Getting what he deserves?
Blue Jays renew Aaron Sanchez’s contract at league minimum, and his agent isn’t happy
DUNEDIN, Fla. — If he continues to ride his fastball towards being one of the most lethal pitchers in baseball, Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez will one day be paid exceptionally well.
On that much, the right-hander’s agent Scott Boras and Toronto general manager Ross Atkins can agree.
Just who will pay Sanchez that money four years down the road when he becomes a free agent could have some twists and turns 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 $535,000. While that transaction is the team’s right under the current 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 rather emphatically to both Sportsnet and TSN Radio, claiming that the Jays have not “followed the conduct of other teams,” in paying players who deserve it, well above the base.
Atkins certainly takes issue with that view, pointing out that the Jays offered more than the minimum, an undisclosed figure that was rejected by the Sanchez camp. The club has had a policy in place for 10 years to deal this way with similar situations, though Atkins acknowledged it’s something that 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,” was Atkins’s measured response prior to Thursday’s game, an 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, for the record, said that Boras is “great to work with” and 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 spectacular breakout 2016 campaign in which he had a 15-2 record and an AL-best 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. And that too, is in part what has made this uneasy episode unnecessary.
But don’t let Boras off the hook here, 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 tails with and ultimately distracts the young pitcher all season. He did his best on Thursday anyway, 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 focussed on getting better every day.”