The slump is because Ryan is not a particularly great baseball player. I was as excited about him in April and May as anyone but he's come back to earth. If anyone was going to lead off, I'd have DLee do it, but I'm perfectly fine with the Fonz there. The kid (Ryan) can hit. Period.
He has the majority of his homers being of the solo variety, that's a waste of talent. And need I remind you of the slump of Theriot which has drastically hurt his numbers. And the slump is part on Gerald Perry. The slump was only due to a problem in the coordination of Ryan's shoulders. A good hitting coach would have solved that immediately.
Before today's 0-1 PH appearance by Theriot, he was finding his mark at the plate the two previous games. HOwever you just couldn't sit Fontenot or DeRosa
I like the idea of trading him to Detroit or some other team that needs bullpen help. He's a "proven closer" to some extent and could be dealt now (after he's been back for a little while) for real value. I have to agree, if Marmol does well then Dempster could bring in good player(s).