12:30 pm: Sanchez will make $1.5MM if selected to the Mets’ roster with $1.2MM of incentives also available, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
8:16 am: Gary Sanchez is returning to New York, as the veteran catcher is signing a minor league contract with the Mets, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Sanchez, 30, was unable to find a big league opportunity this past winter despite being the starting catcher for the Twins last season, and for the Yankees in the five seasons prior to that. Long considered a bat-first catcher who struggles defensively behind the plate, Sanchez has seen that reputation change on both sides of the ball in recent years. His defense received improved marks during his time with the Twins in 2022, though his offense has taken a downturn in recent years. Since the start of the 2020 season, Sanchez has slashed just .195/.287/.394 with a 29.5% strikeout rate. Though that production has translated to a 90 wRC+ that’s perfectly acceptable for a catcher, it’s still a far cry from his career mark of 109 or the 123 wRC+ he posted from the beginning of his career through the end of the 2019 campaign.
Sanchez previously signed with the Giants on a minor league deal earlier this season, but exercised a May 1 opt-out to return to the free agent market after not getting added to the active roster. Sanchez reportedly received interest from the Angels regarding his services after opting out, but will ultimately join the Mets, with whom he figures to act as quality catching depth behind top prospect Francisco Alvarez and backup Tomas Nido. The depth Sanchez can provide is of particular importance to a Mets club that figures to be without offseason signing Omar Narvaez for at least another month following his early season calf strain.
Sherman notes that, while the club’s initial plan is to send Sanchez to Triple-A Syracuse, the club hopes to help him rediscover the offensive prowess that made him a quality regular behind the plate over the past several years after Sanchez slashed just .164/.319/.182 in 69 plate appearances with the Giants at the Triple-A level.
A renaissance from Sanchez would be a major boon to a Mets club with World Series aspirations but a 17-18 record in the early going this season, particularly given the club’s early season struggles to find production behind the plate. Mets catchers have combined for a wRC+ of just 29 so far this season, the worst figure in the majors to this point. Long considered among the top prospects in all of baseball, Alvarez could certainly help to boost the club’s production behind the plate in theory, but his .220/.264/.320 slash line in 53 big league plate appearances this season suggests the 21-year-old may not be ready for a starting role in the majors just yet.
So much for the Angels’ interest. Thaiss is on a tear though so we’re good for the moment until Stassi returns, hopefully in a backup role since Thaiss is hitting so well.
Still would’ve been a nice depth signing on a minor league deal. If wallach goes down I’m not sure who gets called up since Quero is so inexperienced. But it’s nice to see Thaiss finally hitting. I wonder if the Angels outright Stassi as they did Fletcher once he and O’Hoppe are healthy.
Agreed for depth. I don’t see them canning Stassi because of our lack of depth behind the plate. Fletcher was a different story. We have lots of infielders waiting in the wings.
Not sure how he fits. Nido has been a black hole in the lineup for NYM, even more than usual. When a team is underperforming, those things get amplified. Losing Narvaez early has hurt that team
As Narvaez has never played for the Mets, how much has his continual non-playing actually hurt them?
History has shown that Narvaez (100 OPS+) is a better offensive player than Nido (55) so it’s safe to assume who the Mets would rather have be their catcher.
History is the past. No guarentee of the future performance or how he will mesh. Just ask St. Louis.
Well you’ve gotta use facts to make decisions.
By that logic, Ohtani is looking at a one-year deal for the league minimum next season.
Narvaez hasn’t played since April 5th and still has driven in more runs and has been on base almost as many times as Nido has all season. Pretty easy to even look at this year’s numbers and assume Narvaez is a better bat than Nido.
His non playing hurts them because….he has not been playing.lol
He doesn’t fit at all. That “catching depth” narrative doesn’t make sense here. The Mets have tons of catching depth. All of it mediocre.
This will help the Mets staff. Gary is excellent at passed balls. Those pitches going to the backstop will delay the timer for the next pitch and give Mets pitchers much needed breaks.
Cut nido please. Better off letting the pitcher hit and dh nido he’s so bad
Uhhh, you can’t use the DH if you let the pitcher bat for himself.
.164/.319/.182 in Triple A
Gary, “slug” is supposed to be a verb not a noun.
This is terrible.
It might be catching depth, but quality catching depth? Maybe they should have kept McCann instead of paying to have him play elsewhere.
Should have kept NJ native Nick Dini, who was at AAA Syracuse last year and is raking at AAA Durham for the Rays. At least he knows how to sit behind Alvarez and wait for his turn. Bet he’s have more XBHs than Nido.
He definitely ain’t no Gary Carter
More like Billy Carter. Amirite?
Hard to believe how Eppler and the Mets front office have badmouthed and screwed up
Alvarez. A year ago, he played like a can’t miss star in AA and AAA. Now, he’s Jake Gibbs.
Alvarez a top 5 prospect in baseball ?? Lol never. And no catcher should ever be ranked that high
They have not “bad-mouthed” Alvarez at all. Gee whiz. Alvarez has started slow at every level through the developmental process. It’s not unusual.
People who don’t see the fit are short-sighted. 1. This is for depth. With Narvaez down and Alvarez up, they need organizational catching depth. 2. Possibly opens the door to trading Nido and others as the August 1 trading deadline approaches. 3. If Sanchez is modestly productive, as the season progresses other teams may be willing to deal for Sanchez if their catchers or DH/PH go down and the Mets might extract a far distant prospect in the Dominican Summer League.
Sanchez has already proven that he won’t be modestly productive
Would you trade for Nido?
Lol Mets,
They are grasping at straws realizing that they are a $ 350 MM dumpster fire.
No risk, on a minor league deal. Why not? I miss my Brother.
And your a $3.50 dunpster fire
It’s May and really the stars aren’t performing. They just need to ride it out and hope for the best. Lindor and Marte will get going.
Are the 29-7 Rays “grasping at straws” when they sign a guy like Jake Diekman to a minor league deal? Or is this something MLB teams do throughout the course of the year to add depth to their upper minors?
The author claims Alvarez’s slash line indicates he might not yet be ready. But Mets fans know the improvements Alvarez has made the past 10 games. First, he’s framing pitches extremely well – I believe in the top three. Offensively after a slow start (1-15) he is batting (..304/.385/.391) in his last 10 games. At each level, Alvarez has typically started slow. Good things are expected as he continues to slow the game down and gain confidence.
It’s nice to see the Sanchise back in NY.
Uhh, New York’s NFL teams haven’t played in the city for 40 years.
In other Mets Scherzer whining news
https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3466457/max-scherzer-is-pitching-injured-and-the-mets-are-proving-there-is-no-quick-way-to-win-in-baseball
.
As Joe Walsh would say Shut Up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPOyw-arGo
Nothing matters. And what if it did?
Gotta love baseball fans who echo the Eagles’ lead guitarist and John Cougar.
Chucky,
I am not much of a Cougar (Mellencamp) guy but I worship the Eagles.
Depth move.
Stick a fork in him. He is done.
Mets can’t stay away from these washed up has been’s. No reason in the world to bring him into the organization.
Have you seen nido play?
Eppler can’t stay away from washed up has beens who have played for the Yankees is more like it.
Sanchez is only 30. He’s a youngster in the geriatric lineup.
Good luck to Gary Sanchez. Hope he is successful, but I think the odds are quite slim. Sanchez had the reputation as being lazy when he was “growing up” in the Yankee farm system. That reputation is why Cashman and others always said he works hard once he started to have trouble at the major league level. Hope I’m wrong!!!!
Bench fodder…Sanchez is done and he does not know it yet
Let’s face it. We all know he’s got nothing left in his tank.
He still has the potential to be a decent DH who can put up 25 to 30 HR
He has a better chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize
Not a bad move taking a flyer on Sanchez. He can not only be an emergency catcher but potentially a DH option if something happens to Vogelbach
And let’s say he’s raking at AAA. You might try to call him up and run with it. See if he starts hitting bombs
Either way, it gives you another depth piece. There’s nothing wrong with adding depth on a minor league contract
I love it. Everyone was screaming bring him up no matter how many times the Mets said he needed time at Triple A to work on some stuff. So injuries force the Mets to bring Alvarez up. His defense, for the most part, looks good. He struggles on offense and suddenly everyone is taking shots. Guarantee if the Mets put him on the market today they could fill a whole bunch of needs today and be laughed at for the next ten years for letting him go.
Even with Gary’s offensive struggles, he would still be a significant upgrade to the lineup. Over his slump from 2020-22, he had a .394 slugging percentage, which right now is better than all three Met catchers by a wide margin (Alvarez has the best at .320), plus it is better than other lineup regulars in Canha and Marte. Gary’ pre 2020 career SLG was .518, which is better than every single player on the Mets right now including Pete. So any way you slice it, this is an upgrade. I’d say DFA Nido and make it happen.
I would still love to hear John Stirling call one last home run during the June 13-14 games for the “San-chino”., especially because it would be for the home team Mets. That would make this signing worth it.
He is a better fourth option than Michael Perez at AAA. And if he does hit at Syracuse with an MLB carrot in front of him, why not? New York loves a redemption story. No downside to this at all for the Mets. It is a move George Steinbrenner used to love. Take on a former Mets player who then performs well as a Yankee: priceless.
Michael Perez is one of the best defensive catchers in history
He can’t hit but the defense alone might be worth more wins
Perez is basically a different flavor of Tomas Nido – I feel like bringing in a guy like Sanchez is more about trying to get more offense out of the position (Alvarez’s defense has looked pretty solid so far this year, fwiw.)
I also wonder if the team would rather keep a strong defensive C like Perez in Syracuse to help nurture the young arms they have in AAA?
Mets should just DH Sanchez at AAA let him get into a hitting rhythm without the rigors of catching
camden, actually a very good idea. Right handed DH and 3rd catcher. If he can find his swing again, . It would be worth it.
It’s amazing how many guys will play entire careers in the minors, and never get a shot, and Gary here, who jogs the bases is getting what, his sixth chance?
That’s bc fans underestimate the huge gap in the talent level between MLB and AAA, more so than any level in the minors. Sanchez has the talent to stick but needs to find the ability to adapt and execute. You can’t teach talent and some minor leaguers have reached their ceilings.
Teams will always be happy to take a gamble with a guy who’s shown he can succeed at the MLB level over a guy that hasn’t – even in the last 3 seasons when his numbers dropped, he still put up an 89 OPS+. GMs are gonna think “well he can always bounce back” much quicker than “oh I think that guy can make the leap.”
When you get swept in Detroit it behooves a team that could not score runs to look for help anywhere it may be. The Detroit model with Hasse, and Rodgers had to have caught Cohen’s eye. His right hand hitting pairs well with Vogelbach’s left hand hitting. Not starting the season with Baty might have hurt like when the Cubs started without Bryant years ago.
If Sanchez still has his power, it’s going to be fun. The ball seems to be flying better this year, not 2019 style but better than last year. Wednesday’s Mets Reds game features the battle of both teams aces Verlander, and Greene. Verlander should really stabilize the Mets, but they do need to score runs. I don’t think the Mets staff will mutiny like Cardinals did. They need to be scoring runs too much to reject a Sanchez who can hit.
Sanchez problems are between his ears.
You move his dinner plate one foot to the left or right of him, he’d starve to death.
Sanchez was terrible with pitching staffs that he was familiar with. How on earth is he expected to replace Nido at C and serve 13 pitchers he’s never seen, at the drop of a dime.
This is why the world makes fun of NYM fans.
Cardinal fans all understood why WC got moved to DH/OF because he was terrible at handling a staff ( even with a good OPS for a C )
Met fans want to stick one of MLB’s WORST defensive catchers ever in a 9 inning 160 pitch game because he could hit HR ( in a bandbox ) 5 years ago.
Sweet Jesus you guys are dumber than a bag of rocks.
If it works out, Sanchez will likely be an option to replace Vogelbach ( who’s only value is walking )
Voglebach sure is a specialist at walking, even when he’s suppose to be running.
Yankees Legend back in NY!
Alvarez and Sanchez. Defense be damned!
still have my “yo soy gary” kraken shirt
still don’t understand what happened to him
still rooting for him to figure it out, just not with the mets
Can he pitch?
Now that the Sanchez deal is done, can Micheal Pineda be far behind?
Won’t matter… Alvarez will continue to develop and make the C discussion moot
Do you see that happening this season? I don’t, based on what we’ve seen last year, this spring and this season.
Then he goes & hits 2 homers tonight! He’s already a better hitter than Nido, which is a pretty easy thing to do. Maybe Nido goes bye bye once Narvaez comes back and Sanchez becomes the 3rd string catcher.
Alvarez seems to have a handle on framing pitches from early results. He’ll learn more now that he is up to stay.
When Narvaez is ready, Nido gets DFA’d (no more options). Sanchez is depth for that.
Exactly this – it’s very likely that someone’ll take a flyer on Nido if the Mets have to DFA him, so Sanchez gives them another MLB-capable player just in case.