Blue Jays' Aaron Sanchez: Saving innings at Grapefruit League's expense

In an effort to preserve his arm, Sanchez won't appear in any of the team's exhibition games during the first two weeks of spring training, the Toronto Star reports.

Analysis:

After pitching his way into the Cy Young race last season, Sanchez was extended far beyond what the Jays' had originally planned for. The team wanted to move the young gun to the bullpen after the All Star break, but that option was thrown out the window when Sanchez turned into Toronto's best starter in 2016. With the regular season being 162 games and because spring training is arguably too long, pitching coach Pete Walker is taking imaginative steps to conserve some innings that count for his starting pitcher. "We plan on 200 innings from these guys," Walker said. "So if there's an opportunity for us ... obviously they have to be ready to go at the start of the season, but there is a way that you can kind of ease them into spring training and still get the workload that you need to be ready for the start of the season."