In this regular Sportsnet.ca feature, Blue Jays talk host Scott MacArthur answers some frequently-asked Blue Jays questions.
Today, baseball is reeling with the sudden death of Los Angeles Angels left-hander Tyler Skaggs, who was found unresponsive in his Dallas-area hotel room on Monday afternoon.
I never met Tyler but of course, through this industry, I know people who covered him and in one instance, a friend of mine who not only covered him but got to know him.
Taylor Ward has been on the Angels beat for a number of years; I reached out to him on Monday afternoon to express my condolences on the chance he’d become friendly with Tyler.
I learned quickly of the mutual respect between the two; Taylor relayed to me the story of how Tyler called him in January on the day after Taylor’s mother died. The two spoke for two hours.
How many players would do that for a member of the media? My guess is not many. Tyler was one.
May Tyler Skaggs rest in peace.
These days in Blue Jays Land the vibe feels more positive. Nobody is fooling themselves about the reality of the situation but it’d be nice, at least, to play the second half at a pace which avoids a triple-digit-loss season.
One is hopeful the eventual return from injury of Ryan Borucki and the impending call up of Bo Bichette inject some more youthful life into this group, but will it be enough to offset the trades of quality players like Ken Giles and Marcus Stroman? As I like to say, only time will tell.
Onward with this week’s most popular questions on Blue Jays Talk:
Q. Can the Blue Jays send Aaron Sanchez to Buffalo to figure things out?
A. The plain answer is yes they can. Sanchez has yet to accrue the five years of major league service time required to be able to decline a demotion to the minor leagues. This is doable logistically.
The question I have is, should they?
Look, June was a complete disaster. Sanchez took the losing decision in all six of his starts last month, posting a 12.00 ERA thanks to his 36 earned runs allowed in 27 innings pitched. The decline has been precipitous, so much so we forget that at the end of April he’d accrued three wins and had a 2.32 ERA. There were red flags owing to his 20 walks in the season’s first month but nobody could have predicted what’s happened since.
Sanchez insists he’s healthy and so, without verifiable evidence to the contrary, we’ll take him at his word.
This rotation already features Clayton Richard, who outside of his start against the Royals is doing his best with what he’s got, and another guy who, at the moment, happens to be Sean Reid-Foley. This is already 40-per cent patchwork and with a Stroman trade likely coming down within a month, it could be more so.
I advocate for letting Sanchez figure it out.
As for a move to the bullpen? Would Sanchez and his agent, Scott Boras, be agreeable? A year-and-a-half to free agency, Sanchez is still trying to maximize his value; granted, right now, each time he takes the mound he loses future earnings. There is still time for a correction, however.
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Q. Who’s got more value at the trade deadline, Eric Sogard or Justin Smoak?
A. Sogard.
I mean, Smoak recently came off the injured list with a quad problem and while he’s still got pop, he’s limited to one position (two in the American League, counting the designated hitter), and while he gets on base plenty often via the walk he doesn’t move around the bases very well.
Sogard, in my mind, is a prototypical National League player in the chase for a pennant. NL rules require the pitcher to hit, which means there’s a greater need for pinch-hitters and double switches late in ball games. Sogard can come off the bench, something he’s done in the past, and any team would be comfortable with him manning a position in the extra innings of a playoff game. Heck, if Sogard is on a heater, which he has been for most of his time in Toronto, any team should be happy to have him in their starting lineup.
Don’t expect much of a return if Sogard is dealt — it’ll be a take-a-flier-on-a-guy kind of prospect — but it makes sense to move him because he won’t be here whenever it is this team gets good again and his limited value, I can’t imagine, will ever be higher.
