The Blue Jays moved on from Jesús Sánchez on Friday, designating the outfielder for assignment and opening a roster spot for Rudy Martin Jr., whose promotion to the majors is now official.
Toronto brought Sánchez in from the Astros in an early-spring trade that sent Joey Loperfido back to Houston. Loperfido had originally been drafted by Houston and later landed with Toronto in the 2024 Yusei Kikuchi deal. He never got much of a chance in Toronto, and the same has been true in Houston.
Sánchez, who turns 29 next month, opened the year well enough, but his role has faded in recent months. The bat has still played against right-handers - he’s hit .276/.333/.448 in 267 plate appearances - but lefties have shut him down. In 32 plate appearances against them, he’s 4-for-30 with a double and three singles.
The glove has been a bigger problem. Sánchez has never been an elite outfield defender, though he came to Toronto with career numbers that were better than average in both corners.
His brief center field work with the Marlins earlier in his career didn’t go well, but that wasn’t the assignment here. What has hurt the Jays is that the defensive issues he showed late last season with Houston have carried over.
This year, Defensive Runs Saved has him at -10 and Outs Above Average at -8.
Put it all together and Sánchez has landed below replacement level at both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference. That’s a rough outcome for a player Toronto acquired with a $6.8MM salary already in place after he avoided arbitration last winter.
He still has another season of club control left, but if another team claimed him off waivers and kept him, he’d be due a raise to around $8MM. That seems unlikely given how this season has gone.
The more probable path is that Sánchez clears waivers and becomes a free agent. If that happens, any club could add him for the prorated league minimum for the rest of the season.
He would still be eligible for an arbitration raise based on this year’s salary, though, so an outright after the season would remain likely. Either way, Sánchez is probably headed for free agency this winter, with the real question being whether he lands a guaranteed deal or settles for a non-roster invite to spring training on a minor league contract.
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