The Gary Sanchez problem. The Yankees have one, and the answer might seem simple to some: just get rid of him. But, it’s really quite complicated.
The two-time All-Star catcher fell so far in 2020, both offensively and defensively, that he was benched in the playoffs. But, he’s also slammed 46 home runs in his last 162 regular season games since September of 2018, including 10 homers this past season. Power like that is hard to throw away. So what do the Yankees do?
In Sanchez, they have a catcher who struggled to reconcile the new low-set defensive stance (designed to steal strikes at the bottom of the zone) with his blocking, which had been getting better (far fewer passed balls and wild pitches in 2019 than the previous two years).
But the biggest mystery was at the plate, not behind it. Sanchez still flashed old-fashioned light-tower power and some of his Statcast numbers are insanely good, and he barreled up balls and made hard contact more often than most of the league. But making contact at all was the bigger problem, because Sanchez suddenly couldn’t catch up to fastballs – he struck out a ridiculous 36 percent of the time and batted an unfathomable .147.
And this is the guy who two short years ago left Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton agape in batting practice sessions.
Sanchez turns 28 in December, so he still has some prime years remaining, and he also has two years before free agency. But is it possible the Yankees just non-tender him and cut ties with him altogether? It is part of the discussion, but it is unlikely.
“How can you forget about a catcher who after his first two seasons was going to the Hall of Fame?” a scout asked me recently. “Someone is going to want this guy and put him back on track.”
“Whenever he gets up to the plate you expect him to do damage,” a team executive told me. “He is a dangerous hitter. Everybody knows that.”
The Yankees have badly wanted to marry that offensive firepower to a dependable backstop. Sanchez has long had a rocket arm to stop a running game and by many accounts is a strong pitch-caller, but he has struggled with the rest of his defensive game. The vision was to create Jorge Posada 2.0, but Sanchez lacks the athleticism that Posada (a converted infielder) possessed.
When I asked people around the game to describe Sanchez’s defense, some used an industry grade – “below average” – to be kind. The more blunt ones used words like “brutal” or “putrid,” and the expression “deer in the headlights” came up more than once.
But is it all his fault? The Yankees have employed three catching coaches in the last four seasons, so the messengers and the messages keep changing. And perhaps, the goal posts are moving too, because of how quickly the game has changed in terms of what catchers are being asked to do:
•Digest detailed scouting and analytic reports and video on every opposing hitter, and the same for every opposing pitcher.
“It’s game prep of the 80’s and 90’s on steroids,” a veteran scout told me.
•Catching five or six different pitchers every night is normal, so be prepared for all of them and what they have to give that particular night. For the next eight innings, catch 120-150 pitches mostly thrown 95-98 miles per hour, with sliders that are thrown at 90-plus in the dirt.
“Sliders are now 92-93,” the scout continued. “Not that long ago that was a good fastball.”
•Then in the 9th inning, when the game is already over three hours long, the Yankees bring in Aroldis Chapman with his 101 mph fastball and exploding slider. And oh, what’s this? Now he has a split-fingered changeup that moves a different way altogether? Don’t let even one of them get past you.
“Power, movement, and sharpness are worse than ever and it’s still 60 feet 6 inches,” added the veteran scout.
•And remember, everyone is trying to steal your signs and sequences, so be extra protective of those, too.
•And finally, after each game comes a detailed analysis from the coaching staff and analytics department that pinpoints every pitch that was called wrong, caught wrong, or just plain botched.
The mental fatigue can be draining.
During Sanchez’s rookie year in 2016, he remarked to Yankees coach Tony Pena that he was exhausted at the end of each game, something he never felt in the minors.
"Catching at Triple-A and catching in the majors are not even on the same planet,” a major league coach told me. “If you lose at Scranton, it’s not a story.”
To his credit, Sanchez has never publicly complained about any aspect of the job being too tough and is not known to grouse about it with teammates or coaches either – even his comment to Pena came off as more commentary than complaint. Sanchez has been questioned endlessly by reporters about his defensive struggles, and he has always answered with talk about trying to learn and improve. He does not make excuses, and coaches have praised his toughness.
Certainly catching is harder now that it has ever been based on all the factors above. But if you watched the League Championship Series and the World Series, you saw catchers making blocks and catching similar style pitchers without as much trouble as Sanchez has had.
“Is it too much for him?” the team executive wondered. “I’m not saying he’s dumb. I’m just asking if it’s too much, because it is a lot to handle.”
And don’t forget to take your four at-bats and hit like Mike Piazza, too, because that’s the important part.
“You stomached Piazza’s defense because he’s a Hall of Famer,” a former big leaguer and current scout told me. “Gary is not a Hall of Famer.”
And the perception that he does not care about his defense – helped along by slow jogs after pitches that have bounced away – has harmed his overall reputation.
“Some of the things he does come off as lackadaisical, but he wants to do better,” a former teammate and Sanchez confidant said, pointing out extra work Sanchez was putting in to get more comfortable with Gerrit Cole before the team decided to pair the ace with Kyle Higashioka the rest of the season. “And if he didn’t care he wouldn’t have tried (the new stance). He wasn’t comfortable with it, but it was sold to him as a better option for him so he did it. That’s not a guy who doesn’t care.”
“He’s not lazy,” another scout and former catcher said. “He has a tremendous amount of pride and he hates to fail. It doesn’t always show, but it’s in there.”
But how much more is he willing to commit to his work behind the plate? Catchers more athletic than Sanchez have become worried about their strength, quickness, and stamina as they hit their early 30’s. Sanchez, who is listed at 6’2” and 230 pounds, has battled lower body injuries in years past and is already reaching that point. And with two years remaining until free agency, his physical conditioning is a very big concern for the Yankees or any other team considering a long-term commitment.
The Yankees have a few options available right now. They could non-tender Sanchez and make him a free agent immediately, which would either end his Yankee tenure or open the door to re-sign him for a salary far lower than the $6-7 million he could make in arbitration. And, of course, they could explore the trade market or simply keep him.
Realistically, there is no trade value. Although many teams would have interest in signing Sanchez should he be set free, no way would they part with any decent prospect and then add Sanchez’s arbitration figure to their payroll. Maybe if he had come off a good year, but not this past one.
And if the Yankees let him go now, they need to be in the market for catching again, with Higashioka as the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. The free agent market includes some attractive names like James McCann and former Yankee Austin Romine, not to mention the top of the market free agent, J.T. Realmuto – but you would have to live with whatever good comes out of Sanchez in another uniform, and there are many who believe he is still too talented to just flame out, that he will inevitably bounce back.
“If you walk away from Gary now, he’s going to hit 40 home runs for some other team guaranteed,” the veteran scout said. “Walking away from him now is high risk, no reward."
The best way for the Yankees to manage Sanchez might be to move to a two-catcher platoon – fully embrace the Cole-Higashioka pairing and maybe look for a 60-40 split at catcher. There will be occasional DH at-bats as well, and maybe Sanchez makes the necessary adjustment to get back to mashing fastballs. If that happens, the playing time could be adjusted, because let’s face it: if he hits, he plays.
“Every team wants an offensive advantage behind the plate,” the veteran scout said. “They will take it any day of the week. You can find a way to get by with a below average defender if he brings big offense.”
The guess here is that the Yankees will not give up on Sanchez. They have history with him and that includes the good history. They will likely want to give it one more year, and next spring, Sanchez will be asked once again to do a lot of work to get his game right, both offensively and defensively.
But if you are the one evaluating Sanchez, ask yourself this: which skill makes him more valuable to you right now, hitting or catching? And which part of his game is probably going to come around again quicker, hitting or catching?
You already know the answers, but are you okay with them?
This is The Gary Sanchez problem. It might seem like an easy call, but it’s really not.
Follow Sweeny Murti on Twitter: @YankeesWFAN
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