The Toronto Blue Jays optioned Cy Young candidate Aaron Sanchez to Single-A on Sunday. Is there a method to the club’s madness?
It isn’t often that a team in the thick of a pennant race decides to demote a pitcher in contention for the Cy Young award to the minor leagues, but that is exactly what the Toronto Blue Jays have done with Aaron Sanchez. The right-hander was optioned to Single-A Dunedin on Sunday after his most recent start on Saturday night in Cleveland against the Indians.
Aaron Sanchez optioned to Dunedin. Aaron Loup recalled.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 21, 2016
On the surface, the move appears to be a curious one. Sanchez is 12-2 in 24 starts for Toronto this season, posting a 2.99 ERA, 3.33 FIP, and an ERA+ of 142 in 156.1 innings. The Blue Jays, who lost two out of three to the Indians over the weekend, are clinging to a half-game lead in the American League’s Eastern Division over the Boston Red Sox.
The reason for the demotion, though, is uncomplicated. The 156.1 innings that Sanchez has logged in 2016 are by far a career-high, and with the Jays in contention for the postseason, the club is erring on the side of caution. In 2015, the former 34th overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft threw a combined 102 innings between the majors and minors, and 133.1 in 2014.
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“We’ve talked a lot about this over the year,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “Not just over the last month, but as good as Aaron has become, we all along thought at some point we’ll have to manage his workload. That’s what this is about. He’ll come right back in the rotation.”
It is expected that Toronto will recall Sanchez in ten days, in time to make a start on August 31st against the Baltimore Orioles. Rather than have a dead roster spot until that game, the Jays opted to send Sanchez down.
“Making this move was something we tried to stay away from, talking about innings being a concern,” Sanchez said. “I still have to get ready. It’s not like my season’s over. It’s normal work when I go down there. Nothing changes for me.”
In recent weeks, Toronto manager John Gibbons has employed a six-man starting rotation, in part to limit Sanchez’s workload. The Blue Jays are attempting to avoid a full-on “Strasburg Shutdown” with the 24-year old, wherein the Washington Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg prior to the playoffs, then were summarily ousted by the St. Louis Cardinals.
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While Sanchez is not the favorite to win the Cy Young by any stretch, the field in the American League is wide open, and he should certainly garner attention on the ballot, along with teammates J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada. Toronto has an off-day on Monday before beginning a six-game homestand on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels.