The Brewers are reportedly signing free agent catcher Gary Sánchez to one-year deal with mutual option with a $7MM guarantee. The club’s 40-man roster is full and a corresponding roster move will be required when the deal is made official. The backstop is represented by MDR Sports Management.
Sánchez, 31, had a frustrating time getting a job last year but made the most of it when he finally got one. He initially signed a minor league deal with the Giants but opted out when that club wouldn’t give him a roster spot. He landed another minor league deal with the Mets and did get called up to the big leagues but was quickly put on waivers.
A claim by the Padres was the opportunity he needed. He went on to take 260 plate appearances over 72 games with San Diego, hitting 19 home runs in that brief time. His batting average and on-base percentage were low, as his fairly normal for him, but his .218/.292/.500 batting line in that time nonetheless translated to a wRC+ of 115 indicating he was 15% better than the league average hitter.
With Sánchez, the power has always been there, but his defense has been more questionable throughout his career. He seems to have improved over time, however. Defensive Runs Saved has given him positive grades in each of the past two years, including a +7 mark in 2023. Each of FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus considered his pitch framing to be a positive over the past two seasons. His throwing arm has always been considered strong with his blocking a weakness, though even his blocking grades have improved in the past few seasons as well.
His strong campaign in 2023 was cut short when he suffered a wrist fracture in early September. Between that and the late start, he only got into 72 contests with the Friars but still managed to produce 1.8 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs and 2.5 per the calculations of Baseball Reference.
In terms of intangibles, his tenure with the Padres overlapped with the breakout of Blake Snell last year. Through 10 outings last year, Snell had an earned run average of 5.04. But he posted a tiny 1.18 ERA over his final 22 starts, lowering his season ERA to 2.25 and earning himself a second Cy Young Award. Sánchez caught the first 18 of those 22 games, missing the last four due to the aforementioned wrist injury. Snell spoke positively of their relationship to Dennis Lin of The Athletic during the season.
Despite the strong season, there are concerns with Sánchez. As mentioned, he was a poor blocker earlier in his career. He’s never been a huge batting average or on-base guy, apart from the very early parts of his career. Strikeouts have occasionally been a problem, with his 26.8% career rate a few ticks north of typical averages. His power also eluded him in 2022, as he hit just 16 home runs in 128 games for the Twins that year.
But overall, the package has appeal. Apart from that power outage with the Twins, he’s always hit 20-35 home runs or has at least has been on pace to do so. The defense has been a struggle but has improved over time. In every full season dating back to 2016, he’s produced at least 1.3 fWAR. Even if you ignore the hot start to his career and look at 2018 to the present, he’s 10th among active catchers in fWAR.
He received interest from the Padres and Pirates this winter but will end up in an interesting landing spot with the Brewers. They already have a really good catcher in William Contreras. That perhaps suggests Sánchez will be a sort of backup catcher but part-time designated hitter. The right-handed-hitting Sánchez has fairly neutral platoon splits for his career but was excellent against southpaws last year. He hit .267/.304/.680 against lefties, 162 wRC+, but .194/.282/.406 against righties for a 90 wRC+.
The Brewers have a bunch of outfielders and Sánchez may have to split the DH time with them, but the platoon situation might work well there. Each of Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Jake Bauers hit from the left side. Perhaps Sánchez can give Contreras the occasional breather behind the plate while also taking some at-bats away from that group by slotting in as the DH against tough lefties. This signing may perhaps bode poorly for Eric Haase, who was signed by the Brewers in December. He’s generally considered a bat-first catcher but struggled badly at the plate in 2023. He can also play the outfield but the Brewers have tons of guys battling for jobs out there. Since he’s out of options, he may find himself squeeze off the roster at some point.
The Brewers have been quite active in recent weeks, signing Rhys Hoskins before flipping Corbin Burnes to the Orioles for Joey Ortiz, DL Hall and a draft pick, then signing Jakob Junis and now Sánchez. The subtraction of Burnes obviously weakens their rotation, along with the loss of Brandon Woodruff, who was non-tendered after requiring shoulder surgery. But the additions of Hoskins and Sánchez, along with the impending debut of center field prospect Jackson Chourio, could have their offense making up some of the difference.
The club only allowed 647 runs last year, the lowest in the majors, whereas their 728 runs scored was middle of the pack. Perhaps they will allow a few more runs this year but also score a few more. Then again, based on how busy they’ve been in the past couple of weeks, they may not be done making moves. Roster Resource pegs their current payroll at $111MM, well below last year’s $126MM figure.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Brewers were signing Sánchez and added the $7MM guarantee. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that there was a mutual option for 2025.
Brewers gonna unleash the Kraken!
Unleash the Karen?!
Lmao
If Rob Deer played backup catcher…..this is what he’d be like.
Sadly Deer would probably be better defensively
the Kraken sounds more pleasant
Rob Deer was horrible defensively. He had low to mid range but he was reliable and had a good arm.
I meant to say he wasn’t horrible.
Over the years watching the Tigers, the only good defensive LFs I remember were Rupert Jones and Bobby Higginson. There were a few OK defenders like Craig Monroe and Steve Kemp and a large group of awful defenders. I think Alex Johnson was the worst. One of the all time great defensive LFs was Bobby Veach but that was over 100 years ago.
Another literal case of “Catcher In The Why”?
Maybe they’re trying to woo Snell…
@Joe “Brewers release the Kraken in May” fixed it for you 😉
Kraken open a beer is about all this guy’s gonna do. Perhaps the Brewers are the best fit.
Wade Boggs is famous for drinking copious amounts of beer. So it’s not necessarily detrimental to one’s performance. 😉
True, but he also had lots of greasy fried chicken to balance it out
Brewers are confusing me so much. Can they rely on this rotation as constructed?
Brewers are confusing me too… sign a heckuva DH but trade their pitcher… then sign Sanchez… maybe there are a few more signings to come?
A heckuva dh? Who did they sign? I forgot.
Hoskins
It seems to me that they may use hoskins as their first basemen on most days and use sanchez as their dh. And that’ll keep Contreras in good health as he can move to the dh spot and let sanchez catch. Can’t forget hasse. They have some major power at the catcher position.
Money would have been much better spent on Victor Caratini.
Don’t be confused.
They are building a roster to win today, next year and for the rest of this decade.
Chourio locked-up for 10, with Quero next. That will give them a dynamic duo up the middle for a decade. Nice young core, with the second best farm in the game, built almost entirely thru the draft with late round picks.
6 top 40 picks with $30M in pool money for the next 2 drafts.
Vastly underrated’24 team that’s deep everywhere lead by top 3 catcher Contreras, and back to good hitting Christian Yelich, with the deepest & best bullpen in baseball.
Taylor Bolden!! I wondered where you’d gone.
I agree with most of what you said, but the rotation is an issue.
Do not have a legitimate 3rd baseman so not deep at that position
Tyler Black gonna be great.
Tyler Black (#47 – MLB Pipeline) could start at 3B if he has a good spring training. They have young talent already on the roster or a year away at every position except 1B. They are set up well to be a legitimate contender for the next 6-8 years.
Rotation at worst is average because of all the depth they’ve added. Peralta is a true #1, and they will get a surprise breakout or two from among Hall-Ashby-Ross-Rea-Junis-Gasser and 15-20 starts from Miley. Underrated staff.
Peralta is a #2 or 3. Definitely not a true 1.
It seems like below average depth and only one great starter (and what if he falters or suffers injuries?).
Junis and Ashby are the most likely breakouts. Rea is just bad. Gasser probably a year away from being decent. Hall could be the surprise but I don’t expect much from Ross.
I visit BCB once in a while just to read this morons posts every now and then. His buffoonery is amusing.
Chorizo y Queso are indeed a dynamite combination.
roflmao
Ashby is or will be a bust unless possibly a future closer.
Begrudgingly, I have to agree with most of what you said. The acquisitions have been stop gap for the target lineup. By the end of the season, Tyler Black will likely be at 3B. Even with the losses of Burnes and Woodruff, this could be the team to beat in the NLC
We’re gonna reallocate the salary we saved by trading Burnes in part by investing in…..Gary Sanchez?
Setting up for a Blake Snell signing?
Sure, if they took the Dodgers deferral route.
This is coming from a cardinal fan at that but I could actually see them signing snell as a possibility and this is a move to assist in that.
Snell may be feeling the pressure if not getting the money he wants. So I could see him deciding on a deal with an opt out after year one. Wanting to capitalize on another solid year and jump back into the market after this year or year 2. With how deep next years crop is he might have an opt out after year 2 built in.
I’m sure he feels a lot more comfortable pitching to the catcher he was lights out with yo help build his resume for his opt out.
The brewers give him close to what he was asking knowing that he most likely isn’t a long commitment if he plans to opt out. He really fits their timeline if he is long term or not as a guy to lead their team along with Freddy peralta (who is as close to a ace as you can be with a high k rate and only improving) as a solid 1-2 punch to move ahead their youth movement.
On top of that they planned on moving forward with one of burnes or woodruff so they had the money allotted plus with a dames unlikely to return they have no other real future commitments that I could see them putting a decent deal out there.
As nice as that sounds, if hes interested in something like that, there are a lot more teams that could and would pay more.
Really!!? Pittsburgh also ,he supposedly had sighed with bucs! This hole setup is stupid. Sign players!! Week from start! Everyone needs pitching!
How is any of this confusing, they trade Hader, end up with five years club control of an all star catcher/a top LHP prospect who won AAA pitcher of the year in ‘23 and should have a spot in the ‘24 rotation, they were about to lose burns so they get best trade for them (obviously) and trade a lil “certainty” now for a much more sustained shot at success in the future, they also can then reallocate that fifteen mil$ which of course they have so even if Ortiz/hall are only worth about one WAR each and junis/sanchez worth 1-1.5WAR each they’ve been able to formulate sustained success with a low budget by trading the expiring star/contract (likely to get hurt/be an overpay on next contract anyway) and aquire young controllable talent they hardly have to pay the next four+years then reallocate that fifteen mil$ by signing solid depth pieces and at worst they’ve replaced the WAR they lost from the top of the roster by making the roster “deeper” and getting the WAR back by having more production from the last few roster spots, it’s not complicated and not sure how it could confuse/confound an able minded individual but it appears to confuse most big market GM/owners and has allowed the Rays/brewers to continually fleece clubs of cheap controllable talent, they even did it with the original Yelich trade because the deal he was on was so team friendly, anyway they’re able to compete/beat teams that easily spend 100+mil$ more each year to pay guys to go out and win baseball games for them and the fact of the matter is money doesn’t buy happiness and it doesn’t buy you very many wins either, it’s merely just one tool in the big ol tool chest..
This is the same Brewers team who have only won 3 postseason series in their franchise that are fleecing the rest of MLB?
The moves are solid. What they did when 30-40 years ago has no bearing on this year’s moves.
Good move by Brewers. Another great piece apart of the Padres diaspora.
Padres are punting in 2024, so this doesn’t surprise me.
Padres = destined for fourth place in the West.
Weird time for that comment as both Campusano and Higashioka are better than Sanchez.
Your don’t know Tow since Peter died went over the cliff.
.
Contreras/Sanchez might be just as good or better than Campusano/Higashioka
Edit: I forgot they also signed Haase
Both Gary Sanchez and Eric Haase are DH/ C. Neither are good defenders but Sanchez has a good arm. The Brewers may have been better off bringing up someone from their farm. Jeferson Quero may not be ready but they have some older Cs in AAA
FWIW while with the Yankees, Sanchez lost the starting catcher job to Higgy.
Gary put up more WAR last season alone than Kyle has his whole career so where are we getting Higgy is better than Gary from? Just bc Higgy is like an 80ovr on MLB the show doesnt mean hes actually good lol
Agreed @Begamin the stats don’t lie and Gary was fantastic for the Pads.
That’s why I prefaced my comment with “for what it’s worth”. Sanchez did get better after leaving the Yankees. Higgy is what he is, a very good backup catcher that gets exposed with too much playing time.
Maybe “while with the Yankees” is what you are missing when you respon: with “last season”.
Fangraphs had them even last year and project Higgy higher this year. Higgy has the extra bonus of being 1/3 the price. But anyway, even it Sanchez was better than Higgy, its weird to use this as an example of the Padres punting as their catching situation is pretty solid.
He said “while with the Yankees” – read people.
@Tow, he was a nice back up to Campusano. But Campy isn’t injured anymore. And Campy is a 300 hitter with power, stats don’t lie
SDP has a lot of work to do to finish off that ML roster but giving Campusano an actual shot is one of the positives of the current roster construction.
Drinking the kool-aid. Guzzle some more. Take a shot of hopium too, while your at it.
Campusano could be special.
Saying Higashioka is better than Sanchez is laughable.
Look at Sanchez power numbers alone.
Higashioka is cheaper and that’s the way a team that is punting the season rolls.
Pads are all about the budget, saving some coin, winning the offseason ‘savings’ title.
They are well on their way!
Higgy can catch. That’s the benefit. I don’t think either are prizes, however.
I’d be willing to bet Contreras is worth more war than both campusano/higashioka in ‘24, he got off to a bit of a slow start especially in the power department in ‘23 after being traded and making huge defensive improvements however he then seemingly became stronger/better as the year wore on, im expecting him to breakout even further in ‘24 and be garnering consideration for MVP
SDP probably has salary space to add a few players (I don’t think they will be involved in the Boras 4 or similarly priced FAs) I think they made some smart pitching adds. 2 RPs coming from Japan/Korea?. They could use another OF / DH but I think their offense should be solid. Definitely should grab a WC. Wins projection (85-90)
Sanchez should provide some RBIs and defense improved/decent
Ya-Gotta have outfielders again though. The rest of the offense looks ok..but Tatis, Azocar, and Marsee (as we sit now) is a pretty rough OF. They also have a gaping hole at 1B/DH.
Meant to include –
MIL should try to work out Sanchez at 1B in ST. He would have more value if he could get some starts there 15 games? plus pinch hitting.
DH and 1B are only spots for Hopkins, he really isn’t an OF
If Sanchez can’t be decent (footwork, work with other IFs etc. ) then scrap the idea
Agreed. Really nice fit for the Brewers.
tia
“Padres = destined for fourth place in the West.”
FanGraphs has them third.
1) yes, I trust FG more than I trust you
2)!No, projections are not gospe (They are better than gospel – because the gospel sucks). The Padres are about as likely to finish 2nd as 4th.
Third? How generous.
You’re right projections are projections.
The Pads stand a good chance at finishing last in the division as well.
Remember last years team was projected to finish near or over 90 wins, with all that talent, and finished with 82 wins.
This team is worse than last years as currently constructed, so yeah, fifth place is possible.
tia
Of course 5th is possible
So is first
This year’s team being worse than last year’s has very little to do with this year’s projections – it only effects the starting point.
So they’re carrying 3 catchers with Contreras, Haase and now Sanchez? I assume Sanchez will get DH at bats but at that point, wouldn’t you just sign someone better like Martinez or Soler?
Martinez and Soler would cost more than the Brewers want to spend. the brewers value flexibility and they wouldn’t want a DH only like Martinez. the fact that Soler is an outfielder sometimes isn’t valuable to them
Carrying 3 catchers also hurts your roster flexibility.
Not if two of the three are going to be in the starting lineup a good deal of the time. Contreras is going to DH a couple games a week, and I would imagine Sanchez will DH a couple himself.
Sanchez will only cost about $5m and he can also play some 1st base. Both Soler and Martinez will cost twice what they will pay Sanchez. It really is a shame he doesn’t have any passion for the game. I saw him play in the minors quite a bit and he was infuriating to watch. He never seemed to care about the outcome of the game and seemed to be in it just for the paycheck. One of the most naturally talented players I ever saw. Its a shame he wasted what could have been a HoF career if he only cared a little bit. He should have been the next Thurmon Munson but chose to be just another story of what could have been.
If Sanchez is only making 5 mil, then Martinez and Soler will cost more than twice as much. They’ll both get well over 10 mil per.
He’s making 7 mil, but I bet those two make 15 or more per, regardless.
Not for $7mm you won’t sign JDM or Soler.
Stove is hot!!’
1 year 15mil with an option for a 2nd year. 15mil includes incentives.
7 mil plus an option.
I was way off. Hahaha
Brewers signing Snell too then???
That would be quite fun.
Are they butt butties?
What exactly is a ‘Butt Buddy?’
The man said butties not buddy! Sheesh! Anyhooooo. Just a couple guys that enjoy butterfingers is all.
Butterfingers are alright but what I really enjoy is the Mr. Big.
That’s weird. Guess they decided to make their backup C another hitter. Gotta get offense from somewhere. End of the major league career for Eric Haase.
A signing! Yea!
I don’t get it
Me either. Redundant, silly, and frankly wasteful. Strange roster construction.
Sanchez did great in SD
If he’s really going to catch it’s good news for the rest of the division and bad news for the pitchers. He spends most of his time running back to the backstop to get his passed balls.
He spent last year catching the NL Cy Young winner. Players change. He’s not the guy who he used to be.
The Brewers will have him squared away or he won’t catch. It wasn’t long ago that Contreras wasn’t considered a good defensive catcher. Barring an injury I don’t think he’s getting more than a start or 2 a week back there.
They’re truly the best in the business with catching defense.
You’re talking about the wrong Contreras. By the way, The one you’re talking about still drives his P’s crazy and now has an old staff to catch.
Willson Contreras is a decent catcher and was not the problem in 2023. The problem was and still is the manager.
William was considered a defensive liability behind the plate which is one of the reasons the Braves traded him for Murphy and the Brewers do have a history of turning around horrible defensive catchers (Navraez)
Sánchez is a typical Brewer deal as they attempt to seek production at discounts. Given the hitter friendly environment, Sanchez should be fine power wise but he’s also a pretty big wildcard.
Wow. Corbin Burnes dodged a bullet. He gets to throw to Rutchman instead of Sanchez. That’s a night and day difference.
Snell had something like a 1.19 era throwing to Sanchez in around 20 games.
I give even more credit to Snell.
Burnes would have continued to pitch to William Contreras.
Sanchez isn’t flashy by no means but he makes the plays he is supposed to make.
D.H, catcher they could do a lot worse, so it’s a nice play at the homer dome. The brew crew will welcome him with open arms. If war is 9 million it’s a steal.
Wow only 7 million? Lot of teams missed out on that.
I really thought he was headed back to the Madres. Didn’t really see the Brewers being in play for him, but as other people posted, he can split time at first and dh.
Can he play 3rd base??
Tyler Black can
Not ready
Everything I read says the front office thinks he is, and based on his numbers last year as he moved up through the system you can see why they almost called him up for the postseason push. Not only do I think he’s making the team I think he’s gonna be in the lineup opening day. We shall see I guess.
Reportedly doesn’t have the cannon arm you like at that position, nor the thunderous power. I’m rooting for the kid; maybe he can show us something. If he can get on base at .380 clip, I’ll take it.
extra base power, good on base, good speed
In 450 ABs last year he hit .284 with 18 bombs, 73 RBI, and 55 steals. Oh, and he’s not even 24 years old yet, and can play multiple positions on the diamond.
Fair value. It’ll be more difficult for him to not live up to the deal than it will be to provide commensurate value if not slightly exceed its value.
Nice offensive add. If the Brewers young pitchers do anywhere near as well as Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta did in 2018, this team has a great chance.
Hey look Bob nutting! Another missed opportunity. Do the pirates want to spend at all this offseason? It’s the same answer each year it seems
The Pirates signed Chapman brought back Cutch, Tellez is a meh signing but they have Davis who should get most of the reps behind the plate right? I ask because I don’t know, he was a highly regarded catching prospect but lost out to Rodriguez assuming due to Rods defense?
I’m glad the pirates didn’t sign him
Fire up the duck boats
Odd fit for both parties.
That’s what I thought at first but if you look St their roster it makes sense. They have 4 quality outfielders they want to get playing time for. Hoskins isn’t a great defensive 1b so Haase can play some outfield if needed and Yelich plays some 1b.
Bench right now looks like Weimer, Haase, Sanchez, Monastsrio and TBD.
It’s odd for Sanchez because there’s no clear path to PT for him outside of Contreras getting hurt. DH will be filled up with Yelich/Hoskins/Jake Bauers.
My guess is Haase doesn’t make the opening day roster, lots of people forgetting about Blake Perkins these days. Dude was one of the best defensive outfielders in the game last year. A switch hitter who can play all three spots. Haase starts in AAA, Sanchez plays BUC and partime DH, platooning with Yelich when he is not in LF. I think Monastario make the roster, and Tyler Black starts at 3rd. Gonna be a better line up than we have seen most years.
Yeah I agree it’s weird. I thought the Brewers would look to add either a LH bat or a legitimate 2B/3B. They have 3 lefties—Frelick, Mitchell, and Yelich. All outfielders & im not sure if Frelick & Mitchell are both everyday guys. Probably not when Chourio debuts.
I’m still surprised that they dumped Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser for nothing. Taylor is a really solid 4th outfielder, a right handed hitter, and had a .900 OPS over the final two months last season. And Houser could still have had value for them as a #5/6 swingman type starter.
I still don’t really understand getting rid of Houser either. Felt like he was a perfect fit in Milwaukee, ground ball pitcher with that really good defense behind him. Taylor I get with the glut of young talent on the grass, but can never have enough pitchers.
You’re darn right. It makes no sense,,,,what they did with those two?
Snell to the Brewers!
The Pirates are going to have pitchers and catchers report to camp soon, but it looks like no one will be there.
Watch them sign snell or someone and shock the entire league ha
Ian Snell?
Need a CF and one more SP much more than a catcher. I’m hoping their ‘interest’ in Sanchez was to drive the price up for division rival Brewers.
Don’t seem to have done a very good job of it.
The Pirates are entering a bridge year. They’re playing for 2025 and beyond. They lost Endy Rodriguez for the season, are just getting Oneil Cruz back from injury, and Termarr Johnson and their many talented pitching prospects won’t be ready until at least next season. It must be frustrating for their fans, but the future is still bright for them. Just not in 2024.
Haase will be security at AAA. Sanchez can play first and DH.
He can be traded if he hits well and when Quero is ready
Marlins missed out here. He had better playing time opportunity there.
They obviously thought differently. Maybe their new GM has too much Rays front office in him.
MIA should be able to sign Tim Anderson, Amed Rosario and Gio Urshela for not crazy money. OR 2? Even if for just 1 year or a multi year with opt out after the 1st year. Maybe they have some top prospects ready to make the leap to the majors. Keep talking about trading one of their SPs but their staff isn’t that deep. SMH Huh?
The Marlins haven’t signed a single free agent this season. They are only two good hitters and one more mid-rotation starter away from being a legitimate contender with the pitching staff they have, even without Alcantara. They simply are making no effort whatsoever to win, as always.
Rumor is the Tigers’ front office was too fiscally responsible to take a chance on having 2 catchers with hr power.
Geez. They could hired someone who actually cared.
Good for the Brewers. Good for Sanchez!
Tigers value defense.
Yeah…how’s that worked out for the last 10 years….?
I like Carleson. Hope he can start HITTING.
You’d think in a world of several BILLION people, they could find one man who can do both. I guess that’s where the Bill in Bill Freehan comes from.
Styler you were on here 3 days ago saying the pirates were the only mlb team interested in Sanchez and the rest of the mlb agreed with you that a cinder block was a better catcher than Sanchez.
How’s that prediction working out for ya?
Nice move by the Brew-skis. He’ll do a serviceable job behind the dish and he’ll hit 20 HRs. Btw…just to make a point…but Matt Arnold demanding Spencer Jones for a 1 year rental of Corbin Burnes is borderline farcical. I wouldn’t trade them Spencer Jones for their entire current outfield. So he pivots and deals him to the Os for an underwhelming package of players. Arnold needs to take a step back and remember: he owns the asset. But the asset is only worth what the buyer perceives.
I really hope Spencer Jones works out for the Yankees given how tightly Yankee fans are on this guys jock.
Yankee fans act like Jones is a consensus top 20 prospect vs a guy who isn’t even on some top 100 lists.
Then to mock the “underwhelming” package for Burns is also comical considering Ortiz and Hall were both on top 100 lists going into last season.
Lol. You wouldnt trade Jones for Chourio+? Get outta town.
I like Jones but Yankee fans are way overvaluing this guy. He’s a nice prospect but that is all, bottom 1/3 of the top 100 prospects and ignoring the fact that the top 100 list has large market bias. There are probably 100 guys in the miners if not more that can fill the bottom 30-40 spots on the top 100. That’s why the term “consensus top 20(30)” is so important and why those guys hardly ever get moved.
I liked him here in SD I wish him luck up there in Wisconsin.
I like it. 40-50 games as a quality BUC is worth a lot, and the ability to share DH duties is pretty good. Certainly not cheap, but good fit.
Probably the laziest Yankee I’ve ever seen in the last 20 years
Has no plate discipline, pitchers refused to pitch to him when he was behind the plate, couldn’t run, was overweight
Good riddance
Jeesh, he hasn’t been a Yankee since 21. Let it go already.
They say he’s weak behind the dish. The Brew has been great at improving catchers defensively.
He actually improved a lot defensively last season. He’s always had a good arm but improved his framing and blocking with the Padres, and the pitchers openly discussed how well he worked with their staff. Blake Snell gave him a lot of credit for the dominant final four months he had last year.
Budget constraints TV Revenue issues aside MIL knew Burnes wasn’t going to resign with them, they could have kept him till ASB but then have less leverage to get a decent return back. Just trying to pivot find useful players at reasonable prices. Like a lot of teams
– kind of a “middle market” team a slight step up from “small”
$7 million AAV? Wow! Guess we know why he is not a Padre.
They didn’t want to overpay?
Cost wasn’t likely the only consideration. Sanchez wants to play not be a back up to a back up as he would have been in SD
Sánchez wouldn’t have been a backup in San Diego. Him and Campusano could have evenly split time between catcher and DH. It’s crazy to me that the Padres didn’t want to bring him back, considering how well he played for them and how effective he was at working with their pitching staff. They clearly were dead set on not spending any money this offseason. Definitely disappointing for Padres fans.
Sanchez is ( was ) a FA and he wouldn’t be number 1 catcher in SD, he would indeed be backing up Campusano, who deserves #1. Sanchez was a steal last year and Preller gets it that he’d seek a better situation as FA. Smart move by Pads to work Higgy (who is a much better defender) into the Soto trade because they wouldn’t likely get Sanchez to come back.
Sanchez will absolutely be a backup in Milwaukee. William Contreras is their starter.
If he had signed with the Padres my guess is that Higashioka would have been included in a trade for a starting pitcher or a LF.
Web – doesn’t it make more sense to just not sign him for 7 m (which is what happened whether the Padres choice or Sánchez choice or both) and use the 7 m to sign a LF – Profar probably 2.5 plus incentives at this point, instead of signing Sanchez and forcing yourself into a trade?
SD can probably fill LF with Profar and 1b / DH with Cooper for the same 7 m and have 2 starters over a backup C?
I love what sanchez did in SD but his 3-5 year track record suggest that was more “lightening in a bottle” than a revival of career. If I recall, he tailed off the last few weeks even.
He earned his payday and good for him but not a great loss for SD who has more holes to fill with that money.
After Higs was included in the Soto deal, Sanchez moved down the list of priority, writing was on the wall. No surprises here, just roster management.
He will DH quite a bit in Milw., they need the RH bat more than the Pads did
Shocker another player that the pirates were “interested” in has signed elsewhere.
The only interest Nutting cares about is from his bank
Ditto Illich.
This is the first time the Brewers have had an intimidating lineup in such a long time
Which makes it all the more infuriating that they traded Burnes. If they had kept him, I would put them as the favorites to win their division. As is, I think I like the Reds slightly better.
I dunno….one year of Burnes for 12 years of Ortiz/Hall, no to mention the 34th pick this summer. Then Burnes signs with one of the LA teams and the rich get richer.
Good pickup.
Sanchez’s power has always been real, and his strong arm is valuable with the increased running game.
Dirty
We signed another non-putcher..must mean Peralta is about to be traded.
I would guess that this means one of our young outfielders (i.e Garret Mitchell) is getting traded for pitching. I know our rotation gained another yesterday, but overall lacks top end talent outside Peralta, who can be hot and cold. Trading a player like Mitchell or Wiemer (plus more I get it) for another top end starter seem like the next logical move.
They could try to pry Luzardo away from the Marlins, but it would probably take a pretty good package. Something like Mitchell or Wiemer plus Quero and one of their top pitching prospects.
Quero by himself is an overpay for Luzardo. Mitchell would be enough to get Edward Cabrera, and actually be an slight overpay.
The deal also includes unlimited grazing rights between his six 8 course meals a day. Or maybe it’s eight 6 course meals a day, either way. Ahahaha!
It’s ironic how someone who you are suggesting is fat or overweight, is still making millions annually as a professional athlete. It reminds me of all the trolls who used to say Brian Scalabrine sucked. So he rented out a gym to play one on one versus anybody who showed up and blew them all away.
How about you put this into perspective before steppi g up on your soapbox to make outlandish comments about an athlete who is way more talented and athletic than any poster on this site.
Yes Mrs. Sanchez. Ahahaha!
I should’ve know from your username that you’re an arrogant New Yorker. I’m glad you’re able to talk trash about others to make you feel better about your pathetic life.
NYCR
Muted
Good
If he was 15% better than the league average hitter then baseball is going to hell
I’m shocked he couldn’t do better than this, honestly. I thought he’d get a two year deal worth somewhere between $15-20 million. This is a good get for the Brewers.
Yo Soy Gary
Unless there’s a trade in the works, I’ve gotta think Jahmai Jones is probably the odd man out? I wouldn’t be shocked though if Adames or Williams is traded with an outfielder for another pitcher though.
Seems like Arnold is dancing around that 40 man everyday lately.
Brewers got him at a good price. I feel like he’s going to mash in that stadium too.
Would be a great DH 5-6 days a week. If he caught every Saturday w a day game after a night game he could really be an asset.
Sanchez will likely catch two games a week, as the Brewers like to give Contreras an extra game off behind the plate once a week by playing him at DH. And he’ll be the primary DH against lefties, but there’s enough left-handed bats on the roster to put Sanchez in a platoon at DH.
Given how well Snell and other SD pitchers did with Sanchez behind the plate, I’m surprised the Padres didn’t bring him back. Also surprised he couldn’t sign with a team that could give him more ABs: Marlins, GIants or Rockies.
Very odd signing for a team with limited payroll.
Not at all. The Brewers payroll isn’t as limited as you think. They are a small market team, but their attendance has been no worse than 9th in the NL since Am Fam Field/Miller Park opened in 2001 and they’ve usually had a payroll that ranks no lower than 25th. Attanasio isn’t among the richest of owners but at least he feels an obligation to the loyal fans to put a team on the field worthy of their loyalty. They saved $15 million when they dealt Burnes. It wasn’t because they couldn’t afford paying Burnes $15 million, but because he’s a FA after this year and he’ll be looking for a $300 million contract. So they got what they could. Brewers are not without talent. Sanchez adds pop to their lineup. If team doesn’t contend, they can always deal him at the deadline.
Very much unlike the Detroit Tigers, thier ownership and front office.
Attendance has little to nothing to do with payroll. It’s all about corporate sponsors which they have few and TV market.
$7 million for past his prime back up catcher and diminishing defense skills. But since he hits HR once every 30 ABs.
It is hard to say this, but $7mm is peanuts anymore.
Actually, attendance has EVERYTHING to do with economics of baseball. The owners claim some sort of social/cultural significance with the host cities….
3M to 1.5M in attendance isn’t good for the businesses or tax revenue.
Think about how much money one concert generates in a community.
Community money is used to build the stadium. The community should demand owners keep thier part of the bargain.
Great in theory. But when it comes down to it. Teams/Owners always have there hand out because they know cities will fill it with the green salad of salvation $$$$$
No kidding!! But its a lot for Sanchez. Hell they should have just paid Victor Caratini
This article is incredibly over written and repetitive. ‘He hasn’t had the greatest defence but has improved.
Not always a strong defender but his numbers have gotten better
His defence is…
Okay we get it!
All aboard the A.D,D, express here!
Would of rather they paid to keep Counsell than sign Sanchez
put that toward a decent starter like Houser who they dealt for nothing.
Counsell wanted to leave.
You might be right. I’m just in denial
He is a lot better player than fans give him credit for
so the brewers are like a shoo-in for Snell now, right?
From what I have read in the NY papers, Sanchez tended to not put forth his best effort (lazy?).
There’s mixed reports about that. All fans will say he was lazy defensively but fans tend to mix not being great with being lazy.
He did say his Attitude changed when he had a child and he started taking things more seriously.
He did have some attitude issues in the minors (refusing to catch in the pen saying it wasn’t his job) and that got him demoted but that was over ten years ago now.
CC Sabathia did defend him for what it’s worth saying it’s BS that anyone calls him lazy cause he sees him put the work in. So I’ll take his word (someone who actually played with him and knew him on a day to day basis)
I would say good for move for
The brew crew if they weren’t dismantling their team. But nothing to lose here. Surprised other teams didn’t take a chance on him after what he did for the Padres.
I stand behind my original post.
I like the signing. DH and occasional C.
Can we please talk about Woodruff and signing him to a “heal-up and pitch” 1 year + option? We help him come back and he gives us a prove it season (love that dude.. just sayin). We all know he’ll be himself once healthy.