C.C. Sabathia just became the 17th pitcher ever to strike out 3,000 hitters. Not bad. I foresee a Hall of Fame debate in the future. He's got a pretty impressive 7 year peak and some 8 other seasons as an above average starter, and with his early start and long career his counting numbers can stand up to pretty well any other pitcher of his generation.

Vlad was swinging at bad pitches in that at-bat. He didn't see a strike but swung at four of the pitches.

Sogard can truly do no wrong.

Even when he makes an ill-advised throw, it turns into the Jays catching Mike Trout out on the bases.

Seems all Drury needed was for Vlad to kick him off third to get his bat going. Weird, but whatever works.

Almost time to buy a Drury jersey.

Really don’t like the bunting and pinch running Montoyo seems to love. There is a time for it but it’s being done way too frequently. Analytics department needs to have a sit down with the manager,

Agree about Montoya. He's much, much more "old school" than new.

In the first couple of AB's Vladdy had in his first mlb game, he got a couple of called strikes against him on low outside breaking balls that looked out of the zone. It seemed to get in his head a bit, and since then he has been swinging at a lot more pitches, many of them out of the zone. In his last couple of AB's today, he seemed to rediscover his vaunted patience, and drew a couple of walks.

Really don’t like the bunting and pinch running Montoyo seems to love.

I hope some of this is just your standard early season stuff where you show your players that it's something they will be called on to do, they need to know how, it's for the good of the team, we're all in this together. It's also possible that Montoya's looking around and thinking - this is a lousy offence, if we can scratch out a single run, let's try.

I hate sending in a pinch runner for a guy on first base, just on general principle. It's too easy to burn up a big chunk of your bench if the next guy hits a grounder to an infielder. I think you have to wait until he's in scoring position.

I don't really have a problem with bunting, unless down by several runs.
It's not like the team is full of .300 hitters.

It's great that Drury is forcing Brito/Hanson out of the lineup.

Canning looked pretty good. He's on a massive inning limit and he will probably get shut down early.
They could do something like that with Pearson.

I don't mind bunting or pinch running but only when it makes sense. You in a tie game in the 9th with runner at 2B and 0 out and a poor hitter up? Lay down that bunt. Runner at 3B with less than two outs tie game late innings and slow runner on base? Sure, punch run. Montoyo is bunting all the time and punch running with runners on first. I really hope this doesn't last.

I hope the pinch running for Vlad is related to "load management" or some other reason that involves not pushing him beyond 9 innings so early in the season. If Montoyo truly believes it increases their chances of scoring a run or winning a game, then that's a bad sign.

Vlad saw three strikes in his four at-bats yesterday. Hopefully his walks in his last two at-bats show he is adjusting.

Don't look now, but Drury's OPS+ of 88 is now in line with his career 91 (for what that's worth). He's striking out a third of the time, however, and that alone would seem to make a return to his 2016 level of output a Sisyphean task.

Still, it will be interesting to see where this recent power surge goes. Opposition pitchers are sure to start adjusting.

I really don't know where Drury levels off, currently his overall performance is fairly extreme and unpredictable at this point. His wrc+ and xwOBA are near his historical levels, but who he is getting there is anything but normal for him.

Right now, Drury is an exaggerated version of himself. He's walking less and striking out more. His isolated OBP is lower than usual (though not by much) and his isolated SLG is higher than usual.

To me, even a return to 2016 seems terribly optimistic. But we'll see. He's young and will be given chances.

I guess the hope would be that he can combine the new-found contact quality with at least the average-ish plate discipline he had in years past. However I am not sure that's possible as I think he is trading off for the power.

Drury seems to have improved his defense so he is probably around a 1.5 WAR player as is. Slight improvement and you're taking about a 2 win player. Hernandez defense seems to have improved enormously and he is walking much more which means if it holds and he can find his power stroke again,, you're talking about a very good player. Big Ifs there but the possibility is there now.

"However I am not sure that's possible as I think he is trading off for the power."

He showed little power with a horrific K rate early on. The past few weeks, the power has arrived, but that's also coincided with a drop in his K rate. Put that together with the steady infield defence he's shown, and all it means is he should be given every opportunity to play and see where it goes in a larger sample.

Drury's improved play is encouraging but I wonder if it's not best for all involved if the Jays can find a trade partner with an infield need (3B would be best) and maybe an outfield surplus of a young/near ready player.

Drury and Gurriel Jr. would be the two players that I would be most willing to move if I were the GM.  Targets: pitching (duh!) and a young true centerfielder with a balance of skills

Happy birthday, Marcus Stroman.  Perhaps the team can gift him a bunch of runs to work with tonight!

ESPN with a birthday present.

2 of 4 voters for April AL Cy Young:

Matz: Stroman hasn't allowed a home run yet and has been generally brilliant, so he gets my AL vote.

Passan: Cheers to Marcus Stroman, who in a season that could well see 7,000 home runs has spent an entire month without allowing one. His 1.43 ERA reflects that and illustrates how the not-definitively-but-definitely-kinda-maybe-probably-is-juiced ball penalizes pitchers.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26632891/the-biggest-mlb-winners-losers-april

Drury's batted ball profile looks very good, but the BB/K is really bad, even during his hot streak. If his defensive improvement is legit and he can get back to being around league average with the bat then he's a solid player (as mentioned, probably a 1-2 WAR type). If the power really takes off then he becomes a bit more interesting.

I'd be OK with trading him if he looks promising. He has three years of control left after this one, but the Jays have organizational needs far greater than infield (SP and OF in particular).

yeah gerry - vladdy's last 2 walks hopefully are him realizing that they're just throwing him junk. take the walks, kiddo, we can wait for the fireworks.

It would be interesting know how many scouts are at a Stroman start.

So, Sogard removed for "illness" and is day-to-day, according to one report.
That's somewhat good news - at the time I was worried he was injured. Or wondering if there was some ninja-trade in the works..

Such a conspiracy theorist! Sogard was nobody two weeks ago and today his physical state warrants quotes because it can't entirely be trusted!

We loves our SSS'es.

Reports said that he was vomiting and that he was given hydration.  That level of specificity is, in the case of baseball clubs, enough to soothe my skeptical soul.  No pictures required!

I only put "illness" in quotes, because that's all the article I found said, which I found a little strange.

Drury and Gurriel Jr. would be the two players that I would be most willing to move if I were the GM.

I definitely take your point - neither one of those guys has yet convinced me that he's a major league regular. On the other hand, both of them may be capable of playing passably at multiple spots on the field. Which seems awfully useful in the days of the 8 or 9 man bullpen.

That said, you probably don't need two of those guys.

You definitely don't need two of them and, based upon current usage, Biggio is similarly being groomed to be a super utility guy. What gives Drury some more wiggle room is that he appears to be at least average defensively in the INF and he may be better than that. Having both a RH and a LH super utility player on the roster really would give you some day to day match up advantage possibilities. Hard to do with a 25 man roster and 8 and 9 man pens but it will be easier next year.

I don't really see Drury and Gurriel as similar. There's a glove first guy who might be able to hit more and a bat first guy who might not be able to field anywhere.

Seeing Profar struggle at 2B makes me doubt Gurriel's ability to play there.

There's that 26th roster spot next year. I'd like to see a defensive specialist who can steal bases.
Part of the depth is to be able to manage injuries.

Stroman is throwing his slider more this year. It's been very effective.
That changes things. Right now a lot of scouts still see him as a mid rotation guy.

In the pre-show they discussed Pannone getting a start.
That's fine, but they need to replace him in the bullpen if they do that.
That only works for me once Richard is activated.

The Angels only have 2 decent starters. Not only we do the Jays face them both, but they had to activate their top prospect for the other spot. I think the Jays will fare better against Texas who only has Mike Minor and a bunch of meh.

Quantrill looked very good in his start tonight. Overthrew his fastball a bunch but his speed and change up were very good.

I'd definitely take him as one half of a return for Stroshow or straight up for Sanchez because of injury.

Sadly, it appears that John Lott's stepson, who was also a sportswriter, has died unexpectedly at the age of 48.

That's Jason Botchford, who covered hockey for the Vancouver newspapers and at The Athletic for the last year or so. I would have read his work when I was checking in on the Canucks. I didn't really do that on a regular basis, them being the Canucks and all. But I do remember seeing some interesting work, on a team I wasn't much interested in. And of course 48 is far, far too young.

A suggestion: if Mike Trout thinks he can advance to the next base... believe him. He's Mike Trout. Throw the ball somewhere else.

Finally have a moment to watch a Jays' game and a bit shocked at the mental errors still being committed by fringe players. Thought that was something that was supposed to be a focus of the team. Drury obviously has to go to first there on that ground ball. Double play was not on and wouldn't be even if he gets Trout given there would be two outs. That's a run there with Pujols sac fly. Grichuk's play in center was another one. That ball has to come in to second base. There's no play with his arm on the runner at third. Simmons advances and the Jays get lucky.

Vancouver has almost no sportswriters who will actually call out Canucks ownership or management (notwithstanding the never ending supply of material to do so) because of how narrow the sports reporting market is. Botchford is one of the few who would. It’s very sad.

The defence in that inning was a hot mess.

After a few games in a row of really quality ABs, Tellez has now had a couple of games of terrible ABs. The pendulum seems to swing particularly hard in his case.

A suggestion: if Mike Trout thinks he can advance to the next base... believe him. He's Mike Trout. Throw the ball somewhere else.

They got him out on the bases last night, though that probably wasn't all Trout's fault. Bour was really passive on that play.

Should have waited until after the game, instead of before, to have Stroman's birthday bash.

Discombobulation up and down the lineup, combined with Stroman really fighting the strike zone.

When the 3rd base coach held Calhoun on the fly to left, thought momentarily they didn't want to test Teoscar's arm, Then I realized it was going to be Trout vs Elvis with the bases loaded.

I'll give Elvis credit - Trout, Pujols, Simmons... not a bad test for a 19 year old!

The Angels are now 10-7 at home and 4-10 on the road.

Baltimore is 3-10 at home and 8-11 on the road.
They are not a fan pleasing team.

"Finally have a moment to watch a Jays' game and a bit shocked at the mental errors still being committed by fringe players. Thought that was something that was supposed to be a focus of the team."

Takes under a minute to check Fangraphs and see the team is much improved defensively, even if one can't be bothered to watch any Jays baseball till game #30.

And no, Drury does not obviously have to go to 1st on that play. With most runners you get the force at 2nd to prevent the runner being in scoring position. He misjudged the combination of Trout's speed and how sharply the ball was hit. Yeah if there's any chance he wouldn't get the lead runner, you get the sure out at 1st, but it's not as obvious as you make it seem.

Dan Szymborski knows projection systems. But he seems to be out of his element in other ways. He came up with this nugget in January:

"Toronto’s not that bad yet. But I think we’re a few months from the team dropping the pretense of contending-while-rebuilding, and even more aggressively shopping their veterans."

That was well after Atkins basically said there would be no pretense of contending this year.

Today at ESPN, in his "One quick fix for all 30 teams" here's his Blue Jays fix (behind a paywall):

"While I felt coming into 2019 that Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was playing over his head in 2018, it was a bit ridiculous to commit to him as the starter only to throw in the towel 30 games into the season. Bo Bichette is eventually coming and there's not a lot of point to letting Gurriel and Richard Urena beat up Triple-A pitchers while the team has a limited window to evaluate everyone in the majors. So let Gurriel play."

Uh, Dan, might help if you actually watched some Jays games.

"It's hard to cover all 30 teams, and for evaluating defence, you really have to look. A lot."

Baseball writers, if they don't watch, talk to people who do. Dan isn't some unpaid blogger. I cancelled my ESPN E+ renewal when I signed up for The Athletic. I think I made the right choice.

I think the less time we spend hoping/stressing over the likes of gurriel/teoscar/drury/hansen/brito the better.

The chances of them ever becoming important players for us are slim.

Teams are getting more reluctant to take HS pitchers with their top draft picks. Texas took 3 with their first 4 picks last year. 2 of the 3 are already getting TJ surgery.

Speaking of drafting HS pitchers, we took Travis Hosterman in the 11th round back in 2016. Gave him 400K (300K over slot). Pitched 18 innings that year and then seemed to disappear. Even about a month back he showed active on the Vancouver roster. Now shows released.

And as far as our meh players, yeah, it's stupid to stress. That said Edwin spent years as a yearly sub-2 WAR guy until his age 29 season. Similar for Jose. Smoak will never reach their heights, but his extension has provided far more value than the mocking posts thought it would at the time.

I guess there should be an approved list of players we should have any hope for whatsoever.

I wonder how long the rope is going to be for McKinney? He offers none of the positional flexibility of the likes of Gurriel and Drury. The defensive numbers are all over the map for him but I think he's going to have difficulty (although its not impossible) playing a corner OF position to a draw. He is a LH OF which makes him a unicorn in the Jays system - that probably saves him for a time. He might be more at risk of being swapped out for someone like Biggio (or Gurriel) than any of the other meh players.

Baltimore is 3-10 at home and 8-11 on the road. They are not a fan pleasing team.

you ain't kidding!

pic taken right before the first pitch.

Yeah, Nigel, I was just checking this morning how many options McKinney has - all 3 apparently.

pic taken right before the first pitch.

The night Chicago died indeed.

I like the chances of getting a league average (2 WARish) corner OF out of a Davis/Biggio platoon than I do of getting that out of McKinney (and, of course far more than out of Brito). Plus, Davis gives you more positional flexibility given he can play CF.

Brito's AAA numbers are full of reasonable hope, but it's hard to see how he is going to help the team in the immediate future. I'm not sure he's failed enough to get through waivers, but it would be nice to keep him in the organization.

I'm not sure I understand the eagerness of many to push Gurriel Jr. and Biggio down the defensive spectrum. Ultimately, we may not have room for everyone at 2B (Biggio, Gurriel Jr., Drury, Sogard, Travis), but I wouldn't assume we are going to have more than one guy from that group who is going to succeed as a hitter over a larger sample.

Where to put players on the defensive spectrum is an interesting question with this management team. One significant criticism that I have of this group is that they have unsuccessfully pushed players up the defensive spectrum at a significant cost to the team's defence over the past several seasons.

I'm not in any rush to see the FO push Gurriel or Biggio unnecessarily down the defensive spectrum, but I actually don't understand the FO's approach to those two players in particular. The FO seems bound and determined to make Gurriel a middle infielder. Yet the defensive data and the eye test at the major league level suggest that's misguided. I can't remember many if any prospect evaluators who felt that Gurriel had a future as a middle infielder either. I watched Biggio for a full season in Vancouver, albeit several seasons ago. The eye test suggested that he was about average defensively (not great range or arm strength but good hands, good quickness and an accurate arm). The minor league defensive metrics (I know about their limitations) suggest something similar for Biggio. I don't know if Biggio would be an adequate defender at 2B at the MLB level but I do feel quite confident he is a better defender at 2B than Gurriel. However, all the evidence suggests that the FO is pretty determined to make Biggio something other than a 2B. If it were me, I would try Gurriel in the OF and I would give Biggio a run at 2B in the majors. That appears to be the opposite of the current thinking in the FO. I would genuinely like to know what they see in both to lead them to that conclusion.

That's the way I feel about it, Nigel. 

Very cool what Noah Syndergaard did this afternoon. The complete game 1-0 shutout has become rare enough. But the one-run was his own homer. Last guy to win a game that way - like, all by himself - was Bob Welch in 1983.

Looking at BP's milb defense stats I'm interested to see that they mostly like Biggio's defense just fine (the only real bad year defensively was ironically in vancouver), while gurriel's has been subpar at most stops.

Sorta falls in line with what I was saying yesterday about the FO seeming to favor raw athleticism over actual defensive skill and/or performance.

Day off from Vlad tonight.

I'm pretty confident on Gurriel as a hitter.
I don't think he can play 2B.

I'm pretty sure Biggio can be an average defender as 2B.
I'd like to see him get a few hundred ABs.
Maybe Travis gets in the mix. I think not.

Sogard is on a one year contract.
I don't think the magic will last there anyway.

I really don't know what to think about Drury, but I really don' t like Brito's swing.

Cool. I can go to be early.

Tellez is starting to show he can hold his own against left handers. His strikeout rate against lefties is actually lower than against righties now for the season, and that is a very encouraging sign.

Hernandez doing Hernandez things in the OF again. And really, Hansen has no business being in RF in the first place.

Agreed Nigel, and both hitters could have been thrown out, after the botched plays, but the Jays could not execute.

I know that the SSS defence stats suggest a sea change in Hernandez’s defence. I don’t see it. I still see the same number of botched plays (along with some good plays as he always has). But the eye test is often wrong.

having 26yr olds who can't hit or field all through the lineup might not be a recipe for success.

Hansen's one skill seems to be that he can misplay multiple positions.

Montoyo seems set on playing with all the toys at his disposal. I’m not sure that that is a good or a bad thing - it’s just a thing. But the FO has to adjust accordingly to their manager’s style. In this case, that means taking all the broken toys away from Montoyo before he’s tempted to use them.

Nigel, Teoscar has 4 assists already (only 3 OF's have more) and has used his speed to run down a couple of balls. UZR does have him as negative in the error department, as usual.

But that's what the FO wants. A team of interchangeable super-utes.

"I would try Gurriel in the OF and I would give Biggio a run at 2B in the majors. That appears to be the opposite of the current thinking in the FO. I would genuinely like to know what they see in both to lead them to that conclusion"

Exactly. It doesn't make sense to me at all. Gurriel is pretty obviously not a middle infielder, but he can hit. The team needs outfielders. Biggio's minor league numbers indicate he should be adequate at 2B. How much better would the team be right now if they replaced Brito and Hanson on the 25 man roster with Biggio and played him at 2B every day, and Gurriel and played him in the OF. In the case of Gurriel, you'd want to give him some games in the OF in Buffalo first. Each game, 2 of Hernandez, Tellez and McKinney are in the game at DH and 1 OF position. You can spot Drury, Sogard in from time to time. I think that's a decent lineup, especially once Vladdy makes the adjustments to the big leagues.

Hypobole-I’m aware of the assists. You often see assist leaderboards filled with poor defenders because teams run on them believing that the poor defenders won’t be able to make a play. Hernandez didn’t get an error tonight but it was deserved. However, as I said, the eye test is often wrong on OF defence.

Hernandez, Schwarber and Castellanos (three of the worst OFs in baseball last year) all finished in the top 10 in the MLB in assists in 2018.

There's another ball that Hernandez should/could have caught.

I'm not saying Hernandez is a good outfielder - he isn't. But he does have a legit good arm and has made accurate throws to cut down runners this year. And he has had longer stretches of not screwing up this year than last year, although tonight he's been bad again.

Hernandez' defense makes me think of George Bell way back when. He was fast early on and had a good arm (few noticed thanks to Barfield) but as time went by his speed went down and his arm was too well known by teams for that to save him anymore on defense. I suspect we are going to see the same here. In 2020 I suspect Tellez will move to first with Hernandez at DH with a few games in the OF here and there (maybe 20-40 games).

Will Teoscar freak out about moving to DH like Bell did? That would be fun. Kiss my purple butt.

Two solid hits by Rowdy vs a tough lefty. Pretty good.

Don't think Teoscar is a good enough hitter to DH. Twins got Cron after a 123 OPS+ season off the waiver wire.

Hansen needs to go. I'm OK with some people to plug holes but Montoyo just can't stop giving Hansen PAs and it's a waste. Call up Biggio, recall Gurriel, recall a pitcher and just don't sit the other guys so much. I don't care. I'd much rather watch McKinney struggle or Biggio take his lumps than watch Hansen being given regular PAs.

Guerrero and Bichette are not going to move around.
Tellez can only field first base.
They want the backups to be regular who move around and hopefully no real DH.

The lineup of the future should shape up relatively fast.
The real question is still the rotation.

I wasn't expecting much in LA.
They should hit better in Texas.

Devil's advocate - maybe he's walking so many hitters because he doesn't trust his defence on balls in play.

(Yeah, not the wisest course of action. But it's early, and I haven't had coffeee since 1988)

Agree Mike. Sanchez is walking tons of guys and getting hit hard. Bad defense is not his issue. It seems like blaming he's his teammates.

That Sanchez quote is infuriating considering the amount of hard contact and walks he gives up. He hasn't been a good pitcher in his entire career aside from 2016 so I'm not sure where the entitlement comes from or why he feels he can throw his own teammates under the bus.

My wife is a dark chocolate addict, so there's always plenty of that around the house (bonus - it got me off milk chocolate, but I still treasure the occasional piece of white).

In the colder months I will sample dark beers with 'hints' of coffee. But now it's approaching weissbeer season, and my purchases will shift accordingly.

Two of the misplays were balls that hit the wall. Maybe they could have been caught but the ball HIT THE WALL. Plus the home run was on Sanchez.

I too felt that Sanchez showed a lack of self awareness.

As far as Sanchez, here's my feeling. Sanchez' 2 seamer was his primary weapon in 2016, I'm guessing one of the most effective pitches in baseball.

The ball was changed, with tighter, lower seams and he developed severe blister issues. Could his 2 seam grip with the new ball have caused the blistering? Played around with different grips to avoid the blistering, but also massively reduced the effectiveness of the pitch.

Add in the fact that 2 seamers in general are vanishing; they too often end up barreled with the launch angle changes hitters have made.

Sanchez is in the process of re-inventing himself, with the results so far being mediocre. The biggest thing in his favour is that he has a live arm with no history of injury issues.

Sanchez hasn't had a FIP or an xFIP lower than 4.50 since 2016 - sometimes its a duck.

The Sanchez quotes were quite shocking. I wonder if he thinks that he's about to be traded and therefore he's just going to say whatever is on his mind. It's just very rare for a pitcher (or any player) to call out his teammates while not using the word "We". This is Leadership 101. If the team sucks, you say "we suck", not "they suck". But Sanchez made sure to point out that he was not at all to blame: "I felt like I had good stuff all night. I went back and watched the game inside after I came out and I felt like I did everything I wanted to do.". Really???

I have no idea what goes on in the clubhouse, but Sanchez does not appear to be a leader on the pitching staff (Stroman does) and it will be interesting to see how his comments are perceived by others. Maybe it's not big deal (because it's mostly true), but it's just exceedingly rare to see a mediocre player like Sanchez call out his teammates.

Sanchez has always struck me as lazy. Literally hasn't made any improvements in any area since he was a prospect. Just a golden arm and nothing else.

Had his one good year after the off-season stroman finally motivated him to get his ass in shape.

I agree with the Sanchez doubters. In modern MLB, his K rate is well below average (for starters or relievers) and always has been. His impressive fastball speed doesn't stand out from a lot of other guys hitters see all the time, and except for one blip (2016), he's always walked way too many (worst in the league right now for >30 IP). His last walk-free appearance was in July 2016 (46 games ago), and he's had quite a few short outings since then. Free runners plus few free outs generally equals bad results.

I find the wildness the most frustrating because, at least when I watch, he seems to have no particular wildness issue like balls in the dirt, or a fastball that gets up too much. He just misses the zone all the time, everywhere, by a bit too much. fangraphs heatmaps (https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=11490&position=P) bear this out. He misses up 8.8% of the time, low 12.6% of the time, on his right 10.0% of the time, on his left 9.1% of the time. Contrast that with Yu DArvish, who is also walking everyone this year, but is doing it by missing low a lot more often.

Sanchez also had some quotes after his last game that could be perceived as shots at the previous coaching staff.

"To me, that's baseball. You're finally watching baseball being played the way baseball has always been played...it'll be fun for us to do some things that you haven't really seen done here in the past."

For a guy who has made 30 starts once in his career and can't pitch through some boo-boos, he sure has gotten chatty over the last week.

Sanchez was awfully effective as a reliever- with a much better walk rate.  I still believe that he could be.  Of course, he wants to be a starter and it's not as though the club has a bunch of better options.  At some point, if he's still walking 5.5 batters per 9, you've got to move him out of the rotation.  I am sure that they will give him more chances. 

Incidentally, Kaitlyn McGrath's article in the Athletic has comments both from Sanchez and from Charlie Montoyo.  The differences between the two were pretty notable, with Montoyo emphasizing Sanchez' difficulty yesterday in getting his off-speed stuff over the plate allowing the Angels to sit on the fastball. 

I think if he continues on this path and there are no takers at the deadline, then move him to the closer role in August (after trading Giles) and market him as a RP either in the winter or next trade deadline. Teams trade for SP's at the deadline who they anticipate making playoff starts for them. I can't imagine any contending team viewing Sanchez as that guy. Maybe Atlanta due to the AA connection, but that's it. As a RP, it likely boosts his performance, and puts the team in a much more favorable trade position since RP's are always in demand.

He was a bad starter even in the minors. Other than 2016 there has been no evidence to suggest he's better than what he's showing now. Maybe a misleadingly low ERA makes him movable, but teams all look at the same metrics now, and ERA probably isn't one of them, so unless teams view him as a reliable FIP beater, this story probably ends in not getting much back for him.

Sanchez hasn't been great as a starte but he's not going to the bullpen unless he wants too. As a starter, his career FIP/xFIP is around 4.40 and that's good enough to stay as a starter if that's what he wants.

If he keeps walking 5.5 per 9, he'll end up doing a lot worse than his career line. The career line includes 2016 which is rapidly receding into history. In some ways, that may be a good thing.

I find the wildness the most frustrating because, at least when I watch, he seems to have no particular wildness issue like balls in the dirt, or a fastball that gets up too much. He just misses the zone all the time, everywhere, by a bit too much. fangraphs heatmaps (https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=11490&position=P) bear this out. He misses up 8.8% of the time, low 12.6% of the time, on his right 10.0% of the time, on his left 9.1% of the time. Contrast that with Yu DArvish, who is also walking everyone this year, but is doing it by missing low a lot more often.

That's very interesting data. I've noticed that about Sanchez too. He walks a lot of guys yet somehow isn't what I'd call crazy wild. He just doesn't quite throw enough strikes. He's wild in a general way, not specific, which makes it seem less blatant. But the walks are real.
He's only had that one good year as a starter, and that includes his minor league career. He was really good as a reliever when he first debuted in the majors. That might ultimately be where he ends up.

Hansen DFA. Derek Law called up. Likely means Pannone or Gaviglio starts this weekend.

It's great to see this place still going strong. OK Blue Jays.