Yankees face little risk in giving Gary Sanchez another shot to prove he can live up to the hype
Gary Sanchez will turn 28 years old on Wednesday. Coincidentally, that is also the day the Yankees have to decide if he is in their future plans. The catcher, coming off a horrific coronavirus pandemic-shortened season, has made it a tougher call whether the Bombers will tender him a contract by Wednesday’s 8 p.m. ET deadline.
Even as they have made it clear that they lost the most money in baseball during the fanless, 60-game 2020 baseball season, and managing partner Hal Steinbrenner has made it clear for over a year now he would like to get under the $209 luxury tax threshold, it is unlikely the Yankees would just non-tender Sanchez.
He is not the only Yankee who is a potential non-tender candidate. Reliever Jonathan Holder normally would not get a second look on this list, considering he was due less than $1 million last season, but if the Yankees are truly looking to tighten the financial belt his 5.86 ERA over the last two seasons may be a place to cut costs. But the Yankees take a limited risk in offering Holder or Sanchez a contract. In his second year of arbitration, Sanchez will likely get a raise on the $5 million he was supposed to get last season (prorated to $1.8 million in the plague-shortened season). Those contracts, however, are not guaranteed until spring training is complete and teams are only responsible for a percentage of the contact if the player is released during spring training.
Still, with team owners claiming devastating financial losses from 2020 with no revenue from the sale of tickets, most in the industry believe that Wednesday’s deadline will have some bigger names on the list of players released — and becoming free agents — as cost-cutting measures.
But, Sanchez’s name is not expected to be on that list.
Yes, Sanchez had a horrible season and the Yankees certainly left the door open to speculation.
“We’ll evaluate that particular position because we’ll be forced to now as we move forward,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last month in his end-of-season press conference. He went on to explain the team would have meetings to dissect the season and discuss players. “But, ultimately that will be a subject that we have to discuss as well and it could very well be a change.
“It could very well be a competition.”
That’s quite a fall from when Cashman nicknamed Sanchez “The Kraken,” after his breakout season in 2016 when he hit 20 homers in 53 games. In 2020, Sanchez’s slide accelerated quickly when new ace Gerrit Cole made it clear his preference was to pitch to Kyle Higashioka. Sanchez then earned a seat on the bench in the playoffs with his struggles at the plate. Sanchez, who had started 27 straight playoff games for the Bombers, played in just three of seven postseason games in 2020.
And the fact that there were limited chances last season may well be the crux of the argument of why the Yankees should give Sanchez, who is scheduled to play in the Dominican Republic winter league in December, another chance.
“Sixty games is not a lot to make that decision on,” one American League scout said. “It doesn’t sound like they are going to go out and sign a replacement. Their priority is DJ LeMahieu obviously. I think it makes more sense for them to give him the small raise due in arbitration and see where he is in the spring.”
The Yankees have been waiting to see Sanchez put it together for years now.
After restructuring their coaching staff to bring in Twins catching guru Tanner Swanson with the idea he would make Sanchez into a better receiver, the Yankees saw little improvement in Sanchez’s defense. Yankees pitchers had a 4.53 ERA in the 41 games last season with Sanchez behind the plate, compared to a 3.79 in 14 games with Higashioka.
But Sanchez’s defense was never the reason he was in the lineup, it was the power in his bat that was going to give him opportunities.
The problem is, Sanchez’s bat, which has been inconsistent in the past, was just awful in 2020. He slashed .147/.253/.365 with 64 strikeouts in 156 at-bats.
Still, Yankees manager Aaron Boone seemed to tip the team’s hand last week when asked about Sanchez on the YES Network.
“We understand that Gary is a major talent, and while he struggled in certain areas, he’s also made amazing strides in certain areas,” Boone said. “Like with all our players, it’s important that we continue to develop (Sanchez) to be the player that so many of us believe he can be.”
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