John Gibbons confirms Aaron Sanchez will move to bullpen

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons confirmed that Aaron Sanchez will move to the bullpen in the near future.

It’s no secret that the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen is a mess. Their offense is great, almost as good as it was last year, and their starting rotation hasn’t missed a beat without David Price, but they’ve had lots of trouble closing out games this season. Currently, their relief pitching ranks 21st in the league, having amassed a collective record of 8-16 with a 4.15 ERA. They’re also 8th in the league with 10 blown saves.

Their bullpen needs a spark, and John Gibbons believes that Aaron Sanchez can provide it. He won a role in the starting rotation back in spring training, and currently has a 6-1 record with a 3.38 ERA.

But he’s on an innings limit, having spent the majority of his career as a relief pitcher, and Gibbons told ESPN’s Buster Olney that the plan was always to send Sanchez back to the bullpen:

"We’re still in discussion right now what that actual number is before we bump him to the ‘pen, but it’s gonna happen. For safety reasons, health reasons, he’s going to end up down there, but what that’s going to do is give us a real shot in the arm down there as well.That was the plan, if we were going to use him in the rotation there’s going to be a time this year that he’s got to go to the bullpen. He really hasn’t thrown a whole lot the last couple of years because we’ve been using him out of the bullpen."

Sanchez has only ever pitched 100 innings twice in his career, and two months into the season, he’s already at 85 1/3. However, his innings limit has hurt the Jays more than it’s helped them. In a recent start against the Detroit Tigers, Sanchez struck out 12 batters and carried a one-hitter into the ninth inning only to see the bullpen blow a 2-0 lead en route to a 3-2 extra innings loss. Any other starter wouldn’t have been pulled in that scenario heading into the ninth.

One would think that the Blue Jays have a plan when it comes to filling Sanchez’s spot in the starting rotation. But currently, their best in-house options are Drew Hutchison, Jesse Chavez, and Gavin Floyd, all of whom haven’t done enough to prove that they can replace Sanchez’s productivity. They could acquire an arm, but there aren’t many people willing to deal starting pitchers at the moment.

Even though he’s a great weapon out of the bullpen, Aaron Sanchez has done more than enough this season to prove that he belongs in the starting rotation. The Blue Jays would be better suited to keep him there and take off his innings limit, while they continue to improve their bullpen depth.

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