Blue Jays Sign Tony Sanchez To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays announced that they have signed former Pirates catcher Tony Sanchez to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Sanchez, who is represented by ACES, will compete for a backup role to Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin — a former Pirate himself. The 27-year-old Sanchez was selected fourth overall in the 2009 draft and saw time in parts of three big league seasons with the Bucs, batting a combined .259/.303/.378 with four homers in 155 plate appearances. Rated as one of baseball’s Top 100 prospects by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus in 2010-11, Sanchez’s bat stalled in the upper minors after he excelled at Class-A and Class-A Advanced. With parts of four seasons at Triple-A under his belt, the Boston College product has a .248/.342/.415 batting line at that level. He’s caught 22 percent of opposing base-stealers throughout his minor league tenure and 17 percent in the Majors. Baseball Prospectus, which keeps track of minor league framing numbers as well as Major League numbers, feels that Sanchez has been a generally above-average pitch-framer throughout his time at the Triple-A level.
Josh Thole currently projects to be Toronto’s backup catcher, and his familiarity with R.A. Dickey‘s knuckleball perhaps gives him a leg up in any competition that could form in Spring Training. Sanchez will add to a relatively thin depth chart behind the plate for the Blue Jays, however, who currently have A.J. Jimenez and veteran Humberto Quintero in camp as big league alternatives or options at Triple-A Buffalo.
Pirates Release Tony Sanchez
JAN. 13: The Pirates released Sanchez today, according to Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).
JAN. 6: The Pirates announced that catcher Tony Sanchez has been designated for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for right-hander Neftali Feliz, whose reported one-year, $3.9MM contract with the Bucs is now official.
Sanchez, formerly selected with the fourth overall pick in the June draft (2009), received just nine plate appearances in the Majors this past season and has only 155 Major League plate appearances under his belt. In that time, he’s compiled a .259/.303/.378 batting line with four homers. Sanchez has been about average in his 51 big league contests in the eyes of pitch-framing metrics, but he’s also struggled to control the running game, throwing out just 17 percent of attempted base-stealers (5 of 30). Those throwing struggles have also existed at Triple-A in recent years, though his bat at the top minor league level has been better, as he owns a .248/.342/.415 batting line at the Triple-A level across parts of four seasons.
The 27-year-old Sanchez will now be in limbo for up to 10 days as the Pirates explore trade options. Pittsburgh can elect to place him on outright waivers at any time in that window, at which point clubs throughout the league will have the ability to claim him, in the reverse order of last year’s standings.
NL Central Notes: Pena, Cardinals, Sanchez, Pirates
In a piece for The Players’ Tribune, Cardinals catcher Brayan Pena discusses his dramatic defection from Cuba as a 16-year-old and the emotions behind his return to his home country last year as part of a MLBPA goodwill tour with other Cuban players. Here’s some news from around the NL Central…
- The Cardinals should be punished beyond just a fine for the computer breach scandal involving the Astros’ player evaluation database, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan opines. Even a substantial fine might not be enough of a deterrent for a wealthy team like the Cards, so Passan believes that Major League Baseball needs to take away future draft picks, or funds from the Cardinals’ amateur draft or international signing pools.
- Tony Sanchez tells Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he wasn’t surprised when the Pirates designated him for assignment earlier this week. “I dug my own grave. When I started having throwing issues, I knew they lost trust in me. And if you can’t trust your catcher, you can’t play him,” Sanchez said. The catcher was the fourth overall pick of the 2009 draft but has yet to deliver on that promise in the majors; Sanchez has a .259/.303/.378 line over 155 plate appearances since 2013. As Sanchez noted, he also had trouble throwing out baserunners at the both the big league and Triple-A level.
- The signing of Neftali Feliz indicates that the Pirates still put a premium on hard-throwing arms, Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. The Bucs’ average fastball velocity has increased every season since Neal Huntington took over was GM, culminating in a league-leading 94mph average in 2015. Feliz is also another investment for the Pirates bullpen, as Sawchik notes that the club is projected to be spending about a quarter of its payroll (roughly $23.7MM) on five relievers.
Prospect Updates: Strasburg, Harper, Sanchez
Updates on some of baseball's best prospects;
- It's fair to expect intense negotiations between Stephen Strasburg, Scott Boras and the Washington Nationals this summer. In this Philadephia Inquirer article by Don McKee, Jered Weaver says his negotiations were too "frantic" back when he was a top college pitcher like Strasburg.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the D'Backs are creating so many new ways to lose that they could end up with a worse record than the Nationals and the chance to take Bryce Harper first overall next June.
- Dave Mackall of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Pirates first rounder Tony Sanchez is "not oblivious" to the critics who say the Pirates drafted him too early.
- Pedro Alvarez has been promoted to AA, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Steve Melewski of MASN.com reports that Mychal Givens was surprised when the Orioles drafted him. O's scouting director Joe Jordan says he'd be surprised if Givens signs soon.
Pirates To Sign Tony Sanchez
According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates agreed to terms with their first round pick, Tony Sanchez, on a signing bonus of about $2.5MM. The fourth overall selection caught during his career at Boston College. The Pirates agreed to choose Sanchez before Tuesday's draft began.
He will report to extended Spring Training before beginning to play at Class A West Virginia.
Pirates Draft Roundup
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked GM Neal Huntington if Tony Sanchez had more upside and talent than the other players available when the Pirates picked fourth. Here are a couple of points Huntington made in his reply to Kovacevic:
- "We did not take the player we felt had the highest upside on the board with the Sanchez selection, but we did select the player who was at the top of our board at the time."
- Huntington says upside isn't everything, pointing out that it's risky to draft high school pitchers.
- "If Stephen Strasburg or Dustin Ackley had slipped, we would have likely altered our approach to the draft and committed greater resources to either of them."
Instead, the Pirates plan to commit to a group of talented players, according to Pat Mitsch of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Huntington and his staff drafted 21 players who are demanding bonuses of $100k or more, and he expects to sign many by recruiting well and being "very aggressive."