There’s nothing to be gained by the Blue Jays moving Aaron Sanchez to the bullpen - Toronto Star

There are an increasing number of calls from fans and media alike for right-hander Aaron Sanchez to be moved into the bullpen. The Blue Jays should ignore all of them.

Sanchez, who is 0-9 with a 7.98 ERA since the start of May, is mired in the worst stretch of his career but turning him into a reliever isn’t going to accomplish much of anything. It would be all style and no substance. Low risk, low reward.

The biggest misconception seems to be that moving Sanchez into the bullpen will suddenly increase his trade value. That’s not happening. With barely over a month to go before the July 31 trade deadline, there is a limited amount of time the Jays would have to transition Sanchez into the new role and showcase him to other teams.

Then look at the list of relievers who should become available over the next month. Closers Ken Giles and Greg Holland are expected to be moved. Left-handers Brad Hand, Will Smith and Felipe Vazquez could all change teams. There is a long list of names contending organizations would add to their depth charts first, and that’s before they even consider Sanchez’s checkered health.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins surely could find someone to take Sanchez off his hands, but that’s not what any of this is about. The 26-year-old remains under club control through 2020. Unless Toronto is getting a suitable package of prospects in return, there is no point in doing a deal. Worst-case scenario the team hits pause and tries to do all of this over again next year.

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If moving Sanchez to the bullpen isn’t about this year’s trade value, then it would have to be about improving Toronto’s chances in the short term. Except that’s not the case here either. The Jays currently can’t even field a five-man rotation and the problem is only going to get worse if Marcus Stroman is dealt. Toronto might not have anything to play for this year, but it still has to piece together a 25-man roster and it’s not like Sanchez is blocking a hotshot prospect. There is no one else.

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The last factor to consider is Sanchez’s preference and the native of California has made it pretty clear over the years that he wants to be a starter. Toronto is not indebted to Sanchez. If the Jays were contending and moving Sanchez to the bullpen gave them a better chance of winning, it would be a no-brainer. Since they’re not, and with limited upside elsewhere, this would be poking the bear because it’s a fun thing to do.

It’s pretty much a guarantee that super agent Scott Boras won’t take kindly to the gesture either, because it would limit how much his client could make as a free agent. That might not be the biggest problem in the world because it looks increasingly improbable that Sanchez will remain with the organization long term, but it’s another red flag to be added to the list of concerns. Unnecessarily making enemies is never a good thing.

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There is more downside than upside to altering Sanchez’s career path, but it might not stay that way much longer. Sanchez should be given until the end of the year to see what he can do as a starter and after that all bets are off. If the sixth-year hurler doesn’t show something soon, this debate will end soon enough.

Enough excuses have been made by others for Sanchez’s performance this season. We all get it. Sanchez had some of the worst luck possible when finger issues derailed each of his last two seasons. People mocked the injuries but there isn’t a single pitcher in baseball who can grind through the type of blisters Sanchez was getting.

At some point, though, people must move on. Sanchez has made 17 starts this season and has yet to show any real progress. Each start seems to be plagued by the same issues: poor command, a high pitch count and one big inning. The velocity on his fastball is still there, but the heavy sink on his fastball is not.

The easy cop-out is that Sanchez hasn’t pitched enough. Well, he has been taking the mound approximately every fifth day for the last four months, including spring training. Sounds pretty good to me. The time has come to move beyond moral victories and start judging Sanchez based on results.

Sanchez should be given the rest of the year to figure things out. Maybe by September there will have been enough flashes of the old Sanchez for Toronto to get something in return with an off-season deal. Maybe the performance will be enough to run him back next year as the opening-day starter. Or maybe the results stay the same and a transition to the bullpen becomes inevitable.

There really is something that feels very Brandon Morrow-esque about Sanchez’s career. The tantalizing upside. A pair of hard throwers with sweeping breaking balls. The frequent injuries. The continued disappointment. Morrow enjoyed a career resurgence when he transitioned to the bullpen. It’s possible the same thing could happen to Sanchez, but that doesn’t mean the timing should be right now.

With a mid-season trade becoming more and more unlikely with each passing day, the Jays should keep Sanchez right where he is and re-evaluate things in the off-season. If the results don’t improve, the decision will be made for them. Have Sanchez report to spring training as a reliever. There’s just no need to do it this minute.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca

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June 26, 2019 at 07:20AM