Jeremy Guthrie to Royals for Jonathan Sanchez

Of all the trades Dan O’Dowd made this past offseason, the one that turned out the worst was Jeremy Guthrie for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. Hammel has been wildly successful over in Baltimore and Guthrie has just been wild. At best. He never figured out how to pitch at Coors Field and eventually seemed uninterested in trying to figure it out anymore. He was visibly disheartened and I think it’s safe to say he was bringing down the whole pitching staff.

Since I’ve been hoping for a DFA for a while now, the fact that we were actually able to trade him for anyone at all is a very positive thing. Yes, Jonathan Sanchez has had quite a rough year for the Royals (1-6, 7.76, a 2.04 WHIP and just 53 innings pitched). But so has Guthrie for the Rockies. The worst Sanchez can do is be no better than Guthrie was, and I have to think he will be.

If nothing else, Sanchez has experience pitching in Colorado. From 2009-2011, he started 5 games there and posted a 3.07 ERA. He allowed 2 home runs in 29 innings pitched. It’s a small sample size but those stats aren’t bad. They give us more information than we had on Guthrie’s altitude abilities before he got here.

And remember the best trade O’Dowd made last year? Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu for Ian Stewart. It seems all Colvin needed was a change of scenery to go on a tear. Maybe that’s what Sanchez needs too.