In the last few days news broke that the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez might get traded.
My response to that? Good. For his own sake and the sake of the team he needs to be bid farewell.
Yankees Willing To Listen To Trade Offers For Gary Sanchez https://t.co/8aOjNgbGLi pic.twitter.com/UL66T2E7QC
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) November 12, 2020
I don’t know what the Yankees could get for him at this point. The main selling points are that he’s 29-years-old, has power, and is under team control for two more seasons.
Other than those three selling points, I’m not much sure what he really has to offer.
The power is undeniable, but he’s the definition of a streak hitter and when he’s cold, he’s below zero.
Want evidence? I can provide that.
Sanchez’s first two seasons were good, great even considering the state of the position itself was and is poor. In his first two seasons (2016-17), Sanchez played in 175 games, hit 53 HR’s and drove in 132 runners in addition to a slash line of .284/.354/.568. Times were good.
His last three seasons (2018-20) haven’t been something to write home about. In those season’s Sanchez played in 244 games, hit 62 HR’s, and drove in 154 runners while his slash line came in at .200/.296/.453.
That’s gross. That’s abhorrent and offends me as a fan of baseball.
The Yankees, to their credit, did not dump Sanchez after his first dip in production (2018 when he hit .186), but his second which was this season (after a moderate bounce back in 2019 when he hit 34 HR’s and batted .232), the COVID season, was his worst.
Why was it his worst?
He hit .147, which was the lowest battering average of any hitter in either league with at least 170 plate appearances.
I never even mentioned his ability defensively as a catcher. I’m sure I could look up some numbers that tell me he’s more than a steaming pile of doo doo behind the plate, but I won’t. I’ll go with what my eyes tell me, and that is if the position of catcher wasn’t as shallow as it is (i.e., only four catchers even had enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title, and only eight had more than 170 plate appearances in 2020) Sanchez would have already been a full-time DH.
The Yankees let it ride on Sanchez for the 2020 season and the result is he needs to be traded.
I fully expect Gary Sanchez to be traded.
Also, I fully expect him to hit .280 with 35 bombs and 110 RBI, but I’m content with that knowledge because it’s not going to work with the Yankees.
If you have thoughts on this post on Gary Sanchez possibly being traded (or anything else for that matter) you can share them with me on Twitter @WilliamFKing. My other posts can be found right here. More baseball talk can be found on Twitter with @BellyUpBaseball.
