help.
• The Mets are aiming high in their pursuit of an outfield bat and have both Gomez and Justin Upton on their radar. They’re not likely to add Aramis Ramirez from the Brewers unless they receive bad news on the prognosis of David Wright. They also have little interest in swinging a deal for Uribe.
• Padres officials insist that they haven’t determined their course of action heading into the deadline, but Heyman writes that free-agents-to-be such as Upton, Ian Kennedy, Joaquin Benoit and Will Venable could be traded regardless. James Shields’ backloaded contract limits his value, but one GM felt Benoit has “big value” and Heyman notes that Craig Kimbrel would be in huge demand as well, should the Padres try to recoup some value from that deal.
• Cueto, Samardzija and Leake are atop the Blue Jays’ wish list, and the team was also in talks with the Braves regarding Jason Grilli prior to his season-ending injury. A top starting pitcher is Toronto’s top priority at this point, says Heyman. He also adds that there’s no evidence to suggest that manager John Gibbons is on the hot seat.

• The Braves had discussed packaging Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson together in trade talks, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports, with the idea that two relievers would bring back a larger return from a bullpen-needy team. That plan was scuttled when Grilli suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear yesterday, though Johnson remains a trade candidate.
• Bowman’s piece lists several possible trade chips on the Braves roster, including Johnson, Chris Johnson, Kelly Johnson, Cameron Maybin, Juan Uribe and A.J. Pierzynski.  In regards to Pierzynski, Bowman believes Atlanta will try to bring the catcher back in 2016 even if they do trade him this year.
• Nationals GM Mike Rizzo broadly discussed his team’s general deadline plans with reporters, including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post.  The Nats lineup will be boosted by the returns of several stars from the DL, and while Janes feels Washington could use another relief arm, Rizzo praised the job done by current relievers like Aaron Barrett and Blake Treinen.
• It’s only a matter of time before Aaron Nola is promoted to the majors, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury writes, and he believes the Phillies could call Nola up within “the next couple of weeks, possibly in tandem with a trade deadline move.”  This is just my speculation, but promoting Nola to fill Hamels’ roster spot would be a good the-future-is-now type of move.
• Several scouts believe former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto would be a good fit as the Phillies’ next general manager, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets.  Interestingly, Dipoto’s former assistant GM in Anaheim, Matt Klentak, has also been mentioned in connection to a job in the new Andy MacPhail-run Phillies front office.
• In NL East news from earlier today, the Pirates have interest in Phillies outfielders Ben Revere and Jeff Francoeur.

With the Braves on the outer fringes of contention, many analysts believed Grilli would be an attractive trade deadline target. The Blue Jays, Cubs, Dodgers, Nationals, and Tigers are among the contenders rumored to be looking for relief help. The club has dropped four straight contests and is now four games below .500. Atlanta is five games back from the second Wild Card slot.

The Braves are likely to turn to fellow reclamation project Jim Johnson in Grilli’s stead. The former Orioles closer has experienced his own rebound this year with a 2.14 ERA, 6.64 K/9, 3.00 BB/9, and five saves in 42 innings. It’s also possible that Johnson will be shopped at the deadline if the Braves fall further out of contention.