Sanchez sent Down

by craig on May 5, 2007 8:28 AM EDT in News and Rumors

As most of you know the Marlins optioned Anibal Sanchez to Triple-A.

Florida Marlins right-hander Anibal Sanchez was optioned Friday to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he'll try to rediscover the form that helped him throw a no-hitter as a rookie last year.

Sanchez has allowed 43 hits and 19 walks in 30 innings this season. He's 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA in six starts.

"We felt as an organization that he needed to go down and get some things straightened out," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It's tough to make adjustments at the big-league level and work on things.

"There's something not right. But I feel really confident he can fix it," Gonzalez said.

Okay, whatever. But now here is where it gets interesting.

There is no timetable for Sanchez's return, and Gonzalez emphasized there are no physical or mechanical concerns.

Best I can tell this was an early statement after Sanchez was optioned. Later, the story would change.

Gonzalez said Sanchez took the news hard, but added that a lot of top pitchers have gone back to the Minors to work on their mechanics.

Well, he didn't necessarily allude to a mechanics problem being the reason for Anibal heading to Albuquerque but Kranitz did.

Sanchez has several issues, Kranitz said. They include the command of his pitches, his work tempo, a tendency to become too predictable, an inability to adjust to hitters, and a slight mechanical flaw that keeps him from throwing on a downhill plane, like he did last season.

This is all probably an innocent misunderstanding, but I don't like it when the baseball people don't even have their stories straight about why they are sending a starter down.

If the club is to be taken at their word, it does beg the question of: why is he being singled out for demotion? Last time I checked none of the starters were performing to last year's level.

I not saying that sending him down due to his performance this season is the wrong thing to do, in normal circumstances it would be the correct thing to do. But why just him? Believe me, I'm not suggesting they should send the others down. It's just curious.

All of that said, here is my take on the Anibal situation. Sanchez is injured and isn't bothering to let anyone know. You remember during the off-season when he had to quit throwing because of shoulder soreness. I think his shoulder is still hurting which has caused a loss in velocity and he is using a different arm slot than last season to try and compensate for the pain. I may be completely wrong but that is my observation from watching a few innings of his starts on my computer screen. In other words, I probably know nothing but that is the way it looks to me.

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