Sanchez Survives Yankees First Cut

If you have not heard the news, the Yankees parted ways with Clint Frazier, Tyler Wade and Rougned Odor on Friday. But somehow, Gary Sanchez was spared. Yet as the New York Post points out, “The Yankees clearly recognize they need to mix up their pool of position players, with Miguel Andujar and Luke Voit joining Sanchez on the endangered species list between now and the Dec. 2 non-tender deadline. Sanchez stands out because, as a catcher, he is the hardest to replace.” Will the Yankees part ways with Sanchez? I hope so, but if not him than who?

Here is an interesting and innovative way to address the problem: What if the Yankees take the opener strategy in pitching and apply it to catching; meaning why not have an arsenal of catchers, well not an arsenal but carry three or four, who can play other positions as well. This idea is not that far off base.

“The thin free-agent group of catchers includes Roberto Perez, who performed poorly for Cleveland last season, and old pal Austin Romine, whose health and performance struggles the past two seasons validated the Yankees’ decision to keep Kyle Higashioka over him. Romine might have to settle for a minor league deal. The Yankees should make Higashioka a co-starter behind the plate and deploy their trademark arbitrage skills that just last summer unearthed Nestor Cortes Jr., Clay Holmes and Lucas Luetge to locate the other co-starter, be it one of the aforementioned free agents or someone else,” reports the Post.

Interesting. Right? Co-catchers which might give the Yankees more confidence in moving away from Sanchez slowly. Also part of the free agency is Yan Gomes from the Oakland A’s who on paper is not much better and in some cases worse than Sanchez. “Gomes, 34, tallied a .723 OPS, seven points lower than Sanchez, as he split his 2021 season between the Nationals and A’s. His July (1.078) actually topped Sanchez’s June, if with far fewer plate appearances. More to the point, while his April (.556) ranked lower than any of Sanchez’s months, he exceeded .694 in three of the six months, adding a fourth (.646 in August) that surpassed Sanchez’s third-best month, April,” reported the Post. 

The most important takeaway from the Gary Sanchez saga or experiment is this: The Yankees need to pledge more of their resources toward player development than trying to fix a deficit that was clearly theirs. Home growing your players is the best bang for your buck and if you can’t do that well, consistently than you will continue to “buy” your way into the playoffs, or just be ok with how things have been. 

The Yankees lack of synergy, athleticism and chemistry has been their undoing. So really this conversation isn’t about who Sanchez has become but rather it’s about who he could have been had the Yankees dedicated the time and resources necessary to help him realize his potential. Now we are left with platooning him with two or three other catchers and see what fits. 

–Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof