With Anibal Sanchez back, Detroit Tigers could trade a starting pitcher – MLB News
The Detroit Tigers made their biggest move last week when they acquired free agent starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez for a five year contract. But with Sanchez back in the starting rotation, the focus now must shift towards other starters including Rick Porcello.
Late on Monday, the Detroit Tigers introduced Sanchez as their latest signing from free agency.
The five year deal that was finalized between Sanchez and the Tigers includes the club option for the sixth season. Without a shadow of a doubt, Sanchez putting on Tigers’ jersey to reintroduce himself looked very odd considering the fact he made 15 starts
for the Tigers last season.
Sanchez displayed some top quality throwing skills in the post season, helping the Tigers win the American League Championship Series title. However, it seemed obvious the Tigers would let him become a free agent and fix their outfield problems before anything
else.
As soon as the season ended, Sanchez became a free agent. The Tigers had their eyes on him and although several other Major League Baseball teams showed interest in Sanchez, Detroit seemed to be the likely place of planning for him.
"We do have six starting pitchers at the major-league level that we feel comfortable with that are good big-league pitchers," Dave Dombrowski said in an interview with a leading sports website. "We'll just see what happens here over the next time period.
We're not going to do anything to just do something, but if we can rectify that situation in a good fashion, then that is something we would contemplate."
"He's a starter for us," Dombrowski said of starter Drew Smyly. "I mean, he can relieve, but we would prefer to see him as a starter."
In a news press conference, Tigers’ General Manager Dave Dombrowski talked about how well Sanchez pitched in the playoffs last season. He also spoke about why the Tigers need to bring back Sanchez for the next season. With Tigers having a surplus in pitching
department of the game, it looks as if they will have to trade a couple of starting pitchers before the start of 2013 Spring Training.
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