The Rockies have signed outfielder Michael Saunders to a minor league contract, Brandon Warne of Zone Coverage reports. They’re Saunders’ first team since the White Sox released him in late June.
A former top prospect with Seattle, Saunders has been a solid major leaguer at times – including during an All-Star 2016 with the Blue Jays. Saunders’ numbers plummeted in the second half of his All-Star season, though, and he has fallen off the radar over the past couple years.
In 2017, which he opened with the Phillies after they awarded him a $9MM guarantee in free agency, Saunders managed a disastrous .202/.256/.344 batting line in 234 major league plate appearances. He struggled so badly in Philadelphia that the club released him midway through the season, leading the Canadian-born Saunders to return to the Blue Jays on a minors deal. However, Saunders was unable to rebound in Toronto or with its Triple-A affiliate.
Unfortunately for Saunders, his stock took an even greater hit in 2018. Not only did Saunders fail to reach the majors with the bottom-feeding Orioles or White Sox, but his production tanked with their minor league teams. Across 154 PAs at the Triple-A level, the 32-year-old batted .158/.273/.248.
Saunders continues his attempt to sign minor league contracts with every team in MLB. — Hang in there :/
Career totally derailed by a sprinklerhead
And then rushed back into action way before he should have in 2015. Jays medical staff and AA pushing him back on the field was reckless.
waste money
Waste of money?!? It was only a one year 18 million dollar deal.
Only $18 million? So you think $18 million in one year is change in the sofa or something? Managed correctly that one year salary could set up a family for life. Some people really need to realize that this is real money we are talking about, not Monopoly money or some random code on a computer screen.
And him getting that money did not prevent a single person from making their own money.
Stop blaming hihgly paid people for the failures of others
Maybe, you should donate percentage of your salary.
My family of five is fine on 25 grand a year. What do you make?
Do yoy pump millions into the economy, like he does?
Do you understand economics?
Kudos to you. Are you planning on college expenses for the kids?
18 million is nothing for almost every team on a one year gamble.
Eh.. this was a joke you know?
It was actually “only” 8 million.
Please, us an “of”, once in a while.
An “e” might be helpful in yours.
Excellent zing!
From standing on the field at the 2016 all-star game to not even cracking mlb in 2018. Such a quick fall, he probably can come back.
For what was supposed to be the greatest hot stove season in MLB history it’s been rather crappy. Oh and how sad is Jon Heyman’s life that he sits there staring at Manny Machado’s social media to see who he follows and unfollows? Jon dude, go get laid my man, seriously.
How sad is your life that it revolves around a half finished baseball offseason and that you are obsessed with who he watches?
I’m sure Jon’s job is better than yours.
Organizational depth at this point unfortunately. At one time though when youth & health was on his side, he was a quality MLB’er!
Would be cool if he could make a successful comeback, but I have zero confidence in that actually happening.
Anybody else want to see the 2 Los Angeles teams make a trade involving Mike Trout?
No.
Lonely in that boat, ain’t it?
Something has been clearly physcially wrong with Saunders or he needs a new vitamin/workout regimen. To rise and fall so quickly is either injury or lack of vitamins.
You saw what the Jays did to him in 2015.
“Saunders will be out probably until the All-Star break” (Feb 2015)
Saunders makes debut April 25th, almost THREE MONTHS earlier than expected from a torn meniscus. Blatantly irresponsible by the Jays organization to have allowed that to happen. And he was limping around, clearly showing he wasn’t close to 100%.
You can’t really blame his fall on that, because the guy made the All Star team AFTER that occurred. He just had a rapid fall off at the age of 31 like has happened to many in the past (and in the future).
I don’t think that’s true. Saunders had surgery to remove the meniscus, which is a four to six week recovery time. If the surgery would’ve been to repair it, it would’ve taken him out until the all star break.
^Then you enjoyed watching Saunders painfully limp on the field knowing how severe his injury was? Jays opted to take a risky shortcut and it backfired. Yeah, let’s make the outfielder that needs his legs to cover ground back in 4-6 weeks after a torn meniscus. Verrrrry smart.
That’s the timeline for the surgery. You could be cautious with any injury and have them sit out longer than a medical professional suggests. I don’t see how using that timeframe is wrong though. I doubt any teams have guys sit out longer than they have to unless the team is well out or already has a playoff spot locked up.
It also wasn’t their decision to have Saunders have the surgery. They wanted him to have the meniscus repaired, he’s the one who had the final say though.
He was a 20/20 player in the early 2010s with the Mariners for a season but got banged up quite often. I still wish they would have let him build on his productive (when healthy) 2014 and use him on the 2015 roster, but it wasn’t meant to be. Always liked him though, even if his luck always seemed to be lacking on the injury front. Keeping him in the corner OF was always the better option for him in his prime, but it’s the only place he should be playing now. Hope he can mash in Coors if given the opportunity.
I’m 46 haven’t played ball since 14 but I’m ready to sign.
Good luck, Condor.
Hi, we’re the Rockies and we hate Raimel Tapia.
y can’t we just for once sign somebody that ain’t washed up? All we do is sign old 35+ year old dudes that it seems like the only place in the world they have a change to still play is in Coors ? lets go get mike trout next year !!!!!!!!!