Freddy
Sanchez suffered another setback on his rehab from an injury he suffered last
year. After getting setbacks from his
injury to his shoulder, Sanchez now has hurt his back. I tell you, Freddy Sanchez
is like fragile glass. You can touch him softly in the chest with your finger
and he would manage to suffer a chest injury.
Every season that Sanchez has been with the Giants he has been on the
disabled list with some freak injury. Sanchez reminds me a lot of Sharks forward
Martin Havlat. Like Havlat, there is always a freak injury that Sanchez gets.
I do not think Freddy Sanchez is
going to return to the Giants this season. He is in his mid 30s and has not
played since last June. That is why the Giants need to pull the plug on Sanchez
now and put him on the 60 day disabled list and then show him the door of free
agency at the season’s end. By doing this the Giants can add a more useful
player to their 40 man roster since a spot will not be taken up by an injured
Sanchez. The Giants can hope and pray all they want that Sanchez will return
and help the Giants, but it is becoming more and more wishful thinking. Even if
Sanchez does return, he will not be the same player.
The Giants need help now. They are
playing average baseball where they lose just as many games as they win. That
is not going to cut it if the Giants are going to make the playoffs this
season. They need to get more offense.
This offseason they didn’t get enough offensive help through free agency
because the team was banking on Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez being healthy
again. Posey is back but Sanchez isn’t and that leaves a big hole in the team’s
struggling offense. Sanchez was expected
to fill the number two slot in the batting order. He was expected to get on
base a lot and give batters like Posey and Sandoval a chance to hit him
home. Since he is not in the lineup, the
team has been struggling to find a player to fill that slot in the lineup.
The team cannot continue to struggle
on offense by waiting for Sanchez to come back. They need to go out now and
find another second baseman through a trade. Who they get and what they give up
is not a concern to me. The Giants need to do something to spark this offense
and a trade is the best way to do it. If they can’t do that, call up another
minor leaguer and see if he can give the Giants some offense. A trade
acquisition or minor leaguer couldn’t do any worse than Emmanuel Burriss or
Ryan Theriot right now.
I criticized Giants General Manager
Brian Sabean last offseason for letting go of Jeff Keppinger. I thought he
would have been a good replacement for Freddy Sanchez in case Sanchez got hurt.
Keppinger is now batting .298 this season, a much better batting average than
the second basemen the Giants currently have. I still don’t understand Sabean’s
reasoning behind letting Keppinger go.
However, that’s in the past. The
Giants have to admit they made a mistake and cut their losses with Sanchez. The
gamble didn’t pay off for the Giants. Yes, Sanchez was a good Giant and he
contributed a lot for the team when he was healthy. He was a big part of the
Giants World Series team in 2010. However, like many other Giants from that
great 2010 season, Sanchez has faded away. His contract expires at the end of
the season and the Giants would be stupid to resign him. The Giants need to
give up on Sanchez and let him retire.