Blue Jays Acquire Jesus Sanchez

[mphenhef]

1 hour ago, Olerud363.354 said:

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. 

I was just trying to remember if the talk of betting on the return of Jesus was here or somewhere else lol.

[sliderguy35]

great move, it's pretty clear now that the FO sees lukes as an injury replacement / 5th outfielder considering they just traded for his direct replacement on the roster. my guess is that the astros wanted loperfido b/c he can at least moonlight in center and be a strong side option if they want to platoon jake meyers.

i'll ride for most guys with a double digit barrel rate but i like that sanchez was able to post his lowest chase rate / highest contact rate / lowest groundball rate across a full season of ABs while actually increasing his bat speed slightly last year.

he was also catching the ball out front farther than he ever had previously and improved his attack direction to the pull side for the first time in his career (opposite field attack directions heavily correlate with GB%), so theres reason to believe he might cut that GB rate even further. 

its kind of shocking how similar a player he is to barger when you look at it lol

[Brownie19]

6 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

great move, it's pretty clear now that the FO sees lukes as an injury replacement / 5th outfielder considering they just traded for his direct replacement on the roster. my guess is that the astros wanted loperfido b/c he can at least moonlight in center and be a strong side option if they want to platoon jake meyers.

i'll ride for most guys with a double digit barrel rate but i like that sanchez was able to post his lowest chase rate / highest contact rate / lowest groundball rate across a full season of ABs while actually increasing his bat speed slightly last year.

he was also catching the ball out front farther than he ever had previously and improved his attack direction to the pull side for the first time in his career (opposite field attack directions heavily correlate with GB%), so theres reason to believe he might cut that GB rate even further. 

its kind of shocking how similar a player he is to barger when you look at it lol

[keggy]

Not a bad trade from a baseball perspective. The most valuable thing we lost was flexibility from Loperfido's option as this creates an immediate roster crunch. This makes it likely that one of Lukes/Schneider are not on the opening day roster, or we part ways with one of Straw/Jimenez.

[Joltin Joe]

Always good to have Jesus on your team. 

 

Hate to lose Joey though. I thought he would be a good one

[jerb]

 

[BringBackTheODog]

Solid floor raising move. I've always liked Sanchez's profile and aside from ideally adding a righty masher, he fits to a tee. I just don't see any way Lukes is on the roster opening day, barring injury. 

[Pendleton]

The Kikuchi trade tree now overlaps with itself like a family tree down south 

[Vancouverite]

1 hour ago, keggy said:

Not a bad trade from a baseball perspective. The most valuable thing we lost was flexibility from Loperfido's option as this creates an immediate roster crunch. This makes it likely that one of Lukes/Schneider are not on the opening day roster, or we part ways with one of Straw/Jimenez.

If the goal is too have flexibility and have a 26 man roster that you can plug and play for match up purposes i dont see how you can carry Schneider, Lukas and Straw on the bench and not Jimenez.

Gimenez and Clement are our only SS options and Clement is our starting 2B. Only other guy that can play MIF is Davis and thats 2B.

I think we'd have better flexibility to keep Jimenez so vs LHP he can play SS or 2B and get another righty bat. Too many lefties right now in Varsho, Barger, Lukes, Gimenez, Sanchez and none of them are good vs LHP

 

 

[BringBackTheODog]

Cupboard is bare. Willing to risk being flamed... Rengifo, Lukes packaged for Jojo. Sign Scherzer. Leo next guy up and into the season we go. 

[Spanky__99]

Just now, BringBackTheODog said:

Cupboard is bare. Willing to risk being flamed... Rengifo, Lukes packaged for Jojo. Sign Scherzer. Leo next guy up and into the season we go. 

Leo's out of options I believe? He's making the club. I see the Babe being optioned to be honest, we'll see how the Spring plays out.

 

[GoBlue41]

Hoping this turns out to be one of those so called "sneaky good pickups" that we have seen through the years. Houston may have given up on him too soon and a change of scenery could be all that was needed. We will see!! 

[BTS]

 

Sanchez has a career 111 wRC+ vs RHP and 41 wRC+ vs LHP. This should basically be a straight platoon with Schneider, with Lukes as the 4th OF. 

 

 

[glory]

I think we will definitely see a Sanchez/DS platoon in LF, but curious to see what they plan to do with Gimenez. He should probably be platooned as well, but can't do that if the only remaining non catching bench options are Lukes and Straw. I could see Lukes being traded and a utility IF that can hit LHP being signed (assuming they have money left and/or they don't want to give the spot to Jimenez).

[Orgfiller]

17 minutes ago, glory said:

I think we will definitely see a Sanchez/DS platoon in LF, but curious to see what they plan to do with Gimenez. He should probably be platooned as well, but can't do that if the only remaining non catching bench options are Lukes and Straw. I could see Lukes being traded and a utility IF that can hit LHP being signed (assuming they have money left and/or they don't want to give the spot to Jimenez).

It really depends on how viable they see Schneider playing 2B. The World Series showed they would literally play the worst hitter in the league over him, so not seeing this as likely. Clement, Gimenez, Barger, Okamoto give us enough flexibility where you can shuffle guys around as the game goes on, but having 3 full-time OF on the bench is interesting.

[Abomination]

Really not a fan of this trade, but I guess we'll see how things actually shake out. I'm guessing this has more to do with adding some pop off the bench.

[Jonn]

4 minutes ago, Abomination said:

Really not a fan of this trade, but I guess we'll see how things actually shake out. I'm guessing this has more to do with adding some pop off the bench.

Sounds like the plan is to play him everyday against RHP.

[keggy]

4 hours ago, Vancouverite said:

If the goal is too have flexibility and have a 26 man roster that you can plug and play for match up purposes i dont see how you can carry Schneider, Lukas and Straw on the bench and not Jimenez.

Gimenez and Clement are our only SS options and Clement is our starting 2B. Only other guy that can play MIF is Davis and thats 2B.

I think we'd have better flexibility to keep Jimenez so vs LHP he can play SS or 2B and get another righty bat. Too many lefties right now in Varsho, Barger, Lukes, Gimenez, Sanchez and none of them are good vs LHP

 

 

Odd man out is very likely to be Lukes.

You want a your backup infielder to handle shortstop like Jiminez and be a defensive replacement option especially if Okamoto turns out to be a poor defender. We need Schneider to prevent our platoon bats from getting exposed against LHP. And Straw is literally one of the best baserunners and defenders in baseball.

It's a tough pill for Lukes who had a better year than Sanchez but has options

[The_DH]

Any idea if Straw could be a realistic backup in the infield?

[43211234]

39 minutes ago, The_DH said:

Any idea if Straw could be a realistic backup in the infield?

No chance

[glory]

4 hours ago, Orgfiller said:

It really depends on how viable they see Schneider playing 2B. The World Series showed they would literally play the worst hitter in the league over him, so not seeing this as likely. Clement, Gimenez, Barger, Okamoto give us enough flexibility where you can shuffle guys around as the game goes on, but having 3 full-time OF on the bench is interesting.

Yeah I don't think they view DS as a 2B anymore. Seems like he's purely a platoon LF in their eyes. The team doesn't have any middle infield depth on the 40 man except for Clement, Gimenez, and Jimenez (who may be on the outside looking in depending on what the team decides to do with Lukes). It's a strange roster construction at the moment, but wouldn't surprise me if Lukes is on the way out.

Atkins has traded Horwitz, Wagner, and Roden in the last 12 months, so the "white dudes who make contact"  phase might be over. Lukes could be the next casualty. 

[Brownie19]

Nice to have Lukes as depth.  We know how unpredictable baseball can be.

[Angrioter]

13 hours ago, BTS said:

 

Sanchez has a career 111 wRC+ vs RHP and 41 wRC+ vs LHP. This should basically be a straight platoon with Schneider, with Lukes as the 4th OF. 

 

 

Lukes versus Straw battle for a spot as an 4th OF.

 

Sanchez + DS platton could be really good.... 110 - 115 wRC+

[Spanky__99]

21 minutes ago, Angrioter said:

Lukes versus Straw battle for a spot as an 4th OF.

 

Sanchez + DS platton could be really good.... 110 - 115 wRC+

Straw's out of options Ang, no battle friendo.

[jaysblue]

19 hours ago, Joltin Joe said:

Always good to have Jesus on your team. 

 

Hate to lose Joey though. I thought he would be a good one

Jesus turned water into wine. Joey hasn't even done anything close to that. 

[jaysblue]

Yeah if Lukes still has options, makes the most sense to start him in the minors. 

The Jays need DS to platoon with Jesus Sanchez. Straw is your 4th outfielder, defensive replacement and pinch runner. Leo Jimenez is your backup infielder who can cover 2B/SS/3B. Heineman backup catcher. 

There really isn't any room for Lukes now, unless there is an injury somewhere from now till Opening Day. 

[Laika]

I think they can DFA Straw and outright him though. Nobody is claiming his salary 

[JaysForever]

I think Lukes is gone.

They need a middle inflielder who bats right. That could be Jimenez right now who is out of options, or someone they grab through a trade.

If Jimenez can somehow platoon with Giminenz at SS, that would be great. But he has not shown anything yet at the MLB to make me think that with any certainty.

The Jays also have alot of fringe mlb outfielders who could make a jump this year or next. So I do not think they will have any inclination to hold onto Lukes. It is probably the time to cash in.

Arias, Pinango, Schreck are all LH outfielders.

 

 

 

 

[JaysForever]

5 hours ago, Angrioter said:

Lukes versus Straw battle for a spot as an 4th OF.

 

Sanchez + DS platton could be really good.... 110 - 115 wRC+

I was wondering if DS was going to make the team for sure. Now with Sanchez, DS is cemented as a platoon LF and is not going anywhere.

[Terminator]

They could just option Lukes and platoon Sanchez/Straw and Barger/Schneider and then put Jimenez on the bench

Sucks for Lukes but doesn’t hurt to have the depth