The Mets announced that they have reinstated catcher Tomás Nido from the injured list and designated fellow backstop Gary Sánchez for assignment in a corresponding move.
Sánchez, 30, was selected to the Mets’ roster less than a week ago. He received seven plate appearances in three games, striking out in three of them and producing a slash of .167/.143/.167 in that tiny sample size. He wasn’t likely to stick around for very long anyway, since both Nido and Omar Narváez have been working their way back from injuries while rookie Francisco Álvarez is thriving with a .253/.316/.506 batting line.
Prior to joining the Mets, Sánchez had just become a free agent for the first time this past winter. However, he lingered on the open market until April, when he signed a minor league deal with the Giants. That deal came with an opt-out on May 1, which he eventually triggered after hitting just .164/.319/.182 for their Triple-A club. He fared much better after signing a minor league deal with the Mets, hitting .308/.514/.500 in Syracuse before getting called up and scuffling in the majors.
At this point, it’s tough to figure out what to make of Sánchez. He was once arguably the best offensive catcher in the league, hitting 53 home runs over 2016 and 2017 and slashing .283/.353/.567 for a wRC+ of 142. However, that came with concerns about his defense, tying for the lead league in passed balls with 16 in 2017 and then taking sole possession with 18 in 2018. More recently, his offense has fallen off but his defense has improved. With the Twins last year, he allowed just four passed balls and had roughly average defense but hit just .205/.282/.377 for a wRC+ of 89. This year, he’s been inconsistent, but it would be fair to wonder if all the bouncing from club to club made it hard for him to get into a consistent rhythm.
The Mets will now have a week to trade Sánchez or pass him through waivers. The deal they signed him to came with a prorated $1.5MM salary for the year, which amounts to about $1.1MM from his selection to the end of the season. They could try to eat some of that in order to facilitate a trade but he will most likely end up released, with the Mets still on the hook for that money. If that comes to pass, any of the 29 other clubs would be free to sign him and pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.
It’s been a while since Sánchez has been in peak form but there are plenty of teams throughout the league dealing with injuries to their catchers. Perhaps one or a few of them will be intrigued by the possibility of taking a chance on a Sánchez bounceback with essentially no financial risk.
For the Mets, this settles their catching situation for the time being. However, Narváez has recently started a rehab assignment and the club will have to decide what to do when he’s ready to return.
Lolmets
How so?
Because of Stevie’s stupidity.
You bronxmac son?
Lolstevie
Oh, I dunno, $1.1M for 3 games maybe??
Jed Lowrie says to hold his beer 20 million for 1 walk and 8 plate appearances with no hits.
That’s not how it works. He can accept an assignment and the Mets will keep him stashed in AAA. Or, if he refuses an assignment, another team will surely pick him up and will be on the hook for at least the league minimum of $700k which will be subtracted from what the Mets owe.
Either way the money is negligible, I don’t see the big deal. It was worth a flyer for some stopgap offensive potential.
See Chris G’s comment.
1. League min is prorated for how many days so it would be less than 500k at this point most likely. That’s assuming he spends all of the rest of the season on another mlb team, which, good luck
2. Most importantly, the Mets have a contract. If he doesn’t sign with another team or doesn’t make it back to the majors, yes, they paid 1.1M for 3 games. You’re making a big assumption someone picks him up and puts him in MLB
The league minimum for rest of season is roughly $1.1 million. That’s why it is the amount the Mets owe…..
@Tiger per the article above
“The Mets will now have a week to trade Sánchez or pass him through waivers. The deal they signed him to came with a prorated $1.5MM salary for the year, which amounts to about $1.1MM from his selection to the end of the season.”
The league minimum is 700k. which is the total BeforeMcCourt is alluding to above that someone will pay if he stays on their mlb roster the rest of the year.
Also, since the Mets signed him well after surpassing the luxury tax, they’re on the hook for that in addition to the salary (which yes, pales in comparison to the $20M+ they are paying Cano, the $9M+ they are paying McCann and the $3.25M they are still paying Ruf)
The Mets waived Goodbye to the Luxury Tax last December and never looked back. The money they will owe Sanchez is nowhere near that amount I’d bet but it was hilarious watching it unfold anyway. The one thing I actually don’t understand is if it was an opt out choice to either bring him up or let him walk, Why they just didn’t let him walk?
No it’s not. The whole year is 702k and we’re almost 1/3 in
sorry i think it autocorrected lol .. i put before beforemccourt lol
That was quick
Scary Gary !!!
Guess they decided they needed an actual Catcher.
My ….. that escalated quickly.
Wow!
Correct move
He should of lined up with his back to the Pitcher. The game would of moved along faster.
It was actually pretty funny that the Cubs went with a 3 man booth that night as Sciambi and JD were joined by Joe Girardi, Joe was basically calmly describing everything Sanchez was doing wrong( Which was everything), And it was getting funny and sad at the same time. Then Senga launched one about 5 feet over his head( on purpose?), And he made a great play by actually catching it and Joe couldn’t believe it. Joe would go, See how he’s on one knee, He can’t push off and go right and it would go right and he’s miss it. It was fantastic.
That game he ” Tried ” to catch against the Cubs was totally ridiculous. The guy should never be allowed behind a plate ever again.
I feel the same way about Grandal, who had three passed balls in a game for the Brewers just before signing with the Sox.
Word on the street is that he is heading to the whitesox on a minor league deal
On what street?
Pretty sure it’s a dead end one.
River Ave
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Who didn’t see that one coming?
Sanchez?
The dirty one.
Man this guy gets no love.
Well, he tried to charge the Giants 5 mill for the “privilege” of calling him up and offering him a longer shot as a backup catcher… he might be bringing it on himself.
No Love? Somehow he got a million plus guarantee!
What was the point of even bringing Sanchez up? Granted he’ll probably clear waivers, but I can’t imagine Sanchez agreed to this……or maybe he did – who knows.
He didn’t have a choice… they called him up before his opt out.
The Mets had to call him up or risk he leaves and he probably threatened he’d opt out. But until the opt out day passes, he had no say in the matter
Only thing I can think of is that they didn’t want to start the clock on a minor leaguer while Nido was out
Oh man that is just hilarious
Another failed Yankee prospect. More specifically, another one dimensional player who couldn’t even play defense
Any prospect who makes the majors and plays at an All-Star level is not failed. A failed prospect is someone who never makes the majors
that isn’t really fair. He is terrible offensively now too.
@bag o ballz
LOL.. OK, now it’s fair.
Nido as an MLB player is garbage.
He’ll be gone once Omar Narvaez comes back.
That’s not accurate, nor is it fair. The man has had a decent young career as a defensive backup who can lay down a bunt. Last year, he did a little more with the bat. This year, he needed medical attention for an eye issue he was trying to play through.
Let him come back and show what he’s about. Guarantee it’s better than Sanchez. Maybe we trade one of the catchers to another team desperate for backstop talent…
“One of the catchers” would be Nido. Alvarez is working out well and Narvaez is the veteran so Nido is the odd man out.
Agreed. Nido’s offensive value is negligible, but he’s a good defensive catcher. More importantly, his last two arbitration years were bought out over the winter. He definitely has some trade value.
As for Alvarez, he will likely never see the minors again. His defense is much better than advertised. And after looking overmatched in his first 20 or so plate appearances, he’s been on a tear. His slash line over the last 19 games is .310/.385/.655.
Time will tell if he keeps it up, but he looks better and better at the plate every day.
Yet another swing and a miss by the Mets. $300M doesn’t buy you what it used to.
Gary has $300 million reasons not to take his outright assignment.
Derp
Not a swing and a miss at all. They watched a passed ball roll untouched to the backstop. Moving on.
The Mets don’t seem to insist on that.
Doubt it but with Jansen getting an MRI and maybe missing some time I wonder if the Jays claim him keep him for 10 or 15 days and maybe start him 3 or 4 games
Gary Sanchez catching Alek Manoah. Over/ Under on passed balls?
Forget about Manoah, think of Gausman’s splitter.
Per inning? 2.5
@BaseballisLife
Pffffft. I’ll take the over.
Speaking of the Jays, what’s the deal with Kirk? He used to be their number one, but it seems Jansen is the better option.
Nothing is up. Kirk had a great April and a poor first few weeks of May, whereas Jansen had a terrible April and a good first few weeks of May. That’s called normal variation.
Avenger, Kirk was never really their number one catcher while Jansen was healthy. More of a backup/timeshare with Jansen. But his hitting kept him at everyday ABs as a DH when he wasn’t catching. This year, Brandon Belt happened to Kirk.
Pirates should pick him up. He can’t be any worse than Austin Hedges.
Yes he can. And he is.
Sure he could. Ask Cleveland. He could be Mike Zunino
Outside of Rutschman, Smith, Moreno, Jansen, Murphy, d’Arnaud, Perez and Wilson Contreras, there doesn’t seem to be enough good catchers to go around.
Realmuto just vanish?
Jonah Heim enters the room
Cal Raleigh celebrates on your grave
Add Alvarez to that list, and you forgot Realmuto.
I know it’s already been said but… JT Realmuto has entered the chat.
Thanks, guys. I knew I’d forget someone and I was relying on you to tell me who?
Well that was fast
The Mets did Sanchez dirty!
Needs to be a permanent DH.
He would return to his former hitting prowess if he does.
Teams typically like their DH to be able to hit.
IoI
By the end of the cubs game I was belly laughing..It was horrendous. If he plays again it better only be as a DH.
General question: How does Sanchez (or any player who yo-yos like this) get paid? Once brought up, is he entitled to a MLB minimum salary for a prorated period?
worse they signed him to a split contract and while it is not a ton of money he got i believe it was over a million dollars for that performance since he was promoted to the major league roster.
To think someone thought this was the best signing of eppler’s mets career as gm
Who? Maybe Sanchez or his family but I doubt that too.
NYC-SF-NYC. Frequent flyer miles not too shabby.
You missed his stint in Minnesota.
His passed ball didn’t help. 7 plate appearances is awfully quick to see if he can hit like be used to. But guess they didn’t want to hang onto him to serve as Right handed hitting DH.
So now the Mets have the below Mendoza line catcher back. The Mets need to package Nido and a bullpen catcher to be named later for cash ( to anyone). Maybe substitute the tee-shirt shooting intern for that bullpen catcher to be named later. Not sure who would bring back more money.
I know it was just a handful of fans drinking the kool aid but I remember this guy being called the next Buster Posey lol.
We meant Buster Poindexter.
Stupid autocorrect.
New York Dolls, New York passed balls, easy to confuse the two.
the next Parker Posey
Enjoy Korea!
NYC-SF-NYC. Frequent flyer miles nothing to sneeze at.
Nido had Dry Eye Syndrome; us Mets fans had Wet Eye Syndrome from crying watching Sanchez this week.
All other NL East fans were getting wet elsewhere
That’s just dirty on the Mets.
Why? he got a million bucks to play baseball for a couple of weeks.
@Mets6986. Get it? Dirty…Sanchez? Get it?
But he made how much for that 3 games?
Getting a million dollars a game?
Sanchez is a sloth. But a smart sloth.
Mets are an absolute joke…
Sure they are. If that’s the case what does that make the Padres? Last I checked, they were four games under .500 and have several multiple-year contracts that will limit their ability to add new players for years to come. For the Mets, a lot of money comes off the books in two years when Verlander and Scherzer’s contracts expire.
Who mentioned the Padres?
jwt mentioned the padres.
I believe that’s called ‘deflecting’…
I believe the guy who you replied to did
Can he play shortstop?
If Gary Sanchez would consider going to the Minors to be evaluated then the Orioles could consider him
That didn’t take long.
Padres should sign him once he’s officially released.
Nola can’t hit at all and isn’t good defensively either. I get that the pitchers like throwing to him, but he’s hitting .140/.259/.194 and lets runners steal bags at will. SD should option him down to AAA and see if Sánchez can get something going with his bat.
Sanchez should consider life as a hockey goalie. When the puck gets past him he doesn’t have to retrieve it.
I’m sure the term hockey has been attached to his play several times in his career.
He wouldn’t have made it out of the minors, let alone the house league with his work ethic. Please don’t disgrace hockey.
That was a real short stay. He probably didn’t even get his meal money yet!
He’s done, folks.
Don’t know why anyone would continue to think he has anything left to offer.
Someone will need an extra catcher.
Sanchez needs an extra catcher.
About twenty feet behind him.
Hilarious.
Alvarez is the future in Metland. Sanchez on your 26-man at this point is a sign of serious disrepair on the roster.
Awful move to get rid of Sanchez when you have Vogelfat still on the team. Gary Sanchez is still an above average hitter, he just needs consistent playing time to get going. I actually complimented Eppler on the Sanchez signing for once. Looks like he prefers to have Nido and his .120 batting average on the team. Personally I’d just get rid of Vogelbach. Vientos and Sanchez can hit righties and lefties
Perhaps you missed last year when he played consistently in Minnesota and was a below average batter. He is not an everyday player of any sort at this point. He may become one with a consistent role somewhere again, but at this point he is no longer an MLBer.
@wreckage he was on pace to hit 20hrs last year from the catcher position. Thats pretty darn good compared to the catching talent in the MLB. Over a full season, I think Sanchez can hit .240 with 23 homeruns. Watch a team give him an actual chance and hes going to rake, you will see
I guess we will agree to disagree. Sanchez hasn’t raked in how many years now? What’s changed? Nido is likely gone (traded or released) when Navareaz returns.
@jwt421 hes been working on a more contact approach with his swing at the plate. Higher batting average and less power at the plate
The only plate Sanchez makes contact at comes with a knife, fork and bib.
Because of 40-120
That didn’t take long.
Well, look at the bright side. Now he’s got all the time he needs to watch the whole four series of the Twilight Saga!
That did not make any sense at all. Does the Mets need a new G.M instead ? Or was this some charity reason, or some type of money laundering scheme ? Thank God the Mets are in the National league, and are a wild card team right now. They’d be buried if in the American. A new G.M to bring in a new manager ? If the pitching is getting healthy, but the standings are not improving, then perhaps that will be needed.
Pirates note, Hedges out, Sanchez in?
Send Gary Sanchez to STL and see if he does things their way.
He’s just like Lucroy a few years back, passed around for a couple more years before he’s chewed up spit out and booed off stage.
He’s going to cash out after making somewhere around another 10M$ bouncing from team to team to see if anyone’s staff has what it takes to put Humpty together again. Nice deal if you ask me. Our boy is going to make the most out of coasting off of his best seasons and most teams are willing to dig under the couch cushions to see if they can spin straw into gold.
You think he’s got 10 more years of hanging around? Okay…
He’s capped this year and there’s no reason to expect him to get multiple additional chances or anything at a higher value at this point.
He’s right, McCourt.
You’re wrong.
You should be used to that by now.
Sanchez did manage to tie Nido in RBI on the season.
The next tryout he has will be right after “Gene Gene the Dancing Machine” performs and right before Jaype Morgan bangs that gong.
why don’t they just release the kraken?
Should have kept him as a DH.
The “H” in “DH” stands for “hitter.”
… so, no.
Not that it matters. I believe this is the first time he’s been released. His other moves have been trades, free agency, and him opting out.
He was a force his first two seasons and very productive through his first four seasons. He’ll get another shot or three.