BALTIMORE – The Toronto Blue Jays welcomed Aaron Sanchez back to the roster without bumping anyone from the rotation, which means they’ll continue rolling with six starters, at least for the time being.
“Right now it’s the status quo,” pitching coach Pete Walker said. “It’s where we’re at with the six guys. Obviously things can change, but right now we’ll keep it the same.”
The Blue Jays have yet to announce their rotation plans for their weekend series in Tampa Bay, but manager John Gibbons said Wednesday that he’ll reveal probable starters soon. If the Blue Jays keep their current rotation in order, Francisco Liriano, Marcus Stroman and R.A. Dickey would line up against the Rays.
In the meantime, Sanchez returns to the bullpen after a ten-day hiatus with Toronto’s Dunedin affiliate that was intended to give the 24-year-old a breather toward the end of his first full season as a starter. To keep Sanchez on his regular rhythm, the Blue Jays had hitters stand in against him during a simulated game.
“We tried to keep him on the same routine that he’s been on,” Walker said. “We treated that fifth day like a start even though he didn’t throw the number of pitches he’d normally throw in a major-league game, he treated the day the same.”
The Blue Jays haven’t said whether they intend to skip more of Sanchez’s starts in an attempt to weigh their short-term needs against the future health of a player who’s considered vital to the club’s long-term success. Walker described the balancing act as a “fluid situation” that will require constant discussions with the training staff and Sanchez himself.
With 30 games remaining, each member of the rotation now lines up for five more starts. If Sanchez were to pitch six innings per outing, he’d finish the season with 186.1 regular season innings. A few playoff starts would push him over 200 in that scenario, well beyond his previous career high of 133.1.
While the Blue Jays haven’t publicly set a limit on the right-hander’s workload, team president Mark Shapiro has definitively said Sanchez will not pitch 220 innings this year. Skipping another start would be one of the more straightforward ways of limiting his workload since the club has five other capable starters.
For now, Gibbons isn’t inclined to look too far beyond Sanchez’s return Wednesday. After all, there’s still another month left in the season.
“We’re not going to get carried away, I know that, but there’s no set date or (set of) numbers,” Gibbons said.
One possibility that can safely be ruled out? The bullpen.
“That ain’t happening,” Gibbons said. “He’s thrown too many innings to this point.”
When the season began, the Blue Jays planned to have Sanchez finish the season in the bullpen, like he did in 2014 and 2015. As the season progressed and Sanchez put together an All-Star year, the club’s decision makers changed course to get the most out of Sanchez.
It’s hard to argue with the results so far, as Sanchez’s 2.99 ERA ranks third in the American League, but some of the Blue Jays’ most difficult decisions still lie ahead.