Sanchez improves Pittsburgh’s depth at the trade deadline (MudflapDC / flickr)
The Pirates traded for 1B Gaby Sanchez ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s non-waiver MLB Trade Deadline, sending Gorkys Hernandez and their Compensatory Draft Pick to the Miami Marlins.
Pittsburgh also acquired AA reliever Kyle Kaminska in the move.
The Pirates have been busy adding to their offense in the last 16 hours. Late Monday night, the Pirates sent Brad Lincoln to Toronto for OF Travis Snider, but GM Neal Huntington was not done dealing.
Sanchez, 28, is in the midst of a down season. Sanchez had been batting .202 with three home runs and 17 RBI through 55 games played for the Marlins.
Sanchez hit 38 home runs in 2010 and 2011 combined.
Sanchez has split time between the majors and AAA this season. When Miami acquired 1B Carlos Lee, Sanchez was sent down to AAA where he’s hit five home runs and driven in 18 runs in only 33 games in 2012.
Sanchez will come off the bench for the Pirates this season and provide good defense at first base. With the additions of Snider and a recent power surge from Garrett Jones, it seems likely that Jones would no longer make starts in the outfield and receive regular playing time at first base over the struggling Casey McGehee.
McGehee seems likely to be moved to a full-time bench position unless Jones begins to falter. Jones has improved his defense over the years at first base, but can still be improved upon at the corner.
In 153 games in 2011, Sanchez committed only five errors. Although McGehee has played good defense, Sanchez could be a nice defensive replacement with more pop in his bat.
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The Sanchez deal was the last reported move as of the deadline. The Pirates can now only make acquisition by call-up, waiver trade, waiver claim or any one of the other 45 mechanisms for making post-deadline deals in MLB.
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