The Cardinals have acquired catcher Ali Sanchez from the Mets in exchange for cash, per a club announcement. New York had designated Sanchez for assignment this week after adding Jonathan Villar on a big league deal. The Cardinals are now up to 39 players on their 40-man roster.
Sanchez, 24, made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2020, though he only tallied 10 plate appearances, going 1-for-9 in that time. He’s regarded as an above-average defensive catcher with solid bat-to-ball skills but minimal power. He split the 2019 season between Double-A and Triple-A, batting a combined .261/.326/.322 with a homer and 17 doubles. That production closely mirrors his tepid .259/.317/.331 slash in parts of six minor league seasons, though it should be noted that Sanchez has only fanned in 14.2 percent of his 1484 minor league plate appearances.
Sanchez threw out 44 percent of attempted base thieves against him in his last minor league season (2019) and boasts an even better 46 percent mark in his minor league career. He’s a potential backup option for Yadier Molina if the Cards want to give Andrew Knizner regular at-bats in Triple-A rather than have him sit on the big league bench and start once per week or so.
Why put sanchez as backup instead of Kinizer if they believe Kinizer is the heir to the throne? Is the reasoning that more regular playing time in AAA is better for development than sitting on the bench in STL while being mentored by Molina?
That would exactly be why. The opportunity to get 4 plate appearances a night compared to 4 every 5 games is a better way to develop them.
What if they are lining up to trade Knizner as they just signed Yadi and may view Herrera as the heir?
Trust a Giants fan on this one, it’s better to give your top prospect consistent playing and development time. You don’t want a 2020 Joey Bart situation.
Ivan Herrera is likely heir apparent in 2-3 years. Knizner may become a trade chip a la Carson Kelly before him.
What i don’t get, Knizer is 26 and has spent a couple years at AAA already. I understand playing everyday but would it really help his development?
I still hope the Cardinals to re-sign Matt Wieters as the backup catcher for Yadi. We can carry three catchers in the roster Yadi, Knizner and Wieters. Depth is always important. Can a team sign Wieters? He should play in the majors.
He sucks now. He wouldn’t have gotten a major league deal 2 years ago if the Cardinals wouldn’t have signed him. He’s just bad at everything now, rather have Knizner
Why accrue service time on a backup?
And $.
Keeping him from getting service time for riding the bench is standard operating procedure in STL
Standard for almost everywhere
‘Cause I don’t think they view Knizner as the heir. Ivan Herrera has that label.
Knizner may get a crack at the starting job for a season, maybe two, but his defensive development has been slow (unlike Carson Kelly’s was) and he hasn’t made a lot of progress lately. He’s still doing a lot of things that a catcher at his level shouldn’t be doing,
I’m kinda surprised they haven’t traded Knizer like they did Carson Kelly. Ivan Herrera is the Heir to the Molina Throne.
Who
Ali….with an “i”.
Ali of Ababwa
Strong as 10 regular men, take it from me…
Ali Sanchez is the Worst Catcher in the World!
youtube.com/watch?v=6Piv4SdhFJE
Looks more like Davis is a bad third baseman.
Runner should have been out twice, nothing to do with the catcher.
I can confirm; Davis is certainly a bad third baseman.
Lol ya but Davis wasn’t the one who didn’t even catch the ball on the first steal attempt, also he wasn’t lobbing the ball back to the pitcher. But ya it was pretty bad for the catcher to be checking on him so much and to still let all that happen lol.
The catcher dropped the ball on a stolen base attempt….No biggie. It happens.
Davis didn’t cover.
With the catcher checking the runner, davis never set foot to the bag. you can’t look a runner back with out throwing.
Catcher lob the ball back all the time. Not sure what this is about. They didn’t scout something special in 32 innings.
And the throw back to the pitcher is not what allowed him to score. It was the skip throw back to the catcher that allowed him to be safe. Again, Davis should have been paying attention.
Its one thing to drop the ball on a throw…Its another to forget to cover bases. Terrible plays by Davis.
Ya catchers don’t lob a ball back to the pitcher with a runner on 3rd that already has 2 stolen bases in the inning. Idk a whole lot of catchers that lob the ball back, usually a firm throw, not hard but not lobbing like that. Davis only forgot to cover but that’s not solely his fault, theres the other infielders that we’re sleeping too (short and second not saying anything) this happened last year with no fans, dugout should’ve been screaming as well. That’s one mistake compared to the several by the catcher.
Honestly if Berti doesn’t slip he makes it way closer than it should be without a bad throw because it was lobbed in the first place by the catcher, familia panicked and spiked it. Idk why that falls on Davis, the catcher made more errors. If the catcher wasn’t lobbing it, Berti doesn’t attempt to steal home.
F@ck Sanchez this thread should all be about props to Berti …
That was the coolest play/sequence of last year for sure
Why?
Isn’t he the 3rd best catching prospect in baseball? Why give him up for money?
I think you’re mixing up Sanchez and Francisco Alvarez.
261 would of been one of their best batting averages last year. It’s just a cheap hitter with a good glove.
My bad I was thinking of Alvarez
Alvarez is the real deal, he should be ready in 2-3 years. Has tremendous pop and hits for a high average (Piazza) and has great defensive skills (Grote). Finally, not since Piazza have we had an elite offensive and defensive catcher.
Hahaha Piazza elite defense. That’s a good one
Piazza elite defense? Is there another Piazza besides Mike because Mike was horrible with the glove. He has the worst defense of all catchers that are in the Hall. He’s all bat and no glove. If he had accepted playing another position or moved to the AL to be a DH for his prime years, he would’ve had a ring.
Hasn’t proven anything yet. Does he look like he will be a stud? Yes. Is it a guarantee? No. Don’t get your hopes up for him to be the next Piazza yet, although he definitely has the potential.
Wow they were able to get Carlson and Hicks for him what a haul!
PlayStation is pretty cool, you’re right.
This moves gives the Cards the ability to carry three catchers if they choose. With Covid likely still being a factor for the early part of the season at the least, it’s protection. Also, it allows them to use Knizner’s bat off the bench as a pinch hitter or perhaps to spell an occasional starter. It will be interesting to see if Knizner sees time at other positions during ST. The Cards value defense first at catcher. This takes some pressure off Knizner actually catching, which is the weaker part of his skill set.
Interesting move when you already have Molina, Knizner, Herrera, and Heineman on the roster. I wonder if Knizner finally gets dealt for an outfielder, too bad benintendi has already been moved
I thought Brach was dfa’d for Villar. Wasn’t Ali Sanchez booted for Khalil Lee’s spot?
Flyingblindsquirrel,
GOOD CATCH! Yes Brad Brach was DFA’d for Villar and Ali Sanchez was booted for Khalil Lee. The question is where is Corey Oswalt who was DFA’d for Albert Almora?
#Robrock30
” Ali Sanchez was booted for Khalil Lee”
Khalil Lee is the next Keon Broxton; bad move all is metrics are going south.
And you lose the best pitcher in the Matz deal and now Ali Sanchez a good defensive young catcher. Just don’t get it?
Mets still owe Red Sox a PTBNL in the trade so if Khalil Lee bombs as you predict, he will have cost the Mets 3 prospects
if i was andrew, i’d demand a trade
I don’t think he has a lot of leverage.
Still spending!
Hose 44% of runners and you’ll have teams interested.
booyakasha!
At least they got something for him.
He’s a defensive beast in OOTP.
Strong pickup by the Cards. I think I’ve lost track of the Mets catching situation, but who did they sign to back up McCann, and who do they have as the third catcher in AAA, who will get called up? That AAA catcher always ends up in the 40 man roster eventually. Letting a plus defensive catcher go, who is all of 24, is not a move more organizations make willingly.
#lordd99
“Letting a plus defensive catcher go, who is all of 24, is not a move more organizations make willingly.”
As a Met’s fan I agree; you let this kid go for nothing. I just don’t get it?
Apparently Steve Cohen likes having CASH still
Who doesn’t?.
Making room for Bryant and Hendricks.
@Dan Hunter Like when they traded for Starling Marte from the Pirates and signed George Springer this year?
Soooo glad the Mets didn’t trade for Marte. Would’ve been very dumb to have done so.
Maybe. But @Dan Hunter has been the master of guaranteed transactions for the Mets – Pirates trading Marte to the Mets was a done deal. George Springer signing with the Mets was a done deal. All of his done deal predictions that are basically official without being official,, have worked well for him.
@Dan Hunter and @MetsFan22 are making Mets fan look great!
Exactly
Its called sarcasm.
Guaranteeing guys are joining the Mets is sarcasm?
OK…I guess.