a specific case - graphs. quite likely the same for all other objects as well.
even if api user wants ids only, sorting by name suddenly returns graph names. that is totally unexpected - only output controlling options should, well, control output.
sorting should only change how the api operated internally - it should retrieve all data that is needed to perform the sort, then only give the api user what was requested.

not only being counterintuitive (non-output-controlling options suddenly changing output), this also results in lots of extra data sent over the wire, increasing overhead.