The Royals announced that they designated left-hander Jonathan Sanchez for assignment (Twitter link). Sanchez allowed seven earned runs against the Mariners last night, recording just four outs.
The Royals acquired the left-hander in an ill-fated offseason trade that sent Melky Cabrera to San Francisco. Kansas City also acquired Ryan Verdugo, tonight's starter, in the deal. Sanchez posted a 7.76 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 7.4 BB/9 in 53 1/3 innings for Kansas City, averaging less than 4.5 innings per start. He earns $5.6MM this year and will hit free agency this coming offseason.
They basically gave away Melky Cabrera for free
They would be better off right now if they had just cut Melky rather than traded him for a guy who can’t get me out right now.
Not free, the Royals came away with several extra losses.
At the time of the trade, a LOT internet chatter about how the Giants got fleeced on that trade. Giants didn’t know how to value pitching. Sabean is foolish.
You had to watch Sanchez pitch in ’11 to see this coming. He is the classic head case. Talent through the roof, but very, very emotional. And he started to come unraveled last year. Tons of signs. It didn’t look like that bad a year statistically. But, as Giants fans, we knew there was a good chance he was going to step off a cliff.
I wish him well. I doubt he’d return to SF, because I’m sure he feels betrayed by the franchise. But, I believe he can comeback. As solid starter.
a distinct LACK of emotion is one thing that drove the KC fans nuts…the guy would give up like 37 runs in an inning & just ho-hum his way back into the dugout
AL East team will pick him up. Calling it now
I wouldn’t mind giving him a shot
Go for it.
– The Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and Orioles
Nope.. Sanchez needs extensive work at the MiLB level and coaching on top of that to fix his delivery mechanics.. THEN he needs to be converted to a reliever.. Sound familiar?? Yep.. Andrew Miller territory.. Another LH hard thrower, only Sanchez doesn’t/never did throw as hard as Miller was capable of if they could get him to where he once was and Miller is back to.
Sanchez, now is thinking he can hang around and get that FA year in so might not be in the correct frame of mind to willingly convert to become a Loogey.
Sounds like another Ollie Perez to me.
Had to look up Ollie ECB.. Saw him few weeks ago and he actually looked decent in a couple of games (right after they called him up) tho does look like he may have struggled some of late.
The couple games I saw him in? Ollie actually looked.. Decent.. As hard to understand as it sounds and his delivery/mechanics were repeated, like..Well yeah, the Mariners had reworked him into a respectable Loogey and Ollie was bringing it also, like 94-5 with his nasty CB.
are you kidding? The Rays ? They don’t need pitching. They need bulloen help and offense.
Aldenson should claim him. The Mets need pitching,
Sigh…let me explain. Previous poster appeared to be a Jays fan advocating for his team to claim Sanchez, a move that should be wholeheartedly endorsed by the other teams in the AL East.
that turned out to be a terrible trade for kc
He would be known as the guy the Giants traded for Melky Cabrera.
Yeah, that Verdugo kid might become semi-decent.
Safe to say they lost that trade…
I’m not a big Sanchez fan but I didn’t think he’d be that bad… wasn’t expecting much, but, I never really saw him as anything more than Oliver Perez.
In fairness, did you really see Melky doing THIS well? I certainly didn’t.
No. I didn’t really think either guy was going to have much of an impact on their respective teams.
Padres should pick him up and try to fix him like all the others.
Either them or the Rays.
The Rays magic only works on relievers.
Wow does Sanchez for Melky Cabrera now officially count as worst trade of the year?
…or of the decade.
There’s been worse. I’d rank both Mike Napoli trades from last year as much worse.
As a Padre fan, my favorite was…
Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Young, and Termel Sledge for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka.
Great trade
That trade hardly made much sense when it was first made. Young outpitched Eaton in 2005 despite pitching in hitter-friendly Texas (while Eaton pitched in the pitching confines of Petco) and Nevin was on the back end of his career while Gonzalez was just finally getting ready to produce in the bigs. Towers fleeced Daniels, who at the time was new to the GM position.
i would say Asdrubal Cabrera for Edwardo Perez was pretty bad for the Mariners
people have to stop with Melky.He is having a career year. People need to have A “wait and see” with him. Let’s see him do this again in 2013 and 2014 , before you can consider him a real star.
Cano is a much, much better overall player. That is why Cashman traded him.
To put him in the league of Pujolis, Fielder, McCutheon, Justin Upton , Kemp , etc is nuts.
People said that about him last year. “Let’s see him do it next year.” Well he is. In a different league to boot. I don’t see anyone comparing him to the players you mentioned though.
I guess getting beat up by my Mariners’ juggernaut offense was the final straw 😉
ouch…
Actually the Mariners have scored the most runs on the road of any team, they just are usually not great at home and I would suspect that most of their 11 shutouts took place at home.
Meanwhile in San Francisco…
This guy fell off the cliff big time. Hard to believe he has a no hitter with those stats this season.
I’d like to remind you that Philip Humber threw a perfect game this season.
It’s hard to believe anybody that has pitched this bad once threw a no hitter.
Bud Smith says, “Wut?”
Evidence that Sabean is an evil genius…
I wouldn’t go that far. He’s had good moves and bad moves like any GM. Cabrera was an absolute steal though, so I have no problem giving him credit where credit is due.
Obviously being slightly facetious… It does show the balance that really is his history.
He swings for the fences, and he’ll connect every once in a while, with a decent (ha) amount of strikeouts. Think more Adam Dunn and less Babe Ruth.
Ryan Verdugo (the other player in the Melky trade) starts for the Royals tonight. Maybe, just maybe, we got a little morsel of something from the Acquisition from Hell.
Not.
And people laughed at me when I suggested Sanchez for Melky!! MUHAHAHAHAHA
Yep…we Giants fans knew what KC was getting in Jonathan Sanchez. Thanks for Melky, hopefully we’ll enjoy him for many more years. Go Giants.
Twins need to claim him, way better then Deduno
Guy has swing and miss stuff someone will try him.
he doesn’t have that stuff anymore. I’ve been watching
I actually haven’t seen him this year. Part of the problem. Ouch at the BB/9
yeah, and with a WHIP above 2.00. It has been really difficult watching him pitch this year.
K/9 has dropped from 9.1 to 6.1 this year. Guys aren’t swinging and missing nearly as often anymore.
Red Sox’s?
Dodgers?
Cardinals?
White Sox’s?
Rangers?
Dodgers PLEASE 🙂
wouldnt mind as a Loggy.
I hate to be the grammar police guy on the internet, but for future reference:
LOOGY
L(efty) O(ne) O(ut) G(u)Y
Ned Colletti is already drawing up the three-year contract.
Just who would he replace on those teams?
i was going to say he could replace their batting practice pitcher, but his control is too bad for BP
humber on the whitesox
whitesox will more than likely go after him, with floyd going on the DL and no one knows if humber can get back to his recent norms(slightly better than average) maybe cooper can work with him and get him back to his solid #3 days like he was in SF
Is Don Cooper’s hair already gray?
Awesome trade, Dayton!
And there was much rejoicing
yaaaaaaaaay
Anthopolous has got to pounce here.
The Jays have a big need for pitching, but they also have standards.
Laffey > Sanchez.
lol. i think thats the saddest statement i’ve seen all day.
Laffey has actually filled in admirably in the back of the rotation-a lot better than I thought he would.
he has surprised me, but a 4.81 FIP keeps me from getting too excited.
I’d say Baltimore, STL, and Minnesota could have interest? They all seem to have depth issues at the moment.
The Royals have depth issues in the rotation too. Sanchez is just that bad.
Dan Duquette loves grabbing guys off the trash heap. I don’t know much about Sanchez, but looking at his numbers(2.044 WHiP, are you kidding me?) I think even DD will pass.
All-Star Game MVP for a guy who can’t even last in the Royals rotation. Wow. Good move, Sabean. Thank you.
I wouldn’t mind if the Twins gave him a shot, as long as they dump him if he pitches like he did in KC.
I hope the cardinals jump on him, just give him a chance you never know.
From SF, thanks guys. Seriously, Verdugo has good stuff, I was sorry to see him go. He has the potential to play in the bigs. Not so seriously, we have this guy named Lincecum …
I’m thinking the White Sox might just jump on board.
Sure why not, that would just about assure that they don’t make the playoffs.
why is that? he would more than likely get a start or two in AAA maybe some work with cooper if he got 2-3 starts and is bad he would be DFAd by the sox right away
Now you’re talking. Don Cooper would be a good one to check in on Sanchez, except even he might not want to take on such a big problem.
Giants should pick him up. If Timmy continues to struggle, him and Brad Penny can battle it out for that spot. haha
Timmy looked good his last outing. I’m not saying by any means he’s back to his old self but it only looks like it could be better from this point on. I hope he does get back to his old self though for the sakes of the Giants fans.
I do too. I was joking about picking up Sanchez. That’d be pretty funny though if they did pick him up. Hopefully Timmy keeps it going into his next start.
I think the Royals saw his as a guy who threw a no hitter stuff kind of pitcher and gambled – while the Giants knew that overall he has control issues. I cant beleive this turned out to be such a lopsided trade. I think Sanchez can be a good fit on a team with a good pitching coach like Dave Duncan and the Cardinals. Sanchez has the stuff to stike out a lot, as much as he walks people
Does Dave Duncan give in-home lessons now?
Duncan really didn’t do all that well with pitchers with extreme control issues-in fact, his program requires pitchers with better than average control that can throw sinkers. Does that sound like Johnathan Sanchez to you?
What about the Brewers? Do they need the pitching depth? I could see so if they plan on trading ZG. Or maybe even the Rockies.
Wow. All on Sabean’s jock again. Just like you gave Zach Wheeler to the Mets for a rental.
Dear Everyone who thinks Sanchez might be a fit for their team,
You have lost your collective minds. It’s over. He’s done. I’ve never seen someone so cooked. I was ok with the trade at the time. It seemed reasonable gamble, but it blew up. He can not be salvaged. I am as sure of this as anything.
Sincerely,
Me and all other Royals fans
He’ll be a fit for the Cubs. After Dempster and Garza are gone and our rotation becomes, Samardzija, Volstad, Wells, Coleman, and Rodrigo Lopez, at least.
With due respect the Royals don’t have a single legitimate starting pitcher in MLB and none likely to be called from AAA. Doug freakin Davis is next in line if (read: when) Verdugo, W. Smith, and Teaford fail. Sanchez has no business in a rotation. I guess you really have to have watched him to understand. This season he’s been the worst Royals pitcher I’ve seen in a decade or more. Don’t make me list the awful guys who were better. OK, I’ll give you one. Kyle Davies was better even at the very end.
Odorizzi has to be pretty close though, doesn’t he? Some struggles lately, but he’s probably already one of the better pitchers in the entire organization.
were joe nathan, matt thornton, bartolo colon, freddy garcia, andy pettit, aj burnett, brandon mccarthy all done too? worked out pretty well when they got a fresh start or a new pitching coach
I’m not familiar with the specifics of all of those guys, but the ones I am were never as bad as Sanchez has been for an extended period of time. He’s a ‘strikeout guy’ with an inverted K/BB, declining velocity, and a horrible attitude to boot. There is nothing there right now. Reclamation and changes of scenery are certainly possible, but you’re underselling how awful he is.
i think you are right in that anyone who thinks they’re going to slot him into their rotation for the remainder of the season and get decent production is sorely mistaken. his problems are to great to be solved by simply switching teams. this is the kind of guy you pick up with your eye on next season hoping that he can sort himself out or reinvent himself between now and then.
You are correct! If Sanchez were an easy fix, the Giants would have fixed him and kept him. If the Royals thought they could fix him they would not be DFA’ing him.
Sanchez is a long term project. His next organization is going to have to commit to him, and he to them, and work their behinds off. There’s still no guarantee he’s going to ever learn control. He hasn’t yet.
The Royals are the only team that misses out on Sanchez. A team that signs him won’t pay much and can run him in a AAA rotation. The fact that he couldn’t even pitch in the Royals rotation this season does say alot though.
On the topic of Melky for Sanchez……
Seemed to be an OK trade at the time. Trading an OF who happened to have ONE good year for KC for a SP that had ONE good year for the Giants (although a couple of years ago).
Some trades turn out good, some great, some bad, some horrible. In this case it looks GREAT for the Giants. No one, I repeat No one, expected this from EITHER player. If you told scouts/GM’s Melky would be this good (GREAT actually), every MLB scout/GM would have laughed, I would have expected on OPS of around .750-.800, not bad….but not great.
If you would have told me that Sanchez would have an ERA of 7+, I would not believe that either. I honestly would have expected 10 wins and a mid 4’s ERA, with 170 K’s.
Looks good for the Giants though…..hindsight is always 20/20.
Back when this trade went down, I thought (from the Royals perspective) that even if it didn’t work out, it still worked out, as the Royals needed more SP and got two arms, plus they opened a spot to finally see what Lorenzo Cain can do in CF.
Of course, Cain gets hurt instantly, Sanchez can’t hit the broad-side of a barn, and Melky is having ANOTHER ‘career-year’ better than last year’s ‘career year’. The home run and ASG MVP were the cherry-on-top for all those looking at how lopsided that trade has turned out!!
I hear the Royals offered Melky the same offer Frenchy took, but he declined. I guess Frenchy knew he wasn’t worth it and jumped on it, and Melky knew he was and passed. Maybe Verdugo can spin a gem tonight and save some face for GMDM!
Melky wanted 3 years, Frenchy would sign for 2…that was the sticking point
The Royals only hope of winning this trade is if Verdugo becomes the next Randy Johnson, lol.
This trade sucks but the truth of the matter is the Royals need starting pitching worse than an outfielder. the idea behind the trade was solid, Sanchez just never wanted to be in KC and it showed every single time he went to the mound. Here is hoping that Verdugo can show in the bigs what he has been showing in AAA.
If there was a shred of a chance that Sanchez could be successful as a LOOGY, I think the Royals would have tried that. As it stands, they’ll be eating his salary for the remainder of the year, which you wouldn’t do if you thought you could extract any value from him. It does make you wonder if there’s something more to this than just an inability to get hitters out – an attitude problem, perhaps?
Best guess is that someone will give him a chance, it won’t work, and he’ll end up in someone else spring training cam as a non-roster invitee next year.
Welcome back to the giants on a minor league deal! Haha. Just kidding.
I’d like to see the Cubs give him a shot..They more than likely will have 2 open spots in the rotation by the end of the trade deadline, and they have nothing to lose.
It was quite surprising a ton of people thought the giants got ripped off in this trade. Sanchez command is simply just awful and his velocity has declined. Bad combination pitching in the AL.
Reds Will Inquire.. We’re Scouting Liriano And Are Looking For Pitching Depth. As Long As KC Pays Portion Of Contract.
If He Goes To The Reds, Good Luck. He’s Very Frustrating.
I would think the Cardinals would have to be very interested. Seems to be a guy that woud thrive with a different mentality. Needs to become a pitcher instead of a hurler/thrower a la Lohse and Westbrook. Give him a sinker and get better location and he could be serviceable again. Otherwise he could fit into the Cardinals BP.
If you could just magically “give him a sinker”, there would probably be about 300 pitchers in the league that would be throwing one. Since it’s obviously not that easy and would take some time…especially with no Dunc…I just don’t see him fitting in with the Cards’ scheme. I’d rather put the time and resources towards a Street or League. They would obviously come with a steeper cost, but that’s the price you pay to add real talent and not the Charlie Sheen end of one of the most lopsided trades in recent history…and that’s not the “winning” end 😉
I could see the Cubs picking him up.
For the love of crap, MLB Trade Rumos, please revise your censorship process, so that the author can revise whatever questionable word has triggered the autobot elimination!
I have absolutely no idea why my last comment was held up.
Or where it went.
Or if it’s OK.
Or how to break in and free it.
Best trade in years! Go giants!
Buy-low/sell-high can fail very badly, contrary to popular belief.
To Royals fans who think this is the worst trade in franchise history, I present to you:
David Cone for Ed Hearn.
That is all.
Man its hilarious to think some people thought beyond a reason of a doubt that the giants got ripped off and gave up an “ace” for a flash in the pan. All the outsiders thought sanchez was some diamond in the rough without even looking at his stats, he was going to be dominant and make the giants look foolish.
Except us giants fans didnt think that for one second, and knew he would implode. Forever grateful for what he did in 2010 but im not surprised. He has no composure and walks too many batters.
And the other piece in that trade went 1.2 innings and gave up 6 ER in his debut last night. Talk about pouring salt in a wound.
Too bad Sanchez didn’t work out for the Royals. Good job by the Giants. The trade did make sense at the time though. There just wasn’t room for Melky when Lorenzo Cain was ready. Now Wil Myers just needs to replace Frenchy.