It has been four years since his last day on a major-league mound, five years since a disastrous stay in Kansas City, and nearly eight since the most glorious night of his career, and yet Jonathan Sanchez will not quit.
He cannot do it, he says. The fire still burns. The hankering for competition lingers. The dream lives on.
On good days, his fastball can still hums in the mid 90s. In those moments, he can still feel like the pitcher that twirled a no-hitter and started in the World Series and provided volts of electricity from his left arm.