I don’t think there’s a player that has frustrated the New York Yankees or their fanbase more than Gary Sanchez. Sanchez was supposed to be a star catcher for the bombers, and he’s shown that potential at times.
He has incredible power in his bat and he’s got a great arm behind the plate. However, despite the potential, he’s really failed to live up to expectations. Last season was so bad that he was benched in the playoffs.
Sanchez still shows power in his bat, but he’s hit under 200 combined over the past couple of seasons. Combining that with his extremely high strikeout rate and his horrific defense and you don’t have a very popular figure in New York.
The Yankees have apparently been contemplating moving on from Sanchez. They made Sanchez available in trade talks at the deadline and it appears that they are likely to make him available in the offseason as well.
We are already seeing signs of this. It was reported today that the Yankees have reached out to future Hall of Famer, Yadier Molina. If the Yankees were to sign Molina, they wouldn’t be bringing him in as a backup.
Considering the Yankees have a permanent DH in Giancarlo Stanton, a Molina signing would signal the end for Sanchez. The New York Post also reported today that the bombers are open to trading their once prized catcher.
What should the Yankees do?
This is the question that many fans seem to be divided on. You have one group of fans that want the Yankees to give Sanchez another shot. I will say that when he’s firing on all cylinders, he can be one of the best catchers in the game.
Then you have another group of fans who would like to strap him to a rocket and send him to the moon. There’s really not a middle ground when it comes to the New York Yankees fanbase.
That being said, I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think the Yankees try to move him. If they can package Sanchez in the right deal, I think there’s a high probability that they move on from Sanchez.
The team is moving further and further down the road of analytics. Frankly, there’s no analytics that point to Gary Sanchez being a great all-around catcher. Yankees pitching had a significantly higher ERA this year with him behind the plate versus Kyle Higashioka.
Combine that with all of his terrible personal metrics, and it doesn’t look like a fit for a team trying to win the World Series. Maybe the Yankees hold onto Sanchez and he turns back into the guy we saw in 2017. That’s a real possibility.
However, the sample size of poor performance is starting to outweigh the good performances. And in a place like New York, it’s always been about, “What have you done for me lately?” The answer from Gary Sanchez is truly not much.