Atlanta Braves Need to Move on From Anibal Sanchez
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Braves added made a late move adding a veteran arm in Anibal Sanchez. Sanchez is on the wrong side of his career and after his last start, it is obvious the team needs to move on from the starter.
Watching Anibal Sanchez pitch for the Atlanta Braves it is evident the veteran is similar to another Braves experiment. When the Braves added Bautista it was a good idea considering they had nothing to lose.
Once it became very clear Bautista didn’t have any baseball left in him the team made the decision to move on. It is time to do the same with Sanchez. After two decent starts, Sanchez was injured and returned last night.
Watching him pitch was exhausting he gave up four runs in four innings on five hits and two walks. Considering his pitches he should count himself lucky he didn’t give up more than four runs.
Sanchez isn’t worth keeping in the rotation. He is no longer capable of giving the Braves quality starts at this point in his career, in my opinion.
His pitches have very little movement and he will begin to get hit the more the Braves trot him out to the mound.
Cutting him or moving him into long relief for garbage time should be the only options the Braves are looking at. They would be better off without him in their rotation giving another young arm a chance.
Young pitcher Max Fried would make more sense for the Braves then Anibal. He at least has a decent upside and there is a chance he could figure it out at the Major League level.
Even Matt Wisler who has been awful over the last two years is younger and likely has a better chance of figuring it out.
The Braves culture is changing, they are focused on youth and energy. Sanchez doesn’t fit that mold and it is time to move on from the veteran.