The Toronto Blue Jays have optioned Ricky Romero to Class A Dunedin after a rough spring.

Romero was Toronto's Opening Day starter last season, but he couldn't even make the 25-man roster a year later. That's in part because of a regression and several upgrades to the team's roster.

The Blue Jays opened camp by saying Romero was guaranteed a spot in the rotation, but that message changed in the past two weeks.

"We saw a lot of good things and he was fine, but it's not the Ricky we know he can be," general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. "We can try to just keep going, and when you're at the big league level, it's hard to continue working on things, or take a little more time, get him back to where he can be.

"It's always a tough conversation, but he knows he's not exactly as sharp as he needs to be, and he knows it's going to take a little bit more time."