Aaron Sanchez won’t pitch again this season, as Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told reporters (including Mark Berman of KRIV Fox 26) that the right-hander is set to undergo shoulder surgery next week. The nature of the procedure or Sanchez’s recovery timeline isn’t yet known, as Luhnow said more details will be forthcoming after the surgery takes place.
Sanchez was already on the injured list (dating back to August 21) due to a sore right pectoral muscle, and though the severity of his shoulder problem isn’t yet established, it represents yet another troubling injury absence for the 27-year-old. Sanchez was plagued with a variety of blister, nail, and finger problems in 2017-18, and also missed over two months due to finger surgery in 2018.
These injuries derailed what was looking like a career on the rise, as Sanchez posted a league-best 3.00 ERA in 2016 for a Blue Jays team that reached the American League Championship Series. Since the end of that season, however, Sanchez has a 5.29 ERA, 7.4 K/9, and 1.54 K/BB rate over 272 1/3 innings for Toronto and Houston, as he has been unable to regain his past form even when healthy.
The Jays dealt Sanchez to the Astros as part of a four-player deal at the trade deadline, and the prevailing thought was that Sanchez could blossom with a change of scenery, particularly given how the Astros had proven to be adept at reviving pitchers’ careers or taking them to another level in recent years. This seemed like the case almost immediately, as Sanchez’s first start as an Astro saw him toss six hitless innings as part of a combined no-hitter.
After following that start up with another strong outing, however, Sanchez struggled over his next two starts, and his first season for Houston will finish with a 4.82 ERA, 7.7 K/9, and 1.78 K/BB rate over 18 2/3 innings. While it’s a small sample size, Sanchez’s home run problems (already an issue in Toronto) worsened, as he surrendered five homers over those 18 2/3 frames.
Sanchez as seen as a potential relief weapon out of the Astros’ pen in October (he excelled in a similar role during the 2015 Blue Jays’ postseason run). Since Sanchez is no longer an option, it adds another question mark to an increasingly troubled Astros relief corps as the club approaches the playoffs. Ryan Pressly, Collin McHugh, and Brad Peacock are all on the IL, while closer Roberto Osuna has been rather homer-prone himself. It remains to be seen how healthy and effective the relievers will be to back up the all-world starting quartet of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke, and Wade Miley.
Looking long-term, if the surgery require a long recovery period, Sanchez could even be in danger of being non-tendered by Houston in the offseason. He will be arbitration-eligible for a third and final time this winter, though he won’t carry a big price tag, after Sanchez made just under $1.271MM in 2019. With only a modest raise forthcoming, the Astros could decide to tender Sanchez a contract just to see what they can get from him next year, or perhaps work out a two-year extension to keep him into the fold for 2021 should Sanchez miss a large portion of the 2020 season.
maybe this means they arent guarenteed to win the WS…nevermind, that 1-2-3 rotatiom punch as as nasty as it gets.
They should easily advance to the World Series.
Sports history is littered with also-rans that should have easily advanced to the finals.
The 2001 Mariners would like to talk.
Glad that you have a crystal ball…..have you read about their bullpen and the issues they have there or are you discounting that because you expect all 3 starters to pitch only complete games?
That worked for the 05 White Sox
The Astros had the best rotation in the AL last year too and didn’t get past the ALCS
Wade Miley makes it a nasty 1-2-3-4
there not guaranteed to win it, still the AL favorite.
But if they get there or not I doubt Sanchez as much as I like the guy will have much to do with that.
was he even going to be on their playoff roster ?
It’s not a slam dunk for the Astros. The Yankees, Twinns, and Indians are no pushovers.
Oh-oh.
And they were saying how lopsided the trade was after it happened. Biagini hasnt been great either.. (Optimistic he’ll rebound) He does have one of the fastest spin rates.
Derek Fisher ain’t anything special
Jury’s still out on the whole trade. Depending on the severity of sanchez’s Shoulder injury he may get non tendered. Fisher was blocked and essentially useless in Houston so they won’t miss him. He could turn into a player in Toronto. Depends if the hit tool ever gets to an acceptable level at the big league level.
Fisher was blocked because he wasn’t any good and couldn’t beat out the other guys in front of him. Astros are still winners of this trade getting 2 MLB pitchers and a lower level prospect with a higher ceiling then ‘fly ball off the face’ Fisher.
Kyle tucker is currently blocked. Are you going to tell me he isn’t any good either? Fisher hasn’t shown much but the deal is far from the point where you can give it a final grade. Considering Houston has gotten little to nothing from Biagini. And sanchez’s season and possibly tenure in Houston is over. They haven’t gotten a whole hell of a lot from that trade themselves at this point.
I’d agree that Houston had no use for fisher, as I previously stated but that doesn’t mean you can go crown them the victor of the trade after a month. A month where you got one good start from Sanchez to go along w 3 clunkers and Biagini has not looked good.
Sorry 2 and 2. He did pitch 5 serviceable innings against Baltimore. On the day Houston scored 23 runs and had 8 on the board in the second inning. So, you know read into that what you’d like. That’s your issue right there w grading a trade after a month.
It was bad or mediocre players for a mediocre prospect. Anyone who tried to say it was anything else were just acting like sheep.
Or to put it even more precisely — the Astros and Blue Jays traded their problems for the second straight year (Osuna – Giles).
we will look back on this trade in 5 years an say why the bleep did we care so much. biagini will prolly be gone , Sanchez won’t be much a starter for a couple more years now an it’ll prolly be a reliever after that. an Fisher will prolly be a 4th outfielder or gone. We will all say wow , we made a big deal out of basically nothing
That’s what Bluejays fans do. Dwight Smith, Travis Bergen, even Javy Guerra had people up in arms this year alone. I swear people over value their own players way too much.
Blue Jays fans should question it, or have an opinion. Blue Jays needed a starter next year and possibly a bullpen arm if they trade Giles. They did not need a 4th outfielder. Derek Fisher has been awful (so far). As for the aforementioned players you cited, the decision-making on who was roster’ed on the 40-man would make fans question it. Why is that wrong?
This guy is a good pitcher but always hurt this isn’t a surprise . However they have verlander , Cole , grienke and Miley , the rotation is still pretty darn good
if a 5-14 records is enough to be a good pitcher, 6-14 would be a great pitcher o_O
too bad he couldn’t squeak out that extra win to lock in the cy young award.
Sanchez hasn’t been a good pitcher for a number of years now. His average FB velo has declined every season down to 93.6. His WOBA over the last 3 years has been around .350 with no real sign of improvement. He also hasn’t generated nearly as many GB’s as he did in his heyday for Toronto. The guy has been a “has been” for a few years now. He tossed that 6 inning no hitter in Houston and I guess the hype train came back but he really shouldn’t be starting. Maybe there’s hope he can get that fastball to tick up out of the pen and start generating a ton of GB’s again. But in any case, he hasn’t been good for awhile.
Sanchez is to the Blue Jays as Matt Harvey is to the Mets.
So much promise, so much injuries.
Sanchez hasn’t been good since 2017 so that’s two years ago.
although using win loss record to determine if a pitcher was good or not would be crazy.
On the other hand, if a pitcher loses a lot of games and wins only a few you can probably bet your paycheck “he is not good.”
Sanchez was definitely not good in 2017.
I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as everyone thinks. If I remember correctly, the Yankees have whipped up on that untouchable pitching staff this year. Looked pretty touchable and run susceptible against a good hitting team. Yankees have a winning record against them as well. Just saying.
The Astros took the series 4-3 out scoring them 39-27… that was while having Springer, Altuve, Correa, and Diaz on IL for 4 games in NY. Yankees faced Valdez, Miley, Peacock for 3 wins. Verlander (x2), Cole, and McHugh for the loses.
Oh, and do you want to talk about how many players the Yankees had on the IL both offensively or pitching wise, or isn’t that directly related to your comment?
Stop it already.
he did come out an say their record is better , and that’s false.
That’s a bad look if your actually trying to argue something haha.
But yea the Yankees have had a huge amount of injuries
Someone else will have to shoulder through those innings. He wasn’t going to be starting in the postseason anyway, though.
Wonder if he’ll get a contract this winter from them.
I’d think so we’re is his arb price at?
Perhaps Aaron Sanchez should try cooking. I bet he would make an awesome chef.
Would he be a Master Chef though?
Mark I think your arb number is wrong. That number you quoted might be close to what the Astros are paying him this year but his arb number was just under 4MM this year. He’s going to be looking at a deal in the vicinity of 6MM if they chose to tender him a deal.
And why would he get a
2 million dollar raise
with his terrible output?
Something is wrong
with that system!
@Boo Rad
How many Yankees were (and are) on the IL. Please!!!!!!
Uh huh
Sanchez is making $3.9mm! I’m guessing you’re just looking at his cost to the Astros.
According to Baseball Reference, Sanchez made
3.9 million dollars this year!