Jesus Sanchez gave John Schneider the bad Blue Jays update nobody wanted Saturday.
Toronto placed Sanchez on the 10-day injured list with a right ankle sprain, a day after the outfielder crashed into the wall making a catch against Texas.
That is the part that makes this feel heavier than Friday night's first report. Negative X-rays kept a fracture off the board, but the MRI and the soreness still pushed the Blue Jays toward an IL move.
Schneider said Sanchez “was pretty sore yesterday and this morning,” which tells you how quickly this went from relief to a real absence.
The Blue Jays can call it precautionary if they want, but injured list decisions usually speak louder than that. A team fighting around the Wild Card line does not pull a regular bat unless it thinks the player needs time.
And Sanchez had become more than just a fill-in outfielder. In 73 games, he was hitting .274 with 7 home runs and 29 RBI, giving Toronto one of its steadier left-handed bats.
That is why this is bad news, even with the clean fracture result. The Blue Jays avoided the worst-case injury, but they still lost a useful piece from a lineup that has not had much room for more damage.
The Blue Jays now have another outfield problem
Toronto recalled Yohendrick Piñango from Triple-A Buffalo to help cover the roster spot, and Sean Keys also came up in the same wave of moves.
That gives Schneider bodies. It does not give him Sanchez's exact fit.
Sanchez had settled into regular corner-outfield work, and his bat was at least giving the Blue Jays a chance to lengthen the lineup on nights when the middle of the order went quiet. That is an inference based on his usage and production.
MLB.com's Blue Jays injury tracker now lists Sanchez's expected return as mid-July, which is not a long absence on paper but still matters for a club already trying to scrape out every win.
There is also a baseball cost beyond the bat. An ankle sprain can hang around for outfielders because it affects first-step reads, turns in the gap and how cleanly they plant to throw. That is an inference based on the demands of the position.
So yes, this counts as more bad news. The X-rays spared Toronto from something worse, but the MRI, the soreness and the IL move all say the same thing: Jesus Sanchez is not bouncing right back, and the Blue Jays have another hole to cover.
Will the Blue Jays miss Jesus Sanchez more than fans think?
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