The Cubs have signed Jonathan Sanchez to a minor league deal, a source tells Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. The deal includes incentives if the left-hander makes the big league roster.
Sanchez, 31, was cut loose after five atrocious games to open the 2013 season and ended up with the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque. There, he pitched 66 2/3 innings, posting a 5.13 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9. Sanchez has held lefties to a .218/.313/.363 batting line in his big league career and limited them to a .215/.276/.418 line in the minors this season.
Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune previously reported that the Cubs were eyeing Sanchez as a reliever. The veteran is represented by the McNamara Baseball Group, as shown in the MLBTR Agency Database.
Even when he was at his best he was still walking 4.5 batters per 9.
You can’t survive at the 7 bb/9 he has been at.
Pitching a no-hitter was a piece of cake for him, but you will never see him pitch a no-walker.
Umm.. wasn’t his no hitter also a no-walker?
It was. The only baserunner reached on an error.
My Bad….
Was still funny.
I forgot this guy was even relevant.
He’s not lol
Cubs will be trying to turn him into a reliever. Just another arm just in case the Cubs trade Russell which I believe the Cubs will
If the pitching coaches can figure out his control issues than I say it’s a good signing.
Us Giants fans were saying the same thing for years! Sadly he could never get it together. You will be ripping your hair out when he strikes out 5 in a row then walks the next 3 and throws 2 pitches over the backstop. He will win you some games but will lose quite a few as well. Honestly I hope he works out for you I always liked him and he has tons of potential.
I hope he does too. I have a good feeling about this. Cubs already signed Eli on a minor league deal. They will be batterymates again but prob at Iowa. Eli was good for him. Maybe that is what he has needed the past 2 years. He just might do it.
“The deal likely includes incentives if the left-hander makes the big league roster.”
I don’t know, do you really want to give Sanchez an incentive to make the MLB roster? Keep him in the minors where he can’t hurt you!
The Cubs, at this point, are just trying to sign players that can be flipped near the deadline. They aren’t playing for anything this year, so no one can really hurt them.
I would rather be in dead last than 3rd place this year anyway. I like getting high draft picks
2015 as always been kind of the target year. I can take maybe one more terrible year lol
Unless Rizzo and Castro step it up big time, I think 2015 is a bit too optimistic for Chicago fans.
Not quite, our big 5 prospects all should be up by or at sometime during 2015, I could even see maybe Baez and Bryant being up sometime this season. But yes, it would help a lot if Rizzo and Castro turn it around some. But, 2015 has always the target year to really start being playoff contenders and so on
The same way you guys need you SS and 1B to produce to contend, the same goes for the Phillies coincidentally. IF those two produce viable seasons, we can contend for at least a wild card spot in 2014. But just like for your guys, that is a big “if” (hence capitalization)
Cubs and Phils are actually pretty close comparisons. Their pythag records were very close, Phillies scored 8 more runs over the entire season. Castro is projected to rebound and Rizzo is projected to take a step forward (steamer). As for what will happen who knows, but I feel for you Phillies, I also have no idea what your GM is doing.
Who are the Phillies going to contend with ? The National Over 50 Baseball team ?
They will be better in 2015 but not competing. Even if all these prospects turn out, which is unlikely, they will not just come into the league and rake. It will take awhile for them to adjust
Well, I don’t want to jinx myself, but I feel pretty good about Baez and Bryant being very good major league players. I also feel Almora will be pretty good as well, Soler might be the only one I don’t totally trust
I like them as well, I just don’t see them tearing it up right away and even if they do, who would be the starting rotation? 2016 is realistic in my opinion and that is being optimistic
David Price.
Baez has the biggest question mark of them all.
Why you feel that way? I feel pretty good about him and Bryant being very good major league players
Expecting their small army of prospects to start producing from day 1 may be asking a little much. 2015 is the earliest contention is possible, but I’d say 2016 is more likely. Some guys need a little seasoning before they break out. Let the kids cut their teeth first
I know that, I wasn’t saying I was expecting to win it all in 2015. I was just saying to actually start competing and actually have a chance year in and year out
Ok then, with that thought process it does kick-off hopefully in 2015 and then continue until…well they hopefully win it all. The 2015 Cubs could potentially be the most intriguing 80-85 win team in awhile
If you are looking towards 2015,you had better hope that all of the Cardinal,Reds and Pirates’ prospects all fail. The only decent pitching prospect in the Cub’s orginization right now is CJ Edwards.
He probably won’t make the team either . The cubs have always made bad final roster picks. 2011 castillo hit .650 in spring training. Soto hit .067 Soto was named the starter Castillo was sent to Triple A
Hopefully tthey trade Castro next winter for a couple ptbnl
Exactly I’m not encouraging it, but I would be ok with it for 2014 NOT 2015
Better they do it right. Cubs fans have been waiting a long time, that team if competitive could handle a huge payroll and be very competitive.
Exactly.
That’s the kind of attitude that has fostered a losing team for over a century. Do you think Yankees fans would ever say that? You should always want your team to win every year otherwise why bother even cheering for them.
I know my Rockies are probably not going to win this year, but I am still going to hope that they go 162-0. I’d much rather draft 30th than 1st every year because winning seasons never bust unlike high draft picks.
I completely get what you are saying. But winning seasons do bust. You could have a winning season and not even make the playoffs. Then you would have nothing to show for it and have a low draft pick. But I do agree with you. I am a cubs fan and have the mentality that I want them to win every game but have realistic expectations that it won’t happen. I think a lot of cubs fans are like that. They know cubs are rebuilding and a few years away from legit contending so they like the high draft picks. It’s a good way for teams to get a good deep farm so they have tons of cheap controllable studs and can spend there high payroll on filling a few pieces.
Well a low draft pick is not necessarily a bad thing. Don’t forget Mike Trout went #25 overall, while Donovan Tate went #3 overall in that same draft. I just don’t like the idea of anyone hoping their team loses more so they will get a higher draft pick because it is a gamble anyway.
The idea of a losing team getting a higher draft pick is to soften the blow of a losing season. It is not something to strive for.
I think all in all, we completely agree. I would much rather the Cubs have a winning season. I just think given their position, with the rebuild that they are going through, Cubs fans come to expect a losing season (which isn’t being a bad fan, its being realistic). They know what Theo is wanting to do. Rebuild through the draft, try to make a few trades for prospects, and hope that the position players that they have in the minors now are as good as everyone thinks they will be. I dont think the Cubs need to necessarily be all about pitching prospects. If you think about it, their position players are maybe a year or 2 away, so drafting pitchers, would set them back that much longer. If they can flip some guys for a few pitching prospects who are major league ready (or pretty darn close) they are in business. I am hoping that they have a cheap cost controlled position players, they spend a good portion of the large payroll they would have on getting FA pitchers who are established when the young ones are ready to play.
I am not a Cubs fan, but I am wondering why they are trying to do a Rays-type rebuild. They are a big-market, huge-payroll team. They should be rebuilding on the fly like the Red Sox instead of taking a long time like the Rays or Pirates or Royals have to do. It could be a simple answer, but like I said I don’t really follow the Cubs. For example, why are they not using the infamous Red Sox 3/39 deal or something similar. Those type of contracts give you enough time to not rush prospects, but can give you a competitive team, even a championship team, while you are waiting. Prospects are nice for the wait til next year crowd, but you could have a competitive team until next year arrives. If I was a Cubs fan, those would be the types of questions on my mind.
I think those questions have definitely been asked by Cubs fans, myself included. There payroll is projected to be at $104,304,676 this year. They definitely have a ton of money to spend. I think they really just want to see how all of their position players pan out, since they are so close to being MLB ready (although, I dont think they come up in say 2015 and mash, so it could be safe to say that they wont legit compete until 2016). I definitely would like them to make more signings, but with the roster they have now, they are more then just a few signings away from contending. I think they realize this, so they don’t necessarily spend money on guys who won’t help in the future.
I think that soon enough once all the young guys are ready to come up, the Cubs go on a free agent binge signing, moreso on pitchers since they seem to have a plethera of position players.
It’s not about having a bad attitude. The ownership has just not given a damn about them. It took 10 years to finally fire Jim Hendry. The new owners only care about making money. They dont care if the cubs lose 130 games a year. The fact that they want to put a huge junbotron in Wrigley which would make the manual scoreboard useless. The cost of it would be about to get a new stadium . I would not put it past tom ricketts if he took out the ivy and brick walls for padded walls.
They are not playing for anything for the next 3 years tbh.. it wouldn’t be a bad thing to fire sale
He is Nuke Laloosh…Million dollar arm with a 5 cent head!
Early 30’s latino lefty SP who had high potential due to quality strikeout stuff but with diminishing control, lost a rotation spot and years later, attempts to rebuild as a reliever.
Oliver Perez needs to revisit the family tree, he may have a twin brother.
Except Olly never pitched a no-hitter.
Or won a world series ring. But then again, O, Perez was the one who got a big contract after becoming a free agent.
LOOGY
That’s the only way he’ll ever be relevant at the MLB level again.
a minor league deal for a team still a few years away from being good. no harm if he does well that a + if he doesnt no harm since it a minor league deal.
Might be a nice signing as a LOOGY? Ya never know minimal risk potential reward…
A left-handed Marmol?
No marmol was terrible til he went to LA. It was then he learned how to pitch .. most of his career the only thing Rothschild could say is ” throw better” He averaged a hit batter, walk and 2 hit per 9 innings when he was the closer.. the fact that Kevin Gregg took his job would make most people Donny Moore themselves
We will not fail this year like last year. We will get #1 draft pick for 2015
Cool then they can draft another Shawon Dunston again. If I was a Cubs fan I would prefer to avoid the #1 overall pick with that history.
Actually come to think of it, other than Rafael Palmeiro (and they traded him away), the Cubs don’t really have a rich history of ANY first round picks becoming long-term superstars in the league. They have a lot of good prospects now, but they used to have Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, and Josh Vitters too. In other words, I’ll believe it when I see it.
The only thing Jonathan Sanchez has going for him is that his career WAR is still higher than Edinson Volquez’s.
Didn’t he have a near perfect game with the giants like 2 years ago? It ended up being a no hitter anyway? He’s really fallen on hard times if he settled for the cubs. He’s guaranteed a rotation spot.
Theres no way he’s in the rotation.
They don’t have much choice. Jackson , wood and samardzija after that its two spot starters .. shark will be gone hopefully in July
I see the rotation looking like: Wood, Samardzija, Jackson, Arrieta then I think guys like Rusin, Grimm, Raley and Wada all get a look at the #5 spot before Sanchez. Hopefully Baker is back too.
Neh’mind
I think Wood, Samardzija, Jackson and Arrieta are set. Then I think guys like Rusin, Raley, Wada and Villeanueva all get looked at for the 5th spot before Sanchez. Hopefully Baker is back as well.