FanPost

What should the Royals do with Jonathan Sanchez?

Sanchez's ERA is now a nice and glossy 6.75. When your ERA is actually above the average innings you give your team per start, you know something's up.

What should the Royals do, though? It's pretty clear that Sanchez is not only a wild pitcher, but a very wild pitcher. Take a look at this list put together by me:

Highest BB/9 innings, pitchers with at least 100 starts and 700 IP, since 1969:

1. Daniel Cabrera 2004-2009 - 5.24 BB/9

2. Oliver Perez 2002-2010 - 5.08

3. Jason Bere 1993-2003 - 5.07

4. Bobby Witt 1986-2001 - 5.02

5. Paul Abbott 1990-2004 - 4.91

6. Bruce Berenyi 1980-1986 - 4.89

7. Jonathan Sanchez 2006-2012 - 4.88

8. Joe Decker 1969-1979 - 4.78

9. Russ Ortiz 1998- 2010 - 4.66

10.Nolan Ryan 1966-1993 - 4.67

Those are the ten wildest starters since 1969 with 100+ career starts.

I'm a bit surprised no one to this point has tried Sanchez as a reliever. There is no doubt he has great stuff, but he just laaaaaaaabors through innings. If he could concentrate his stuff to one inning, might he experience better results? It wouldn't be totally surprising to me to see him turn into a Jeremy Affeldt or even a Sean Marshall. But with the Royals having a pretty good pen, and such a weak rotation, can we afford to make him a reliever? On the flip side, isn't he essentially a three-inning reliever now, just one that happens to start games?

So. What should the Royals do with Sanchez?

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.