Jonathan Sanchez is no longer a member of the Giants, having been traded to the Royals in a deal that brought Melky Cabrera to San Francisco.
But he had some comments relevant to the Giants on Thursday, essentially saying the team was trying to get rid of him ever since he made the big-league roster, and that he "saw it coming" when they dealt him.
"I saw it coming," Sanchez said Thursday in Kansas City, via the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's been that way since I got to the big leagues in 2006 that they wanted to trade me. Nothing came out but, every year, it was the same thing.
"It was time for me to go to a different place and another team. My name kept coming up every trading deadline. It never happened. It did now."
It's worth noting that Sanchez said he was very happy in San Francisco and that the Giants taught him "everything about how to play baseball in the major leagues."
But there's also an interesting read-between-the-lines message here -- Sanchez believes that the team's been trying to trade him away for five years?
That's a long freaking time to consider yourself "happy" despite being, for lack of a better word, "unwanted."
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It's curious then to wonder whether he ever truly felt in place with the Giants, or if he considered himself an outsider with a tenuous hold on a rotation spot.
When you're one of the guys not named Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, though, being a tradeable asset just comes with the territory of playing with the Giants.
If an improved amount of stability -- he's the Royals defacto ace now! -- and increased pressure are what's needed to really spark Sanchez career, or if he truly feels motivated by the perceived snub, it could be interesting to see how he develops and/or blossoms in Kansas City.
But to do that, he'll need to get past the inconsistencies that plagued him his entire career in San Francisco. Which is why he was on the trading block to begin with.
