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Blue Jays move Aaron Sanchez to bullpen – trade coming?

By Darrell Samuels |

Mar 26, 2015; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Aaron Sanchez (41) throws a pitch during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Florida Auto Exchange Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays just completed a weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays, where they won two out of three games.

The Toronto Blue Jays are heading out west this week on a six game road trip to play against the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners on the west coast. It could be argued that these six games could dictate how the team handles potential upcoming trades over the next 10 days.

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Toronto Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos has been involved in rumors for a while now where he is interested in starting or relief pitching, or both.

The Toronto Blue Jays are linked to pitchers Scott Kazmir, Cole Hamels, Aroldis Chapman, Johnny Cueto, and Jeff Samardzija. General Manager Anthopoulos always plays his cards close to his vest. These names are rumored connections to Toronto. However, there might be other names out there linked to the team that have not been leaked to baseball analysts. Whether the team gets one or all of the pitchers is up for debate.

This season, the team suffered a significant injury to their other prized jewel, Marcus Stroman. He was projected to be a key piece of the starting rotation, to go along with R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle. However, Stroman got hurt in Spring Training and the team was scrambling and put Sanchez in the starting rotation.

Rookie pitcher Aaron Sanchez came through the minors and arrived onto the team over the second half of last season in relief. He wowed the team so much that he eventually pushed Casey Janssen out of the closer role. Janssen signed as a free agent with the Washington Nationals. He may have had quality pitches that were causing fits to the opponents. He may have had the skills necessary to succeed in a relief pitcher role. None of us know. What Sanchez was throwing, hitters were not able to keep up with. That was obvious. Sanchez has the skills to be a Major League pitcher. However, at the start of the season he had some games of success and some games where he was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Since the middle of June, Aaron Sanchez was on the disabled list.

After the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Blue Jays announced that Aaron Sanchez will be returning from the disabled list, joining the team on the west coast and will be moved back to the relief role. With the move of Sanchez, the team appears to be proceeding forward with the idea of looking for a starting pitcher prior to July 31.

You don’t have to be a genius to try and figure out what the team is preparing for. Moving Sanchez out of the starting rotation and into the bullpen allows him to work with Steve Delabar, Brett Cecil, Bo Schultz, Aaron Loup and Roberto Osuna. The team proceeds to acquire a starting pitcher, prior to July 31, to work with R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada, Drew Hutchison and Mark Buehrle. Time will tell if the problem is solved.

The only people that will have a more direct idea in mind on the future of the team are General Manager Anthopoulos and ownership of the Toronto Blue Jays. You can spend hours listening to sports talk shows trying to assess how this team will proceed over the final 2 ½ months of this season. All of us would like to suggest that we know what the team is doing and should do. Quite frankly, none of us has the slightest idea. We only have thoughts and views on what we think should happen to push this team into the playoffs for the first time since 1993’s World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Last season, the Blue Jays were not very active in the trade route and it upset their stars on the team. Danny Valencia, of the Minnesota Twins, was acquired. Outfielder Jose Bautista and former closer Casey Janssen didn’t hold back their displeasure in the lack of movement from the team. They wanted more players brought in.

The team appears to have decided on Aaron Sanchez going back to the bullpen. Check! They have decided to make Marco Estrada and an assortment of pitchers from Triple-A Buffalo to form the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. Check! They could use a more veteran outfielder to man left field, if Michael Saunders’ injuries don’t improve. They could perhaps also use a better fielding shortstop to help Jose Reyes’ aging body.

No matter how you slice it, Anthopoulos’ window is slowly closing and he has to act fast and now if he envisions the team making the playoffs in 2015 and saving his job beyond this season.

Say what you will about the team and their lack of interest in taking on large payroll, the time is now for Alex Anthopoulos to decide whether he makes moves to affect the team’s future as well as his or whether he sticks to waiting until 2016 and risk losing employment this October.

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