Sanchez remains starter as Jays alter their course
Six-man rotation will be used; workload and strength monitored
After thorough consultation with people inside and out of the Blue Jay organization, the team’s deep thinkers have done an about-face on the Aaron Sanchez conundrum.
The 24-year-old right-hander, who has developed rapidly into the ace of the starting rotation, will stay in that rotation until further notice.
General manager Ross Atkins flew into Houston from Toronto Thursday and delivered the surprising news after talking with uniformed personnel, and especially Sanchez, during the afternoon.
“He’s going to stay in the rotation for the time being,” said Atkins. “The most likely scenario is that he stays in the rotation for some time to come.
“I think what changed for us is that, a couple of things: input from more people, one of those people being Francisco Liriano, who was open to anything and everything. If it meant going to the pen, if it meant a six-man rotation, that opened things up for us to think about things differently.
“Then talking to Aaron about it and how strongly he felt about staying in the rotation. Fortunately, we’re in a situation where we can continue to do it.”
Because Sanchez had never pitched more than 133 2/3 innings in any season since he turned pro — and the reasons for that are a story unto themselves — there are fears that he could risk an arm injury, like the ones that have beset Matt Harvey and Stephen Strasburg, if his workload increase is too great, season over season.
With his 21st start last weekend, Sanchez has now pitched 139 1/3 innings. If he was to continue on that path through September and, possibly, an October playoff run, he could conceivably hit 230 innings for the year.
For that reason, the plan ever since spring training has been for Sanchez to finish out his season in the bullpen. But when that determination was made in March, no one could possibly have foreseen how massively successful he would be as a starter.
If the Cy Young Award was presented today, he would probably win it. That’s how good he has been. He has an 11-1 record with a 2.71 ERA and appears to be getting better as the seasons wears on.
For now, the Jays will go with a six-man rotation, which will give Sanchez and, indeed, all the starters, an extra day of rest each time through the rotation. That will not only cut down on his innings buildup but also give his body more time to recover in between starts, which many experts believe is an important factor in injury prevention.
While this might be considered a roll of the dice with Sanchez’s future at stake, there is nothing preventing the Jays from reversing field again at the first sign of fatigue or discomfort.
“You don’t want to put people in danger zones,” said Atkins. “You’ve seen them with Strasburg and Harvey, this has occurred before. It’s really just the unknown. There’s nothing concrete, there’s no science to it.
“It’s a lot of experience, talking to other front offices, talking to other scouts, talking to other players, talking to former players and really trying to do the best thing for this organization and for Aaron moving forward. If we were just to say what is the absolute best thing for us to win this year and this year alone, then we can just roll the dice, but no one in baseball
The most likely scenario is that he stays in the rotation for some time to come. ROS S ATKINS , Jays general manager