March 13, 2012; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher

All that to say, It’s hard not to be timid when people ask me to assess a trade.* However, when we obtained Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera, it was hard for me not to feel like we’d done well on that deal. I don’t think anyone thought Melky could duplicate the year he’d had in 2011 and the return we got was a pitcher with upside who, while maybe not a dominant big-league starter, was definitely an upgrade to our starting rotation.

*I write that as if I have people come up and ask me about trades all the time. It’s not a regular thing.

Then once spring training started, things started looking rough. Sanchez was and is considered a lock for a starting job, but he struggled mightily out of the gate. In his first 2 starts, Sanchez line looked like this:

3 IP/7 H/7 ER/2 BB/2 SO

This added up to a 21.00 ERA. Not super promising. Then last night Sanchez put up this line:

5.1 IP/6 H/2 ER/3 BB/ 6 SO

And suddenly all was right in the world again. I breathed a sigh of relief last night as I listened to the game. Then I started to think about it objectively. Was one outing enough to make me feel as if Sanchez was in top form? Or, if you consider it even further, were the first 3 innings that Sanchez pitched really a cause for concern?

I think this is something that I really struggle with as a baseball fan. It’s so easy for me to live and die with each inning pitched, with each game played, and with each at-bat.

This is especially hard for me during spring training. It’s my first look at the team in 4 months and when someone struggles, I instantly think that things are going to turn out horrible.

An outing like Sanchez’s reminds me about sample size. How little the guy has actually pitched this spring and how I need to restrain my tendency for snap-judgement. It reminds me of how much stock I (somewhat foolishly) put in spring-training. This is the time that guys are getting warmed up for the season. They’re making an adjustment to their batting stance. They’re trying out a new pitch.

This doesn’t mean that spring training should be completely disregarded. I just think I take it too seriously. So I’m taking a step back for the next few weeks. Once spring training is over, I’ll make my assessments and decisions.

Thank you, Jonathan Sanchez, for showing me that I’m in regular-season mode a little too early. Let’s wait and see what happens.

The Royalman Report - logo by @AHairOffSquare

Spring training is in full swing and after talking with Joel Goldberg, Danny Duffy, Brooks Pounders and others about what’s going on, maybe it’s time we get someone who isn’t tied to the Royals to discuss our team.

Jason Parks from Baseball Prospectus and the Up and In Podcast (along with Kevin Goldstein) usually covers the Rangers. Conveniently enough, the Rangers and Royals share the complex in Surprise, Arizona. Parks can offer his opinion about how the Royals look, the expectations we should have, and how the farm system stands going into 2012.

We enjoyed having Jason on the show last October and you can check out that episode here.

The chat room and livestream broadcast will be below for you to chime in and interact with us in the studio as well as fellow listeners:

The Royalman Report is brought to you by Kelly’s Westport Inn at 500 Westport Road in Kansas City, Missouri.  Tell them the Royalman Report sent you.

(more…)