DUNEDIN - Baseball is, like most other professions out there, a “what have you done for me lately” business. Decisions, out of necessity, aren’t influenced by emotions and subjectivity, to the extent it can be, is limited.

Steve Delabar arrived to Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on Tuesday morning and was promptly informed he wasn’t in the Blue Jays’ plans. He wasn’t being designated for assignment, the first step in a process which may have resulted in him ending up with the Triple-A Bisons. Buffalo has, for parts of the last two seasons, become a third home for the journeyman reliever, along with Toronto and his native Kentucky.

Instead, he received his unconditional release. He gets a cheque for about $140 thousand, one-sixth of the $835 thousand he was due to be paid in 2016, and he’s on waivers. If another team picks him up, that team will pay the remainder of his salary. If Delabar clears waivers, which seems likely, he becomes a free agent and can negotiate with any suitor.

“They told me, long-term, they didn’t see me fitting into the roles they were looking for,” said Delabar.

Simple enough; Delabar said he was wished “good luck.”

“I thanked them for the opportunity,” he said. “The last year and a half or so hasn’t been as smooth as possible but I thanked them for bringing me in and giving me an opportunity to at least get innings and get myself back out there.”

There were good times; plenty of them.

Delabar became a Blue Jay on July 30, 2012, in a one-for-one swap with the Seattle Mariners. Eric Thames - remember him? - went the other way.

It didn’t take long for Delabar to impress. Two weeks later, on August 13, he struck out four Chicago White Sox hitters in the 10th inning and picked up the win in a 3-2, 11-inning victory. He became the first pitcher in major league history to whiff four hitters in an extra inning.

Exactly one year after being acquired, on July 30, 2013 in Oakland, Delabar struck out the side on the minimum nine pitches. He also was an All-Star that year, so far his only appearance in the Midsummer Classic, the beneficiary of the “Raise The Bar” campaign which secured him the American League’s final roster spot. Munenori Kawasaki, weeks earlier in his broken English, had declared himself Delabar’s All-Star campaign manager.

These were heady accomplishments for a guy who had broken his elbow while pitching in an independent league game in 2009. After sitting out in 2010, during which he worked as a substitute teacher in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Delabar signed a minor league deal with Seattle for the 2011 season. By the end of the year he was in the big leagues; less than a year after that, he was in Toronto.

During this time, Delabar had become one of the early proponents of the weighted ball program, a regimen he credited, in part, with getting him back into professional baseball.

The 2014 and 2015 seasons were less kind to Delabar. He struggled at the big league level and was shuttled back and forth to Buffalo.

A year ago, he was cut in camp. Stunned, Delabar was clearly agitated when he met with the media.

“Last year it kind of caught me off guard because I thought I was having a decent spring last year too and they came in and said that,” said Delabar. Last year there wasn’t really any lockdown guys in the ‘pen; you had a few guys and I felt I was going to be a part of that but it did not end up being that way and it kind of caught me off guard.”

Now, knowing he was out of options - he couldn’t be sent to the minor leagues without first clearing irrevocable waivers - Delabar came to Dunedin aware his time with the Blue Jays could be coming to an end.

“Mentally I’m in a different place,” said Delabar. “I feel much better physically where I am and all that stuff.”

He intends to continue on in the game. Delabar would be accepting of a minor league contract if he thinks the franchise with which he signs would give him a big league look should he earn it.

“No matter where we go the game is the same,” said Delabar. “Different uniform, different hat but it’s all the same game. Just get out there and get your job done.”

He said he leaves Toronto with positive memories.

“I had a lot of fun,” said Delabar. “I played with a lot of guys, veteran guys that have retired now, a lot of teammates that have gone elsewhere. It’s just been a lot of fun to see the team was when I got here and to where it is now and the future of this team. You wish nothing but the best of luck to these guys and the future that they’re going to have.”