Painful Jesus Sanchez memories should be enough for Astros to ignore Blue Jays DFA

Once upon a time (known as the 80s for those of you not around back then), the First Lady of the United States was Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan led an anti-drug campaign with three simple words, "Just say no."

Those three simple words are all the Astros should be thinking about when they see the name Jesus Sanchez pop up on the waiver wire. Just. Say. No.

The Toronto Blue Jays designated Jesus Sanchez for assignment today, waiving the white flag on a failed trade that the Astros have apparently also waived the white flag on with their disinterest in recalling Joey Loperfido. Just like in Houston, Sanchez has fallen woefully short of expectation in Toronto as well.

While Sanchez' numbers for the full season don't appear to be terrible (.260 AVG .318 OBP .734 OPS), a closer look tells a different story. He has been terrible since June. Sanchez hit a paltry .229 in June, with a .288 OBP and .643 OPS. He finished June with 1 HR and 1 RBI. Yes, the entire month. Woof.

He then missed a month with an ankle sprain. He returned July 31. In the month of August, he hit a robust .220, adding 1 HR and 5 RBI. He scored 2 runs the whole month. In September, he is 2x11(.182).

Sanchez has been awful at the plate for months, but that is only half the problem. His defense is atrocious.

Last season in Houston, not only was Sanchez lost at the plate but he played the field like he never wore a glove before. Sanchez failed to make routine plays, misjudged fly balls into extra base hits, and showed no baseball IQ on his play.

This season for the Jays, Sanchez' defensive woes have continued. He is a -8 Outs Above Average. That is the second-worst OAA rating in the majors. He is a full blown liability in the outfield. For a guy who hasn't hit a lick in over 3 months, he's a butcher in the field. Now consider he has only started 71 games in the outfield to earn that hideous -8. Mega woof.

The Astros biggest issue is that they have a bunch of glove-first, weak-bat outfielders. The criticism of the Daulton Varsho trade was that they acquired another glove-first outfielder. Sanchez isn't even that. He's a weak-glove, weak-bat outfielder. Some might call that kind of player "useless" or "scrub" or "minor leaguer", but I won't say such harsh things about him.

Sanchez has only played 4 games in the outfield since August 19, when he lost one ball in the roof and another ball inthe lights at Tropicana Field. These were essentially the final straws for the Jays with a player who isn't hitting and can't field.

I will simply say this: the Astros should have absolutely no interest in Jesus Sanchez in any manner. In the memorable words of Jordan Belfort as portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the The Wolf of Wall Street: "Absolutely (flipping) not." He didn't say flipping.

Sanchez actually publicly lamented his time in Houston, complaining out the door that the Astros coaches were too focused on fixing his weaknesses instead of letting him use his natural swing. Sanchez hit .199 in Houston last season in 146 AB. His .611 OPS as a member of the Astros last season had him firmly in "Maldyville". However, being free to use his natural swing worked out so great for him in Toronto, it got him DFA'd.

I know Astros fans have wondered about why did the team trade to get Joey Loperfido back to bury him in the minors and not give him a call up when he has played well at Sugar Land. It seems like a wasted trade. At least Loperfido plays defense and runs the bases well. Sanchez does neither, and obviously costs a whole lot more.

This is an easy one, Astros. Just say no.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow