Atlanta Braves bring back and select contract of catcher Tony Sanchez

Braves add Sanchez to roster

The Atlanta Braves added Tony Sanchez to the 40-man roster on Sunday.  The Braves now have four catchers on the active roster heading into the final week of the 2017 season.

What’s the reasoning behind this move?

The Braves originally acquired Sanchez from the LA Angels in exchange for second baseman Brandon Phillips on August 31st.  Following the trade, he spent less than two weeks on Atlanta’s roster before being outrighted on September 12th.

In his only plate appearance with Atlanta Braves so far was a strikeout.  He did hit well in the minors as he finished the minor league year with a slash line of .272/.355/.374 in 2017.

With catchers Tyler Flowers, Kurt Suzuki and David Freitas all on the active roster, it’s going to be really tough for Sanchez to get another at-bat in the final week of the season.

So what was the reason the Braves brought him back?  Another question is why did the Braves and John Coppolella originally trade FOR him? … we’ll get into that in a minute.

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Sanchez could have rejoined the Braves to add catching depth over the final week or maybe just for Monday since they’re playing in their double-header.  One thing it could do is Manager Brian Snitker has the opportunity to pinch hit either Flowers or Suzuki and then have a backup to the backup.

The other thing I’m thinking is that it’s an extra bullpen catcher at the end of the season to catch bullpens.  The Braves did have only 39-men on the roster so it’s not like it really hurts anything here by adding him.

The 29-year-old was the 4th pick in the 2009 MLB Draft out of Boston College by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He was a really high prospect heading into 2010 and 2011 — both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus had him inside their top 100.  BA had him as high as #46 pre-2011.

Why’s he even a Brave?

My main point of this post has to go back to August 31st.  Why did this trade even go through?  I realize the Braves had been looking for a trading partner for a while for Phillips, but why did we settle on Sanchez?

Probably not a lot was being offered to the Braves, but looking back on it we should have just kept BP.

This could go down as the worst deal Coppy has made.

Next: The great debate: Snitker or not

He could still be non-tendered in the offseason.