Jonathan Sanchez is “hurt”

Published by on June 25, 2011 | 5 Responses

There’s some huge pregame news today coming from the Giants:

Perhaps Jonathan Sanchez’s problems aren’t all in his head. Or perhaps the Giants found a creative way to give Sanchez a two-week break without compromising their roster.

In a surprising move, the Giants just placed Sanchez on the 15-day disabled list with left biceps tendinitis. Barry Zito, who will start Game 2 of a doubleheader Tuesday at Wrigley Field, was activated from the DL and will take Sanchez’s place on the roster.

I have very skeptical feelings about this move. The reasons why are pretty much laid out perfectly by Chris in a post earlier today:

If the Giants seek to rest their bullpen by replacing Sanchez with Zito, they are shooting themselves in the foot. It just doesn’t show up in the numbers.

If I’m being honest, though, I guess I have some mixed feelings, too. The Giants know Jonathan Sanchez (the person) better than any of us. Maybe they figure this move will in fact hurt them in the short term, that Barry Zito isn’t really the better option, but a mental break and perhaps some cleaning up of his mechanics will help him in the long run. Maybe.

I have to hope that this is the case. I have to hope the Giants don’t think Barry Zito is somehow a better starter simply because Sanchez’s starts look so frustrating, so unsuccessful. I don’t love the move, but I also don’t necessarily see it as a disaster. If I were to play the devil’s advocate, I’d note that Sanchez was sent to the bullpen in 2009 after a similar stretch of utter manager-maddening starts, only to come back and no-hit the San Diego Padres. That happened, and here’s the proof.

If the Giants, on the other hand, just think that Zito is the better starter, will give them a better chance to win, will save the bullpen significantly, and be the guy to “stabilize” the number two spot in the rotation for the rest of 2011, I’m pretty sure they have the wrong guy.

All that said, I sure wish the Giants’ creative ways with their pitching staff, which, bullpen included, is perhaps best in all of baseball, would carry over to their working on the offense, which is frankly the most pathetic unit in baseball.

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Speaking of the offense, here’s today’s potent lineup.

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obsessivegiantscompulsive
obsessivegiantscompulsive

I understand the skepticism about him being really hurt, but it would have worked better sending Burriss down for Zito, letting Sanchez take next start, THEN sudden arm problem with Zito taking his place. Also, Zito is not taking his place, he is pitching second DH, and would get slotted there. I do not see the Giants trading Dirty right now. They would not get that great a prospect back the way he is pitching. I can maybe see it happening right around deadline when a team is desperate for another good starter and I would be OK with that if we get at least a couple of good hitting prospects out of the deal. It would carry risks, with Zito and Vogelsong, but if they can make such a deal for Jonathan, I would do it.

Roger
Roger

The problem is they have serious 25 man roster crunch that Zito's contract is really exacerbating. The effectiveness of the bullpen makes losing any of the relievers somewhat painful -- and losing them so that you can stick Zito out there and then I imagine never use him is really painful. As for the other option, of going with a 13 man staff that just strikes me as lunacy, leaving them with effectively a three man bench (since most teams avoid using the backup C like the plague). Sending Burriss down leaves you with only four players on the team who can play 3b/ss/2b (Panda, Tejada, Crawford, Hall) which is crazy roster management.

Roger
Roger

The easy, and I guess obvious answer is to get rid of Mota or Casilla, but I have to say I'm uncomfortable with moves that are so clearly money-based rather than baseball-based. But as I've said elsewhere, as long as there's some possibility that Zito can give them average production for his pay sometime in the next 2.5 years that money isn't truly a sunk cost and could conceivably result in one of their better #5 options by the time you get to 2013. The Zito factor is a real problem right now from the perspective of constructing a 25 man and having to weigh the needs of today against the needs of next year or beyond.

Dan
Dan

In my opinion, this is not a good time to trade Sanchez. It's like investing in the stock market; buy low, sell high, right? Unfortunately, the Giants are in desperate need of hitting, so they may not have a choice in the matter.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

I actually don't mind if the Giants give Sanchez a break by skipping him a start. However, I've got the feeling that he's on his way out.