The Yankees announced Tuesday that they will tender a contract to all of their arbitration-eligible players, including catcher Gary Sanchez. Sanchez has come up as a possible non-tender candidate in each of the past two offseasons but he’ll be offered a contract and remain with the club for the time being. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $7.9MM in 2022 — his final season of arbitration eligibility.
Sanchez, 29 this week, has become a polarizing player among Yankee fans given his near-unparalleled power at the catcher position but also his low batting averages, high strikeout rates and shaky defensive skills. The former top prospect looked like a star in the making from 2016-17 but has since ridden a roller coaster of productivity to a composite .201/.299/.444 slash with a 28.1% strikeout rate.
Poor batting average notwithstanding, Sanchez’s ability to draw a walk and immense power clearly are valued by the Yankees (and likely would be by other clubs as well). Metrics like wRC+ and OPS+ (both at 99 from 2018-21) suggest that the walks and power are enough to bring Sanchez right up to the cusp of league-average production, though the path he takes to get there is a rather unpopular one among fans. Still, when Sanchez is on a hot streak, his bat can carry a team. Those frequent but brief flashes of potential serve as a reminder of the overall upside and the reason that the Yankees have stuck with him despite the ups and downs.
That said, it’s not as though New York chose not to explore the market for alternatives. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Yankees explored the free-agent and trade markets for catching help in recent days before opting to simply stick with Sanchez. It’s a thin free-agent market for catching options, however, with Yan Gomes standing out as the lone starting-caliber option behind the dish. The trade market, meanwhile had a few potential options, but GM Brian Cashman was ostensibly either nonplused with the available names themselves or the asking prices attached. New York was at least speculatively linked to 2021 Gold Glove winner Jacob Stallings, but he was traded from Pittsburgh to Miami yesterday in exchange for a three-player package.
All that said, while Sanchez is at least in line to serve as the team’s primary backstop in 2022, it’s more written in pencil than etched in stone. Arbitration contracts are only partially guaranteed, as teams can cut a player on an arb contract and owe them only 30 days’ termination pay (i.e. prorated salary) so long as the move is made prior to the halfway point in Spring Training. Cutting a player in the second half of camp boosts that number to 45 days’ prorated salary, and the contract becomes fully guaranteed on Opening Day.
It seems unlikely that New York would simply release Sanchez, of course, but the Yanks could conceivably reinvestigate the catching market to see if there are new trade possibilities — both in terms of players to acquire and teams with interest in Sanchez — in the days following the likely lockout. The smart money is on Sanchez reprising his role as the Yankees’ primary catcher next season, of course, but it remains possible that an unexpected opportunity will prompt the Yanks to pivot.
Backing up Sanchez will quite likely be Kyle Higashioka, who bore some similarities to Sanchez in 2021 — at least offensively. While Higashioka is a better defender, his .181/.246/.389 slash struck a familiar chord: plenty of pop and a respectable number of walks but low average/on-base marks fueled by a lofty strikeout rate. Higashioka is out of minor league options, so if the Yankees wanted to find a different skill set to back up Sanchez, they’d likely need to expose the 31-year-old Higashioka to waivers, as it’s unlikely they’d carry three catchers on the roster.
Jack Curry of the YES Network first reported that Sanchez would be tendered a contract.
Can’t wait for the reactions to this, lol.
Uhhh duh doy!! With the catching market so thin of course he gets a contract !
Gary Sanchez has more WAR than Wilson Contreras. Just in case anyone thinks Yadier Molina is a Hall of Famer, Yadi has about the same career WAR as Jason Kendall. Is Kendall a Hall of Famer? Yadi also has less career WAR than Brian McCann. Is McCann more likely to make the Hall than Yadi? Or is WAR just a stupid inaccurate statistic?
I’m not trying to prove a point here. I genuinely want to know what everyone thinks. I hear people say Yadi should be first ballot all the time but don’t even think Kendall should get in and think McCann is borderline at best. I also hear those same people reference WAR as the best stat to judge players. It doesn’t make much sense unless people believe FanGraphs should determine all players value and Hall of Fame status while also believing Baseball Reference is useless.
Catchers should get in for different reasons. Yadi has won titles as an integral part of the Cards while the other two you mentioned helped win nothing. Not to mention Yadi has played for such a long time as a catcher but the same cannot be said of Kendall and McCann. Oh and WAR is kind of a silly stat as it requires a bit of guessing. People either love it or hate it I’m more on the hate it side. I’d take Yadi over both of those guys any day it’s not even close.
In can indeed be said of Kendall that he “played for such a long time as a catcher”; 15 seasons with just a few innings in the OF.
Great athlete who would have been in the hall if he played in an earlier era.
Jason Varitek should get in to the HOF. Caught most no hitters, 1 of 3 all time to play in WS at every level, won every award, etc. Leader and captain. He also played 15 seasons.
Won every award??? Huh? Varitek belongs no where near the Hall of Fame as a player. As a visitor, sure.
So much for the reliability and credibility of WAR.
WAR is credible.. you just have to know how to use it… it’s not meant to be taken at face value without context.. learn how analytics work before you dismiss them
WAR is to Applied Science as Mathematics is to pure science. For WAR to be credible as an analytical tool, it must be quantifiably applied with no exceptions. Knowing how to use it is a matter of debate, which by definition eliminates it as a consistent analytical tool. Politics and social sciences in general are credible, “you just have to know how to (selectively and contextually) use it”.
You are dead wrong on this. All baseball stats, or at least most, need context. WAR particularly. It’s a complicated stat, highly IMPERFECT and thus can’t be applied uniformly. Yes, it makes the data quite subjective. Yes, that LIMITS the objective accuracy, but that’s life. It’s a tool. WAR does not compute accurate value for a literal comparison between pitchers and hitters, for example. Despite all this, it is a very useful short-hand, all encompassing stat. With context.
Well, essentially you agree with me that it’s basically applied science and subjective, so please point out where I’m “dead wrong…” I never claimed that it was not a tool, but in certain applications, so is a hair pin.
Ok I’m probably just agreeing with you other than that my idea that WAR is useful, not perfect. Maybe. I just have issue with , “for WAR to be credible as an analytical tool, it must be quantifiably applied with no exceptions”, I think i see your point now, but I still think WAR is useful… it’s just that it’s to be “applied” WITH reasonable acceptions.
Agree – it’s just a matter of semantics and it is indeed useful.
Calm down there Mets missed WAR. It’s only stats right? Who cares about the impact on the team and atmosphere when it comes to voting, right? WAR is easily the only useful stat for HOFers, right?
WAR is a novel attempt to quantify a player’s overall value. But do you self a favor and go to fangraphs and check out the WAR of players in 2021. I think you’ll see what the article suggests, it is mostly useless!!
Stat isn’t useless it just needs context. A lot of ignorance going on here.
Ok you were once a solid poster albeit long winded but this ragging on WAR irks me. Catching WAR is long noted to be iffy because framing hasn’t been truly evaluated among other things like leading a staff. This isn’t proper in WAR, THUS you have to deal with WAR not being great or true for catchers
My mistake. I did not read the last line from Mets missed Wars comment. I agree with you guys, but I do still believe that WAR is important but not everything. Yadi belongs in Cooperstown for all he has done to the franchise and City of St. Louis
Can see your point not a big WAR guy personally but answer me one question how many gold gloves does Kendall and McCann have again? Yadi should and could very well be a first ballot hall of famer based off every aspect of his game and the gold gloves behind the dish solidifies it for me imo.
tl;dr he sucks as a catcher.
I’ll start it here now then. Jason Kendall for the Hall of Fame.
Molina and Kendall are very comparable offensively (equal career wRC+). To say the two are even in the same league defensively silly. It makes one a average ball player and the other one of the greatest of his generation.
How many gold gloves has he won behind the dish and playoffs teams he played on throughout his cardinals days. First ballot maybe not but he is a sure fire hof just because of the player he is and playing the most demanding position close to 2 decades.
Molina is already in my hall of fame. All the gold gloves. 2 championships. 11 seasons of 700 ops. Long career. I can care less what the baseball writers think but I imagine he will get in and 1st ballot.
I can’t believe a reader thinks WAR determines a Hall of Fame induction. I am not, by any instance a Cardinals fan. But, Yadi has won 9 Gold Gloves for being behind the plate all these years as a starter, never relegated as a backup, elite catcher, with a same team which had been in post season almost every year since he started his career, with World Series’ ring. Great arm, has some power, bats very well in the clutch and handles his pitchers very well. ImHO I think that maybe, he won’t be a first ballot inductee because voters decided he was putting Johnny Bench’s record of 10 gold gloves in jeopardy, had he won a Golden Glove this past season, (which I think he did), and if he wins another next year, which would be his last one, since he announced will be his last (I prefer not to think it has something to do with Yadier’s being from Puerto Rico). He is a sure HOF, if not on his first ballot (which he will and deserves), but the next.
The reason it’s so thin is because the Yankees missed out on Tucker Barnhart, Jacob Stallings, Jorge Alfaro, Yan Gomes, Many Pina, because they has there heads in their asses.
Haha! So much for improving the defense.
Yeah Gary Sanchez loves a tender…with ranch or honey mustard.
barmbecue sauce mmmm
Gary’s agent: “Hey Gary, the Yankees are going to tender you a contract!”
Gary Sanchez: “They’re giving me a contract that will pay me in tenders?!?!? I’m officially locked in for 2022!”
Who doesn’t ? Get me one too!
Gary Sanchez is gonna hire Scott Boras when he’s a free agent and he’s gonna tell Boras that he demands teams that offer him a contract must pay him in Stouffer’s frozen French bread pizzas
Pizza always beats the market.
Flushing that cash.
Sanchez seems overpaid at $7.9M. I guess the Yankees can’t risk non-tendering him with the hopes of signing him for a couple million less. Plus if you’re the Yankees, what’s a couple Mil anyway? The poor guy can’t catch a ball over 98mph. Kind of a fatal flaw for a catcher in the ever-increasing velocities in MLB.
This is the biggest Yankees shock I’ve had since Jeter gifted Stanton to the Yankees.
Lol. Why can’t I post the Michael Jackson popcorn gif in here?
There was never any doubt, just as there was no doubt last year either.
The more interesting question is did they tender Luke Voit?
D’accord, @Rob.
The reality is, that’s much more about the catcher position in MLB than it is about Gary. Which sucks. A few years ago I thought we had our next Great Yankee Catcher. Doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. But plenty of teams are actually worse off or not much better than he & Higashioka.
Sanchez deserves to be tendered. His offense is top 3 for catchers. His only problem is that he is probably the worst defender in the league and his baseball iq is pretty low. I think hes gonna switch to 1st or dh eventually for some team in need of one of those holes
His offense isn’t even top 20.
@milkyway he’s talking about catchers.
“His offense is top 3 for catchers” unless you think hes worse offensively than 20 other catchers in the league
In his last 539 at bats he has struck out 185 times.
He didn’t hit top three last year, but his offense is still much better than most catchers and the upside on the bat is there. Baseball Prospectus, which is regarded as having the most comprehensive stats for rating catchers overall, has him at #13. You don’t non-tender that. Doesn’t mean they still won’t replace him, but the position is quite weak across the game.
He is clearly not one of the top 3 offensive catchers in baseball. Not even close. Check his OPS for the past 2 seasons.
@Metsin7
His OPS* was 22nd for catchers last year. The year before he had to be last in the league. His OPS was around .610.
* Mind you that’s with over 130 at bats. But even at 300+ he likely is 15th.
On what planet is he top 3?
He’s got awesome hitting pedigree, so to speak. Keeping him at a position he clearly isn’t cut out for is ruining him.
Yazmani “E2: CI” Grandal would like a word about being the worst defensive catcher…
When asked why the Mets drafted Hobie Landrith first, Casey said “Without a catcher you’d have a lot of passed balls”.
With Gary Sanchez there’s not much of a difference.
Casey only got to toss his hat in the air 40 times in 1962.
Do you know that the World Champion Atlanta Braves had more passed balls than the Yankees? And did you also know that the Division Champion Rays had exactly as many passed balls as the Yankees and the Red Sox had one less passed ball?
Darned if it doesn’t seem like passed balls aren’t necessarily a season-destroying event.
How were they with wild pitches? If a catcher can’t block a ball in the dirt, its called a wild pitch, even if the C should have stopped it. May as well just drop a cinder block back there. He’s THE worst C in the major leagues.
Yet, interestingly, he still rated better than James McCann, the Mets zero WAR, $40M backstop! Perhaps that’s why there are reports the Mets were discussing Sanchez if the Yankees did non-tender him.
Exactly.
He’s a DH
then who tf is gonna catch?
Higashioka
It would’ve been moronic to release him in a thin catching market and get nothing in return. They still can trade him.
No other team would take him at that price!
This website projected a $7.9M 2022 salary for Sanchez back on October 11. Fangraphs puts his 2021 value at $11.7M. Name for me another backstop the Yankees — or any other team — could sign for under $8M who’d give them 23 HR, 54 runs and 54 RBI, and handle a pitching staff to a 3.74 ERA, the sixth-lowest in the majors.
Name one.
Kyle Schwarber. Probably would have even more HR and RBIs with that little league porch in RF too.
I don’t like him on any level. He’s more of a detriment then a help. HOWEVER…when you balked at the Stallings trade you were left with really no other options so oh well. Just please don’t give this guy a big contract when the time comes
Seek nay yankees?
I think they overpay him by $600k to $1.1M as a kinda good bye package/buyout type amount because they thought he was the heir apparent and instead it’s been a struggle and a question mark the entire period of team control and arbitration for Gary and they anticipate him doing poorly in free agency and have no intention of holding on to him long term.
They did it with Phil Hughes. They’ve done it with a couple of other guys.
SMH
Just
SMH
I never thought I would miss Jorge Posada as mush as I have and continue to.
Tears of complete the sadness.
Bring back Jorge!
Remember how much some fans hated him
at the end.
Jesus Montero and Gary Sanchez later and they still can’t find a decent replacement for Posada.
Hope I’m wrong but Mr Austin Wells seem like similar deal. Good bat low Catching skills
He can catch a few World Series titles for me anytime!
Wells isn’t even up to Sanchez’s standards. He’ll need to be moved.
That’s really mushy…
Terrible defensive metrics, mediocre bat, for 8 Million. Throw that money away.
If Yankees DFA’d him last year, they get to keep Whitlock. Another year, another Whitlock gets taken. This move comes with a price.
False. They would’ve had to replace him with another catcher. The total number of 40-man roster spots needed would not change.
No requirement that the spot be occupied by a C. You keep the best 40.
They released Whitlock to make room for Kriske, who just got released by the O’s.
Only thing tender is ole Gary’s ability to stop balls in the dirt. Heyyyooooooooo. I’m here all night folks
This is what happens when you take talent and change it. Has(had) a great arm and bat then Joe & Tony tried to change it. The Yankees now have a big catcher ON ONE KNEE. They screwed this kid.
I’d put him at 1B.
This was my 55th year as a Yankees fan– and no matter how hard this kid tries, I believe the Yankees will never win in the postseason with him as their starting catcher.
That’s cool, I’ve been a Yankee fan since 59. I remember watching Yogi catch at the end of his career, and he was replaced by Elston Howard.
Yankees pitchers have better stats when Higgy is behind the plate. This makes little sense
F F F F why is this happening. Unbelievable oh well I hate Cashman right now
Re signing Boone means first round exits in the playoffs every year regardless of if Sanchez is on the team though I might add. This team will be in 4th place at best in the AL
@mlbnyyfan
Bro.
Several of us have explained this to you multiple times. No matter how much you complained/railed against him, he was never going to be cut.
As you’ve pointed out though, Ducky, and I’ve agreed with you multiple times, this is much less about retaining Sancho than it is the combination of Sancho / Higgy. DFAing Sanchez is not a good move. He’s, at worst, middle-of-the-road overall in MLB and would’ve been snatched up in a heartbeat.
Likewise, keeping this tandem in place as our catching core and saying we are championship bound is naive. Hopefully, Cashman realizes this and between now and July we can supplement Sancho with one of the two (most likey Contreras, it seems) and that would be a phenomenal duo.
True, but he also catches Cole.
how did the stat worked each time higgy has been in a big game or playoffs? last i checked cole bombed with higgy when most needed not only to clinch but in the playoffs which again goes to show just because it may have worked in meaningless games doesnt mean it will work in important games
This is precisely what Cashman put himself in a position to do – nothing but tender Sanchez a contract as the starting catcher – because of how he has mishandled the offseason so far, or so it appears. Please surprise me, Cash, we need good news. Right now, you’re just confirming our perspectives about your inability to make good decisions & put a winning roster together.
I’ve defended Cashman, a lot. If this offseason continues this way, there is simply no defense left for the guy….or Hal. No perspective to gain, no walking a mile in his shoes, and no more citing how he’s operated in spite of challenges, like injuries. It’s simply that he was handed a Ferrari and treated it like a Chevette.
For everyone in this thread: I’ve told Mlbnyy to be patient as he clearly hates Sancho. But, Yankees need a REAL starting C. Look at all there winning teams; they all had one thing in common – a strong middle:
Dickie, Berra, Howard, Munson, Girardi, Posada…. 2009 (lol). Anyway, I’ll leave SS & CF for my diatribe on those threads when Story and Correa sign in Feb.
This was going to be the interesting one, imho. They gave him a contract after all. There was quite a bit of speculation about whether they would or not, for awhile there. They probably figured, “For all his faults, the bottom line is the guy will still hit 30+ jacks in an off-year. One year he might get lucky with BABIP and actually hit .270-ish with 45 bombs”.
As a Sox fan, I’m happy. The guy can rake at times but his defense is just bad and he overall isn’t a great hitter.
He’s a mess and shows it at the worst times for the Yanks. Love this move for everyone else.
And yet Vazquez had more passed balls and errors, and Sanchez had a 1.5 fWAR to Christian’s 0.5 fWAR despite having had 58 fewer plate appearances than Christian; and Sanchez had a 99 wRC+ to Vazquez’s 77 wRC+, and Sanchez drove in and scored more runs.
But I’m glad you’re happy. Happy holidays to you.
No surprise, you can’t give away a catcher in a market so thin. Word on the street is that Oakland could part with Sean Murphy for the right price. If I were a GM I would call up Billy Beane and not hang up until all my roster holes were filled. They’ve got a lot of talent that they don’t want to pay and don’t want to lose for nothing. Oakland looks like the flea market to me.
But Sanchez is taking up a spot on the 40-man. So next week when a player is taken from the Yankees farm, remember they could’ve saved the money and a minor leaguer instead of tendering Sanchez. Certainly Garrett Whitlock was worth more than Sanchez last year. So if they had non-tendered him last year, it could’ve saved Whitlock.
wrong you dont give up a catcher spot for a pitchers spot the yankees kept heaney and whitlock yes had a great year for the sox now lets see what he does next year there are lots of players left off the 40 man roster that then they shine following year but its the consistency to prove is where we shall see. again get rid of sanchez and start what higgy? have people not noticed the catching dept is really thin at the current moment
If they ban the shift, he becomes completely different player.
So doesn’t 50% of the league.
No. Slow dead pull hitters who hit the ball hard and on the ground become different players.
Most hitters become better. The game becomes better. Contact becomes more important. Hitting the ball on the ground becomes more important..
Yankees won’t pony up the prospects for Contreras so keeping Sanchez was a no-brainer
Duuuude, don’t get me started. Ugh.
I’m surprised they didn’t cut him to save enough pennies to pay for the cheapest stop gap ss they might want to sign when cashman wakes up from his coma
Yankees have the money, and Sanchez has some value. Not likely it will be as much as his Arb salary, but, if NL adopts DH, his value is greater. Given everything NY hasn’t done this offseason, I’m not getting my back up over this.
I wonder if the Giants or Mariners would have interest in him. Sanchez seems like a change-of-scenery type guy at this point.
No, the Mariners don’t want him !!!
I’m a RS fan, but I’d have tendered him. He’s not great, but he will likely provide a 1.5+ WAR. There just aren’t a lot of catchers out there.
Swihart was better defensively! Doesn’t matter how many catchers are out there. As long as Sanchez is on the Yankees, there’s one fewer C on their team.
He’s probably be a pretty good DH or even first baseman but he doesn’t belong at catcher.
Rockies should inquire about Sanchez and Voit (and Torres?). That power might find consistency at Coors Field
Don’t you have to actually be able to “catch” to be a catcher. I watched a Mets game vs. the Yankees. He had three passed balls. He catches like how the 21 Mets hit. Bad.
the technique is on the catching instructor whom by the way tanner swanson never played in the minors or majors but has a degree in science and therefore why he was hired the yankees are taking analytics the wrong approach. Sanchez is not being instructed the right way his big frame is not to be on one knee like they stress
it makes sense to tender gary no way you go with higgy as #1 option the catching position is thin across the big leagues what the yankees need is a real catching instructor but that onus falls on cashman once he let go of tony pena gary has not been the same he needs someone to be tough on him and an actual defensive instructor that manned the position in the big leagues.
Makes sense, gotta have a backup catcher for when Higashioka needs a day off
That’s the whole point! By keeping Sanchez on the roster, they don’t have a back up when they give Higgy the day off. Instead they are forced to put Sanchez behind the plate.
higgy will never be a starter he is who he is a backup for a reason much like austin romine think about it alot would rid of gary but there will be teams lined up to sign him ita the coaches of the yankees that have failed under boone which is why all players have regressed under boones watch but u let go of sanchez he still will start easily for over 20 teams
Insane.
I would have actually preferred Perez and setting Gary free.
LMAO … What a waste of $7.9 mil.
Serious question,is there a bigger idiot than Cashman?
Prolly. He doesn’t look that big to me.
You guys may not care for his baseball decisions. Which is fine.
But having heard him speak, it is easy to tell that Brian Cashman is actually a pretty bright dude. If he stepped away from the Yanks, he would immediately have some excellent job opportunities.
& he is entirely dispassionate. Remember what he was saying in re signing Correa? “Fan opinion doesn’t matter.” He is not conducting his offseason to appease the posters at MLBTR. Rather, he is focused on improving the Yanks.
There are numerous things I don’t care for when it comes to him. I detest how involved he is in the dugout, for example. But he is no “idiot”.
No, he’s just an overrated GM who’s had the benefit of a bigger budget than any other GM in baseball over the last 18 years, with one World Series appearance to show for it. Meanwhile, over in Boston they’ve been to the big dance four times in those 18 years and won all four times.
BTW, my reply to honey nut Ichiros was a joke.
Wow, if your an actual Yankee fan you must have just started watching baseball. I’m guessing your a red sawk fan. Cashman has made great trades throughout the years and consistently placed this team in contention. The fact they are on a spending hold doesn’t mean the manager is an idiot. Some of his players did not live up to expectations last season and not everything is in his control but if you were a true fan you would understand that. He makes trades when they make sense and doesn’t get pushed into decisions based on arm chair managers and fake Yankee fans
Or a true Scotsman.
And in the dumb headlines category, we have this entry from News 4 New York:
“Yankees Tender Contract to Sánchez Until 2022”
That would be THROUGH 2022, guys … unless they played a cruel joke on Gary and his agent.
Tendering Sanchez was expected. I’m not happy giving Urshela 6.55mil. If the Yankees get a SS and keep Gleyber, Gio will be an expensive backup. If the Yankees aren’t serious about getting a SS, then expect more of the same results in 2022.
Gio is a much better third baseman than LeMahieu. They don’t have a legit first baseman (Voit is a DH masquerading as a first baseman) and there’s no guarantee Cashman will cut a deal for Olson (or anybody else, for that matter), so DJ would be the default first baseman when Luke hurts himself again. Who else is going to play third base for $6.55M or less?
Cashman is still hoping Sanchez puts it together so he can look cool in front of the other GM’s….guess they aren’t as interested his LA light sneakers as they used to be. Poor Brian.
Also…what can Sanchez be traded for? Cashman can’t possibly be thinking of doing this again….
Yankees play Dirty!
After the lockout there will be at least 10 teams looking for a DH so he’ll be a trade chip
Their best pitcher doesn’t want to throw to him. Logically, he’s probably not the only one. You can’t keep that scenario around. Roster’s a mess, holes in several spots and sitting at the top in payroll as of this moment. What a joke Cashman is. Better give him 300, 200 is clearly not enough.