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Revisiting the Aaron Sanchez trade at the 2019 trade deadline
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Revisiting the Aaron Sanchez trade at the 2019 trade deadline

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation  |  By Ryley Delaney  |  Last updated 5/7/24

On Monday evening, it was reported that the Blue Jays had signed Aaron Sanchez to a minor league deal.

As you may recall, this is Sanchez’s second stint in the Blue Jays organization, as the Blue Jays drafted him all the way back in 2010, spending 10 seasons in the Blue Jays organization. This saw high points, such as when his 3 ERA was the best in the American League back in 2016. Unfortunately, this was the last high point, as he struggled with the rebuilding team until he was traded at the 2019 trade deadline.

In this article, we’ll look at that trade and what has gone on in all four players’ careers since that date. Let’s take a look.

Aaron Sanchez

When the Blue Jays traded Sanchez on July 31, 2019, he had the worst ERA in all of baseball for starters. Three days later, he threw six innings of no-hit ball in his first start for the Houston Astros, with the team eventually completing the game with a no-hitter.

He only made three more starts for the Astros, including when he gave up six earned runs in 5.1 innings. On August 21, he was placed on the 10-day injured list, and never pitched for the Astros again.

In February 2021, the San Francisco Giants signed Sanchez, who had a fantastic start to his season. In his first 24.1 innings pitched, Sanchez posted a 2.22 ERA and a 3.54 FIP, along with a 20 K% and a 9 BB%. However, he was eventually placed on the 10-day IL, and then the 60-day IL after a failed rehab. In total, he finished the 2021 season with a 3.06 ERA and a 4.05 FIP in 35.1 innings pitched.

In 2022, Sanchez appeared in games for the Washington Nationals and the Minnesota Twins, posting a 6.60 ERA and a 4.48 FIP in 60 innings pitched. He spent the season relatively healthy, as he pitched an additional 62.1 innings in the Triple-A.

For the first time since 2020 and the first regular full-season since 2013, Sanchez didn’t appear in a big league game in 2023. Pitching with the Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks’ Triple-A team, he pitched 89.1 innings and had a 5.54 ERA and a 6.43 FIP.

Joe Biagini

Like Sanchez, Biagini had a second stint with the Blue Jays a couple of seasons after the trade. Before we get to that, let’s look at what he did after the trade. For starters, he pitched an inning in that combined no-hitter for the Astros on August 3, 2019. Unlike Sanchez, Biagini pitched the rest of the season but posted a dismal 7.36 ERA and a 9.01 FIP in 14.2 innings pitched with the Houston Astros.

He wasn’t added to the Astros’ 2019 playoff roster and pitched just 7.1 innings in the big leagues in 2020 and 2021. This included four appearances in 2020 with the Astros where he gave up 10 earned runs.

In mid-March 2022, the Blue Jays signed Biagini to a minor-league deal with an invite to a big-league camp. Although he never made another appearance for the Blue Jays, he had a 3.46 ERA and a 4.61 FIP in 39 innings with the Buffalo Bisons before ultimately being released on July 26, 2022.

He played for Italy in the World Baseball Classic alongside Sam Gavigilo but appears to have retired from baseball.

Cal Stevenson

Cal Stevenson was the prospect involved in the trade, yes, the Blue Jays traded their #30 prospect at the time in a deal where they were selling.

Stevenson has bounced around a lot since the trade, ending up in the Tampa Bay Rays’ farm system in 2021 and 2022 before he was traded to the Oakland Athletics in early July 2022. In August, the Athletics called Stevenson up, where he slashed .167/.261/.217 in 71 plate appearances.

The outfielder was traded to the San Francisco Giants, where he didn’t register a hit in 12 plate appearances before he was designated for assignment and claimed by the Philadelphia Phillies. So far in 2024 with their Triple-A team, Stevenson is slashing .220/.352/.322 with a home run in 74 plate appearances.

Derek Fisher

While none of the Jays’ players had much of an impact aside from an early August game in 2019, the player they received didn’t do much of anything either.

In 2017, Derek Fisher ranked as the 83rd-best prospect in baseball, as he was a solid hitter with good power and an even better run tool, so you can see why the Jays traded for a high-upside player. In 2017, Fisher slashed .212/.307/.356 with five home runs in 166 plate appearances with the Astros, and hit four home runs in 2018 but slashed just .165/.209/.392.

Prior to the trade, Fisher had slashed .226/.317/.358 with a home runs in 60 plate appearances with the Astros, and after the trade, he slashed .161/.271/.376 with six home runs in 107 plate appearances with Toronto. However, his K% ballooned from 23.3% to 40.2%. The same day that Biagini and Sanchez threw a no-hitter, Fisher failed to catch a pop-up.

Fisher had 39 plate appearances in 2020 with Toronto and even had a 117 wRC+, but was still designated for assignment before the start of the 2021 season. Eventually, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash, and a player to be named later turned out to be Paxton Schultz.

Sidebar: Schultz, 26, is off to a great season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons this season, posting a 2.95 ERA and a 3.30 FIP in 18.1 innings pitched. The walk rate of 17.1% is rather high, but the 29.3 K% he has at the moment is the highest in his career.

Anyway, Fisher had just eight plate appearances with the Brewers in 2021, hitting a single and a triple. He was designated for assignment in June, outrighted, and eventually signed a minor league deal with the Twins in 2022. He and Sanchez were teammates for a time, but Fisher was eventually released in mid-June of 2022 and has been a free agent since.

me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

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