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Tuesday Bantering: Aaron Sanchez a starter?

By Tom Dakers
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Sanchez wants to be a starter this season. Not really a surprise, since he looks to be either a starter or a middle reliever, I'd much rather be a starter too, if only for the salary implications. Starters earn a lot more money than relievers, and if you aren't a closer, there is an lower ceiling on earnings.

Apparently Sanchez has been working hard to build up to the extra stress of being a starter:

It does seem like baseball thinks starters have to be bigger and stronger than relievers, I guess that makes some sense.

Putting on 25 pounds of, presumably, muscle, in two months, wouldn't be easy at all. I mean, I'm pretty sure I put on 25 pounds in late December, but little of it would help me to make 32 starts next season.

John Tory sent out a tweet that has a picture of Sanchez, but it is tough to tell is he's that much more muscular:

He does look a little bigger.

I really think it's quite a long shot that he makes the rotation. Gibbons seems to like him in the pen, and I think the team would like to give Drew Hutchison every chance to show he could be a good starter. But I think Sanchez could make a good starter. I think it is good for the team that he comes into camp looking to compete for a starters job. Competition is good. And depth is good too.

In other news:

Bob McCown tells us that Alex Anthopoulos could have become his co-host. I have a hard time believing that would happen. Alex didn't want to play second fiddle to Mark Shapiro, why would he want to be Bob McCowns whipping boy?

Buster Olney lists who he feels are the top ten MLB teams (subscription required). He lists the Jays as number ten:

They led the majors in runs scored last season and their lineup remains intact, and though they didn't retain David Price, they did manage to bolster the depth of their overall staff by hanging on to Marco Estrada, signing J.A. Happ and trading for Drew Storen, not to mention they expect to have Marcus Stroman all season. One possible pitfall: If the Jays need help during the year, they almost certainly will not make anything close to the sort of trades made last summer to augment another run at the playoffs.

I agree with all of that. I think they are a very good team, but, if they under perform, I can't see them making a bunch of deadline deals to improve the team. It doesn't seem like there are enough prospects in the system this year, to trade for a half dozen players at the end of July.

And Justin Upton signed with the Tigers yesterday. 6 years and $132.75 million. And, as always lately, there is an opt out clause, this one after the second season.

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