Has anyone read/heard anything about Anibal's reaction to be traded to Detroit? I know it is business, he's a professional, and players get traded all the time but they were showing Sanchez sitting in the dugout last night with Verlander next to him. He looked disengaged and there was no talk between him and JV. It looked almost uncomfortable.I'm positive I'm reading too much into it but hope he is on board physically and mentally. I'm interested to see what he does against Toronto this weekend, a team that absolutely shelled him earlier in the season.
CLEVELAND -- It's a really funny story, Anibal Sanchez said, how he and teammate Omar Infante made their way from the Marlins in Miami to Ft. Lauderdale to Cleveland with the Tigers."They left without us," he said.But after their scheduled flight out of Miami was delayed, and after they missed their next one, and after they drove to Ft. Lauderdale and flew Tuesday morning to Cleveland, Sanchez and Infante landed safely at Progressive Field, in the welcoming arms of a first-place team."This team is in a good position right now," he said. "Right now, I'm here, and I'm glad."Tigers manager Jim Leyland is glad, too, admitting before Tuesday's game that he thought the team needed another starting pitcher, another arm "with whiskers," but didn't know if acquiring that arm "was a makeable putt."But anything is possible when general manager Dave Dombrowski has the putter in his hands, and roughly 24 hours after a text message from the Marlins during Sunday's game, the Tigers' rotation has another solid starter on their hands."Everything is going to be new," Sanchez said, "but I'm going to do the same thing I do all the time, try to make outs."But now, he'll be doing it against American League lineups -- starting Saturday against Toronto -- and doesn't expect much of a change in his approach."I just want to work and do the same," he said. "I try to use the right pitch in the right moment. Basically, I like to throw everything for a strike."Sanchez throws five pitches: four-seam and two-seam fastballs, a change-up, curveball and slider.He was 5-7 with the Marlins this season, while compiling a 3.94 ERA in 19 starts and striking out 110 batters in 121 innings.He has a lifetime ERA of 3.75 and has made more than 30 starts in each of the last two seasons, nearly eclipsing the 200-inning mark both times.Now, with the Tigers, he has a golden opportunity to pitch in the first postseason of his seven-year career."I think everything happens for a reason," said Sanchez, 28. "It's a good opportunity to be in the playoffs."He found out that opportunity after the Marlins' batting practice in Miami on Monday, when teammates wished him well before Florida manager Ozzie Guillen and general manager Larry Beinfest could pull him into the clubhouse."I was surprised," he said, noting that the only team he heard his name rumored with was the Atlanta Braves. "But I'm just going to take care of my job like when I was a Marlin, and I'm going to do the best I can when I take my mound."
I guess Leyland's just a worrier, that's why his friends call him Whiskers.
Not hitting again, awesome.
Lots of places won't let you in when you're shoeless.
