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The high, borderline-languid flyball that Jésus Sanchez lost against the notorious backdrop of the Trop's roof (even in its reconstituted, post-hurricane form, it does not seem particularly fit for purpose) in the first inning was one thing, in that it dropped in for a pretty silly looking double and extended the inning long enough for Yandy Diaz to truly park one in the stands for an early Rays lead, but the ball he ran in towards and then literally stopped looking for in the fourth, the key to a five-run Rays' inning, was really quite another. By the time that fourth-inning flare dropped significantly to Sanchez's right, he wasn't even looking for it, but instead had his eyes totally trained on a full-body-sighing Andrés Giménez; and, worse still, the replays revealed that this had been the Sanchez approach for a larger portion of his doomed journey out there than you would even believe. Sanchez has been an adventure in the field all season, certainly, but last night's performance was among the worst you'll see at this level, I am sorry to say; it was just zero fun (click here to behold it, if you so choose). Max Scherzer handled things better than you might expect from someone of his intensity, honestly, in that while the frustration he no doubt felt was quite specific, the physical manifestations of it were not narrowly focused or targeted but rather broader and more generalized (afterwards, Scherzer said he was not willing to talk about anyone's mistakes but his own, of which, he assured reporters, there were plenty, and thus much to discuss). Not a great scene, though. To his credit, Jésus addressed it all the next day (not the night of, which I think is probably wise), understandably saying that he was "embarrassed," and adding, “I know I need to improve on my defence because I'm not used to playing left field and I'm going to make the adjustment because I'm athletic enough to play the left field. I know I'm going to be there and the next time I'm going to be better." What else can you say? Nobody thinks he's a bad guy, or that he's not trying. It's not a moral failing; he's just lost out there. (It's tough—one's thoughts turn to true "E5"-era Edwin Encarnacion.) What do we think, though, just go all-in on outfield defense (like the post-Moneyball A's) with Straw, Bateman, and Lukes for the most part? As many centre fielders as it takes, essentially? The generally likeable Sanchez had a reasonably strong start to the season, but has fallen off such that the contributions from his slightly-above-league-average bat have been utterly subsumed beneath the negative run-values of his poor baserunning and much, much worse fielding such that he is either slightly below replacement level (-0.1 fWAR) or really quite a good deal below it (-0.6 bWAR) depending on how you want to figure it. Of all the ways a player can offer you negative value relative to replacement, I would suggest that gaffes in the outfield are the ones that really drain you (as the viewer, I mean), the ones that really linger in the mind. In a sense, this all would have been less of a drag had the Rays just kept on rolling, and the Blue Jays' bats stayed quiet, but nope, another Alejandro Kirk home run, and just a really pleasant four-run fifth generally had us right back in it, and the bullpen was, once again, excellent (Fisher, Little, Sewald, Fluharty, Rogers). It is a real shame that all seven of the runs charged to Max Scherzer go down as "earned," but I suppose it is helpful to the extent to which it reminds us that ERA, though quite useful on the whole, is not a measure without its flaws!
KS
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