Giants Should Give Up on Freddy Sanchez

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.