BIG MONEY CAN WAIT
Sanchez focuses on pitching
If he continues to ride his fastball toward becoming one of the most lethal pitchers in baseball, Toronto Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez will one day be paid exceptionally well.
On that much, the righthander’s agent Scott Boras and Toronto general manager Ross Atkins can agree. There’s less consensus on who will pay Sanchez that money in four years when he becomes a free agent given a rather noisy development this week.
At issue is the concern from Boras that the Jays renewed Sanchez’s contract at the majorleague minimum of US$535,000. While that transaction is the team’s right under the MLB collective bargaining agreement, a case can be made that based on Sanchez’s performance last season, it seems unnecessarily thrifty.
And his newly acquired highpowered agent made that point emphatically to both Sportsnet and TSN Radio, saying the Jays have not followed the lead of the league’s other teams in paying deserving players above the base salary.
Atkins takes issue with that view, saying the Jays offered an undisclosed figure above the minimum that was rejected by Sanchez’s camp. The club has had a policy in place for 10 years on dealing with these situations, though Atkins said it’s something the team might review.
Ultimately, there may not be an issue and free agency is well down the road, but as Sanchez prepares for his second season as a big-league starter, it has the makings of an unnecessary distraction to a young player headed for stardom.
“I think in the end his performance, his work, his process will end up taking care of the money,” Atkins gave as a measured response before Thursday’s 11-5 loss to the New York Yankees at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. “That was his choice to take that number. There was another option he could have taken.
“Now we just shift our energy to communication, to resources, to helping him be the best possible player he can be.”
Atkins said Boras is “great to work with” and added that he doesn’t anticipate having difficulties in the future.
To his credit, Sanchez has every intention of doing just that as he aims to build on a breakout 2016 campaign in which he had a 15-2 record and an American Leaguebest 3.00 earned run average.
“There’s no hard feelings between me and Ross Atkins and this organization,” Sanchez said. “It’s time to go play baseball, really.”
The Jays certainly could have paid Sanchez more — on merit he deserved it and other teams around the league have done so in the past. It’s also always the easy and popular cry to blame team owner Rogers Communications for trying to get things done on the cheap.
But don’t let Boras off the hook either. His outrage over the perceived mistreatment of his 24-year-old client did him a disservice. There was a certain amount of posturing in the agent’s public statements and you can be sure it’s not the last we’ve heard from him. At this point in the spring and in his career, Sanchez could have been better protected by his representation.
The concern from the Jays has to be whether it’s something that sticks with and ultimately distracts the young pitcher all season. He did his best on Thursday to turn down the heat.
“That’s something I don’t like to speak about,” Sanchez said when asked how much above the minimum the Jays offered. “I’ll just keep it at that. We had a disagreement.”
To his credit, Sanchez sounds like a young player who is well aware of what’s at stake, but values his commitment to a contending ball club and to a rabid fan base back north to which he has become incredibly popular.
“I’m here for another four years, so there’s nothing to worry about,” said Sanchez, who acknowledged he moved to the Boras camp in the off-season to make sure he’s well compensated in the future. “Obviously we came upon a disagreement, and that’s the side of this that’s still a business.
“That being said, I have goals to accomplish for myself, goals to accomplish as a team. I have teammates I have to pitch for, I have fans that I have to pitch for, so I’m focused on getting better every day.”
There’s no hard feelings between me and Ross Atkins and this organization … It’s time to go play baseball, really.