Clock should be ticking for Jesús Sánchez

With the Miami Marlins lineup getting healthy, the clock has to start ticking on how much longer Jesús Sánchez should stay in the majors.

This weekend, the Miami Marlins are expected to get some key contributors back in the lineup. Joey Wendle makes his return Friday. Jon Berti does as well. And after a much briefer absence, Bryan De La Cruz actually returned to action this past Wednesday.

Which means it’s just about time for the organization to think about sending Jesús Sánchez down to Triple-A. If this was a perfectly healthy team, it’s a move that very likely would have been made already.

Heading into this weekend’s series against the Braves, Sanchez is sporting a .282 OBP.  Meanwhile, De La Cruz is getting on base at a .361 clip. Perhaps more importantly, Brian Anderson is doing so at a rate of .378 … almost 100 points higher than Sánchez. In one way or another, at this point, he is being outplayed by every other outfielder on the roster. Assuming Sánchez does nothing to make his case against the Atlanta Braves this weekend, the team really will be out of excuses.

Unless, of course, the excuse is that giving Sánchez MLB reps is more important than Miami’s win-loss record.

Unfortunately, it is getting late fast for the 2022 Marlins, and it’s not an impossibility that the team takes that approach. Personally, I think some Triple-A seasoning would go a long way, and some people much more knowledgable than myself have said as much over the past week.

Whether the team is shifting from competing to development or not, Sánchez just looks lost right now. It’s even starting to effect him in the field, where he had at least been serviceable before two boneheaded plays in the last three games brought back all the questions about his ability to hold down center field at a major league level. About all he is presently doing right is impacting the ball as he’s in the 95th percentile for maximum exit velocity. But as great as hitting the ball hard when you do manage to connect is, those connections just aren’t happening nearly enough.

But what interests me much more than diving into Sánchez’s swing mechanics or the long-term merits of a demotion is that the decision that is made on Sánchez looks like it’s going to be an excellent barometer of what the front office thinks of this Miami Marlins roster.

Because if the team thinks that the Berti and Wendle injured list stints, as well as that week without Brian Anderson earlier in the month, are the biggest culprits for this sub-.500 record, then they have to demote Sánchez. He has options left. Benching him isn’t productive. If getting back to .500 is what matters, the Marlins need to go on a run now, and June needs to be treated like the playoffs.

The starting pitching has been good, and should get better. It doesn’t take a ton of squinting to see this team taking off if something sparks it. However, if the front office has decided that this roster is too flawed to compete, and if this was really all about 2023 all along, then look for about 400 more plate appearances from Sánchez no matter what he’s doing at the plate.

Admittedly, a stint on the injured list from Jazz Chisholm could render this debate somewhat academic even when Berti does return. Although in that event, the emphasis would turn to calling up someone who is tearing the cover off in the minors, and not just continuing to let Sánchez run into walls. Avisail Garcia’s absence due to those all too familiar “undisclosed reasons” should be of no consequence either, if Sánchez continues to play at the level he has.

Either way, the clock is ticking on Jesus Sánchez.