Blue Jays Acquire Jesus Sanchez

[L54]

 

[Brownie19]

Interesting.  Steamers projects him to be a 110 wRC+ bat.  I hope they're right!

Underlying metrics have always been strong.  Especially 2023 and 2024.

[Laika]

okay lol

ZiPS thinks the talent is a push but every other system does not like Loperfido 

now someone needs to get optioned 

[L54]

7 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Interesting.  Steamers projects him to be a 110 wRC+ bat.  I hope they're right!

Underlying metrics have always been strong.  Especially 2023 and 2024.

Ive always sort of liked him since his days in Miami and you’re right the expected stats are fairly strong.  I would think he’s going to see a lot of AB’s in the two hole to start

Temu Kyle Tucker 

[glory]

I’ve always thought Sanchez was a tweak away from being a really good offensive player. Bat speed for days and hits the ball hard. I like it as a bit of a project for Popkins. Also comes with 2027 control which is a plus, so if the only thing it cost was Loperfido, then seems like a solid deal to me. 

[Orgfiller]

Jesus Sanchez is lefty Teoscar Hernández with worse contact quality and not quite as fast. Crazy raw power, bad plate discipline, generally low IQ player with the tools to be a good defender but isn’t.

The story of his career has been if he can get to the power often enough. If he traded a number of GBs for FBs he would probably be really good.

[jaysblue]

Really nice pickup.

Trading for Sanchez is a smart floor move after the Santander injury.

He’s a decent MLB outfielder with power/speed and everyday experience, which prevents the Jays from relying too heavily on fringe depth. He's not a Kyle Tucker type of addition, but he stabilizes the lineup and protects the roster.

[mphenhef]

I don't mind the pickup but I can't help but feel a lefty mashing outfielder would have been a better fit.

 

It's important to note, this also costs about 14 million dollars with taxes.

[Dr. Dinger]

Not sure why the Astros would make this trade, but okay. 

[Orgfiller]

1 minute ago, Dr. Dinger said:

Not sure why the Astros would make this trade, but okay. 

It might save them some money, and they might have still liked Loperfido from back when they traded him to us.

[Laika]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Dinger said:

Not sure why the Astros would make this trade, but okay. 

what, you don't like an OF of Zach Cole, Jake Meyers, Cam Smith, and Joey Loperfido?

[glory]

So the Kikuchi trade is now Sanchez, Valenzuela, and Bloss. I actually think it looks better now than it did at the time.

[jaysblue]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Dinger said:

Not sure why the Astros would make this trade, but okay. 

Years of control probably. 

[jaysblue]

2 minutes ago, Laika said:

what, you don't like an OF of Zach Cole, Jake Meyers, Cam Smith, and Joey Loperfido?

Altuve plays outfield for them now, and they have Yordan who likely occupies another corner spot.

Meyers isn't anything flashy, but posted a 2.3 WAR last season and a 107 wRC+ as their CF.

Cole, Smith and Loperfido are fine depth options. 

[Brownie19]

15 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

I don't mind the pickup but I can't help but feel a lefty mashing outfielder would have been a better fit.

[Laika]

12 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Altuve plays outfield for them now, and they have Yordan who likely occupies another corner spot.

Meyers isn't anything flashy, but posted a 2.3 WAR last season and a 107 wRC+ as their CF.

Cole, Smith and Loperfido are fine depth options. 

Yordan DH 
they said Altuve will mostly be a 2B this year

[Jays24]

A rare "white guy for a non white guy" trade by the front office lol.

[mphenhef]

11 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I'm not sure what's confusing about that.  The likely starting outfielders on this team are all left handed (Barger, Lukes, Varsho).   Acquiring Sanchez, who has big platoon numbers, moves one of them out of the lineup, which I guess is fine for Lukes.  However, It would have been a better fit to have a right handed hitting corner outfield who hits lefties better than righties in order to have better options than Schneider and Straw to replace them.  I suppose this allows Barger to shift back to 3B against tough righties, but the player you want to remove in that case is likely Ernie and who do you put at 2B?

[jaysblue]

6 minutes ago, Laika said:

Yordan DH 
they said Altuve will mostly be a 2B this year

Ah okay. Thought Paredes was going to DH or play 2B. Wonder where he plays now.

 

[John_Havok]

6.8 arb contract, which means just over 14 million cost to the Jays. 

[Brownie19]

20 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

I'm not sure what's confusing about that.  The likely starting outfielders on this team are all left handed (Barger, Lukes, Varsho).   Acquiring Sanchez, who has big platoon numbers, moves one of them out of the lineup, which I guess is fine for Lukes.  However, It would have been a better fit to have a right handed hitting corner outfield who hits lefties better than righties in order to have better options than Schneider and Straw to replace them.  I suppose this allows Barger to shift back to 3B against tough righties, but the player you want to remove in that case is likely Ernie and who do you put at 2B?

Sorry - I misread your post - it's been a long week.  I read lefty mashing as a LH hitting masher.  

I agree with you.  An Austin Hays type would be a better fit.  Perhaps Atkins read sliderguy's breakdown on Lukes and figured that's the spot we need to upgrade...I also suspect they like the "upside potential" that Sanchez brings.

[rydermike]

Have faith everyone. We have our outfield saviour. I believe in Jesus. 

[Olerud363.354]

1 hour ago, Orgfiller said:

bad plate discipline

I would say more averigish, slightly below average but not truly awful.  His chanse percentage is 33rd percentile, and walk rate 50th percentile.  Seems slightly below average with average outcome (like he chases a bit more than average, but perhaps goes into deeps accounts so walks at an average rate).  

Ground ball percentage is 48%, to Teoscar 41%.  BB % about 8% to Teoscar 6%.

Biggest problem seems the ground balls.  Maybe there is a tweak there. 

[The_DH]

I had high hopes for Loperfido.  If Pops and crew can do something for Sanchez then all the better.  I guess he competes with Lukes for the  LF position.

[Olerud363.354]

2 minutes ago, rydermike said:

Have faith everyone. We have our outfield saviour. I believe in Jesus. 

Yesterday I mentioned there was more of a chance of Jesus appearing in 2026 then Santander or Eloy Jiminez.   Strange that it happened but not the way I was speculating. 

[Spanky__99]

I believe in Boss Atkins! 😜

[Laika]

Boring move but it raises the floor and the ceiling a bit. 

It mostly bumps Lukes to the bench which is a lateral move on paper given some projections, but Lukes has big error bars on his projections and they might mostly point down given his age and profile. Like, he's not going to hit .300 and be a 3 win LF. 

Sanchez has 2000 MLB PA so his projections are way more solid. And he is younger with a more interesting profile under the hood, so the error bars on his projections might point up. He could be a 3 WAR slugger. Or he could be worth 2 WAR while platooning (probably the goal). 

You feel much better as a team if the Lukes platoon is your plan B and not your plan A. 

[Angrioter]

 

 

[The_DH]

This is the replacement for Santander.    Probably about right.

[Governator]

10 minutes ago, Angrioter said:

 

 

 

Even though that's a Coors Field special, that was a booooomb.