The Pirates are among the teams showing interest in Gary Sánchez, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The two-time All-Star is the best unsigned player in an otherwise weak free agent catching class.
Sánchez is no longer the franchise catcher he once seemed he’d be in the Bronx. He has been a solid regular for the majority of his career, though, and he’s coming off an effective season for the Padres. San Diego nabbed Sánchez off waivers from the Mets at the end of May. He emerged as their top option behind the plate with decent work on both sides of the ball.
His offensive profile is built around plus power. Sánchez popped 19 home runs in 260 plate appearances a year ago. Were it not for a season-ending wrist fracture sustained when he was hit by a pitch in early September, he’d have gotten to the 20-homer mark for the fifth time in his career. That compensates for low batting averages and middling on-base marks. Sánchez finished his time as a Padre with a .218/.292/.500 line.
Much maligned for his receiving skills with the Yankees, he has improved his defensive marks over the past two years. Statcast has rated him as a slightly above-average pitch framer in each of the last couple seasons. His blocking metrics are marginally below par but nowhere near as bad as they were during his first four campaigns. He still has a plus arm, ranking in the top 10 in average pop time last year.
The Padres remained in contact with Sánchez early in the offseason. It seems his asking price was beyond their comfort zone, though, and they pivoted to acquire Kyle Higashioka in the Juan Soto blockbuster. With Higashioka backing up Luis Campusano, it looks as if Sánchez will head elsewhere.
Pittsburgh wouldn’t have been a candidate to add a catcher a couple months ago. Second-year backstop Endy Rodríguez suffered a fluke elbow injury while hitting in winter ball and underwent UCL surgery that ends his 2024 campaign before it began. That leaves the Bucs to decide whether to count on former first overall pick Henry Davis as their #1 option behind the plate.
Davis hasn’t started an MLB game at catcher. He made 49 starts in right field and 11 as a designated hitter in deference to Rodríguez. Prospect evaluators have questioned his ability to stick as a catcher going back to his college days at Louisville. GM Ben Cherington and skipper Derek Shelton have both said this offseason they’re still optimistic about Davis’ future at the position, but there’d be risk in counting on him as the starter next season.
Their depth options don’t provide much offensive upside. Jason Delay remains on the 40-man roster, while the Bucs added Ali Sánchez on a big league free agent contract. Delay is a career .233/.293/.311 hitter in 127 MLB contests. Ali Sánchez is a 27-year-old with seven career big league appearances, none since 2021.
Not the guy that I would pick to work with a young pitching staff.
But I give Gary credit, I thought his career was completely over a couple years ago.
They had the catching guru Hedges last year. Before that Perez Perez. Before that Stallings. Hopefully some of the pitchers or catchers learned something from them. Sanchez seems to have grown and probably knows some things. Should be fine.
Sanchez did well enough last year with his staff.
Snell certainly had no complaints.
Not only their young arms, bit Sanchez probably isn’t the best mentor for former #1 overall pick Henry Davis, if they’re expecting him to progress behind the plate.
This article suggest they aren’t expecting him to progress. Delay Sanchez are fine enough backups. Davis needs coaching, athletic ability, anything but a mentor.
If they sign Sanchez someone will need to go to Indy and I don’t see that being Davis. Delay still has options
By the way, where’s the starting pitcher they need to sign?
And with Santana signing with the Twins they better hope Joe and Tellez platoon works out
At least some team showing interest. LoL. The Kraken needs to goto Japan, Mexico, Korea, anywhere but MLB. He’s done!!!!
He probably outperforms Trevino, Wells, and Rortvedt in 2024.
Then the Yankees trade for him in hopes of getting a wild card, but Stanton’s knees explode because he stepped on a pebble walking to the team “pharmacist”.
He’s a catcher. So, not only does he fit right in offensively, but he’s actually upper echelon.
I don’t know what I find less to my liking, calling Sanchez upper echelon, or referring to him as a Catcher. Just put a cinder block behind the plate. Same thing.
Tell me you haven’t watched Gary Sanchez play since 2018 without telling me you haven’t seen Gary Sanchez play since 2018.
Sanchez had a .995 fielding% last year and only allowed 4 PB add in a top 10 pop time and above league average in CS%. I know no cinder blocks that could pull those numbers off.
Upper echelon offensively. And I only say that because there’s only a few decent offensive catchers. Personally, I’d rather have deArnaud and he’s the Braves backup. Plus, he has improved defensively they said. I didn’t mean upper echelon in general by any means. But other than the two Contreras’, Realmuto, Ruschman, Murphy and maybe one or two others that aren’t popping in my head, Sanchez is bout the next best bat, catching wise, IMHO.
Tell me you have a different opinion. Don’t try to tell me what I’ve watched. I don’t agree with your opinion. I can tell you this is the only rumor that has surfaced all off season on this bum, and its not like quality Catchers are everywhere. ML teams seem to agree with me. Even desperate teams for C like TB and FLA have ignored him.
He’s a decent bat some years. He’s not the leader you want as a regular catcher. Game calling is still unmeasured. Pitch framing is an umpire induced number. PB vs wild pitches is a scorers decision. I’ve watched the guy play, and even improved, teams are taking a pass.
Every article says “Pirates among teams interested in Sanchez” or “Pirates interested in Sanchez: others involved”.
The offseason isn’t over and you think a player not being signed yet is vindication for your pov on a 2.5 WAR part-time player being trash? Blake Snell isn’t signed yet and I’m not the highest on him, but I’m under no delusion that it’s because I’m just as smart as MLB GM’s.
You’re right, I disagree whole heartedly with your point of view. I wasn’t kind about it because you weren’t kind about it. Calling another human being trash? C’mon.
The dude slugged .500 last year and is improving defensively. That doesn’t exactly translate to “done!!!”
Hall of Famer if Gary was drafted by the right stadium.
Bucs need the power source! Take a chance Columbus did!
Columbus was responsible for the heinous slaughter of the Guardians.
Clown
I thought it was your Cubs and Braves before them.
I would celebrate Kyle Hendricks Day. Thank goodness for the Professor in the 2016 WS.
I normally like dumping on the “they’re taking away my racism…I’m being oppressed!!!!!” snowflakes, but…that’s a quality joke.
Columbus brought syphilis back to Europe. That was payback though, I suppose. As they took small pox there.
Why do people not like this guy?
I do.
20 hrs is nothing to sneeze at in half a season…..
Better backup than most if not all.
Dude was solid in ’23, would absolutely love to have him back if not for “budget constraints”
Just sign MA Taylor then do whatever you want, BC.
Would love him on the Phillies if his goal is only 300pa’s. He could catch and let Realmuto DH or 1b a couple times a week. Would be a great 1st guy off the bench for the Phils.
The team was a little too healthy last year.
Hope he lands a good gig.
Please
NO!!!!! Starting pitchers, please! If you’re content with unproven starters, then you should be content with an unproven catcher. Spend what little money you have elsewhere (MA Taylor????)
Yeah, they seem amazingly content with Keller, two iffy starters they signed/added and two guys like Ortiz and Priester who are the Cracker Jack prize (never know what you’ll get) variety
But then again, Shelton authored the idea of the 2-starter, 1-odd ball, 2 reliever game staff down the stretch last year and it all somehow worked.
During my lifetime, starting pitching and the expectations around starting pitching has changed. It is highly unlikely that we will ever see a pitching duel like the one between Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn again. At one time it was common for starting pitchers to pitch complete games, today it is increasing rare. In his first five years of pitching, Marichal started 147 games and completed 73 of them. In his first five years of pitching, Ohtani stared 86 games and completed just one. Times have changed.
I wonder how long is it till the starting pitcher becomes a relic of the past? How long is it till a team has a “starting staff” of nine pitchers, each designated to pitch only three innings in sequence, never more than three innings, each pitcher pitching one out of three days. Nine pitchers in the rotation with a couple of relievers or “fireman” (to use a throwback term). Essentially, every game is a “bullpen” game. Such a rotation would fit into having pitchers throw harder.
Agree 100%. I remember some similar crazy statistics about Bob Gibson and his complete games
You’re right, of course. If the idea these days is now to get a starter to 100 pitches, then quite often 5-or-6 inning starts are going to be considered “solid starts”. Yes, so why not load up on pitchers who can give you a 2-3 innings every 5 days? Might as well call them specialists instead of middle inning pitchers
Yeah. But you could teach them to actually pitch. Look at the top paid starters, and you’ll find the innings pitched leaders.
I think I’d rather take my chances on him with a staff than Davis at this point. Let Davis split between RF and C.
They need a starting pitcher that’s not a 4-5 guy most of all. Won’t matter without one.
4 or 5 will work just fine.
As predicted, they’re just trying to tread water until the surgically repaired guys and young guns all come mid-summer. Can’t blame them. Why spend or trade away prospects when being patient makes more sense
To me at least, the Brewers did everyone a favor when they traded away their top starter. Sure makes the Central more of a boat race
Ironically they have excuses every year whether it’s waiting for injured players to return, waiting until next year or trading someone for a draft pick
Why spend money you ask?
Because there’s no guarantee that Brubaker will return to his previous form
They have squat for depth in the minors outside of Skenes and I don’t trust them enough to not blow his arm out before he gets his feet wet in the majors
Good points and completely reasonable. Brubaker, Burrows, VV…who knows if they’ll be effective
I do believe they see Skenes, Jones and perhaps Solometo as kids who are on the cusp. And Chandler is right behind them
nice to see the Pirates trying. the NL central is kind of weak and they should compete. Gary can be used more as a DH.
He would be starting catcher if signed I believe. If other teams are interested and the Pirates sign him for real $ it tells me 2 things. They aren’t confident in Davis and Sanchez is being paid paid too much to DH. A large chunk of his value is catching. Unless he has little to no market he will cost too much for a Pirates primary dh.
He’s still out there, and this Pirates rumor is the only one. Even the Marlins and Tampa Bay have not inquired. Doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know about how MLB teams rate Gary Sanchez?! For a young pitching staff, and to help Davis learn the trade, the Pirates would be better off with a Sandy Leon type as backup C.
We’ve talked about this before, but the drafting of Davis is still a head scratcher with all of this in mind. I know it was a “weak” draft class but it still seems like it was a questionable number 1
Bubba, Solmeto and White are Pirates because of Davis. Two top 100 pitching prospects and a guy who’s been injured but still has elite skills.
I think the Bucs knew the universal DH was on its way, so at worst Henry was gonna be a productive DH – Cutch’s extended career is messing with that a bit, but he won’t be around forever.
I’m surprised at the lack of interest in him, honestly. He was quietly very good with the Padres last year, and showed much improved defense. Blake Snell gave him a lot of credit for the incredible four month stretch he had to close the season. He was worth 2.4 WAR in 260 plate appearances, and hit 19 HR in that span. And he’s still only 31. I would think a team like the Rays or Marlins would be more interested in him.
I think it’s his asking price. Not the lack of demand for his services. He did catch for a CYA winner last year.
Thought Bucs might go after Stripling from Giants! A’s grabbed him.
Me too
9 10 million is a little much. For that amount they can do better.
I think they would make a big mistake relying on Davia to be the starter. He hasn’t shown much even in the minors. Let him catch, play some RF and DH.
Hopefully just dh
Cutch is the primary DH
Yes, just where does Davis fit, even if Cutch gets his wish and plays more in the outfield??
Red Sox need catching depth, they only have seven.
as do I – his power would be welcomed
Sanchez was Blake Snell’s personal catcher last year. It seems to have worked out alright for Snell. Take a chance on this guy!
Only if Snell is part of the package.
I don’t care what the numbers say, he was brutal behind the plate during his week with the Mets last year. I’m guessing that the pitching staff were not fans. He’s a DH or bench bat.
“Brutal for a week” with your Mets and then brilliant for months with my Pads. Which evaluation would teams put more weight into?
Seems the week with the Mets, and all those other years. Kinda why he still doesn’t have a team.
I suggest he WILL find a team. If teams placed more credence in the week with the Mets, then he probably WON’T find a team. I also suppose that he remains unsigned-to-date because nobody has met his price, stymee.
Gary would do well, to pick up a few Japanese words and try his luck over there
Or he could just stay here and get paid.
….if that is all that is left of his career and desire to a relevant player.
Any other Sánchez players available? Gary and Ali would be 2 of them for the Pirates. Maybe bring out Freddy Sanchez from the retirement home and have a Dirty Trios of Sanchez’s’
Freddy would go 4 for 4, all doubles his first game back.
Doubles to the notch or bouncers into the OF seats. He was pedestrian at best when he was a younger man 😉
please sir, may i have some more starting pitching?
Only if you address CF first.
they’re not going to spend to address both, i’d much rather have them spend on another starter and ride with suwinski in cf. i’m not convinced they’ll address either honestly
I think that having a solid team D gives every pitcher a fair chance to succeed, whereas cutting corners with the likes of Suwinski in CF and Tellez at 1B is flirting with a pitching meltdown.
That’s why I posted months ago that if the Bucs are committing to Davis as a catcher, he may be better off starting the season at Indy. I’d be happy enough to see Delay/Sanchez (either Gary or Ali) behind the plate until June.
I’d rather have a better quality a more of a sure thing pitcher than we’ve gotten so far.
Henry has some pluses behind the plate. biggest weak spot is blocking and pop times. game calling and working with pitchers were the positive notes.
Outfield is kind of a mess defensively too no doubt, but less of a worry to me.
You’ll have nothing and like it! (Caddyshack)
Pass
It could be that decent pitchers don’t want to sign with the Bucs no matter what they are being offered
Their reputation of being cellar dwellers precedes them
Shouldn’t it be Gary “Rookie of the Year Runner-up” Sanchez?
A Padres rekindling was not happening notwithstanding Peter’s loss.
Why?
On the field he was a force for them, making a noticeable impact in both parts of his plate duties. He was that eye-opening good after being passed around like a party toy. Won a few games with the bat.
Wouldn’t be a bad pickup for a young staff. Adds a bat as well, wonder if pirates are done with pitching, could use another starter, maybe long relief to help the young starters out and take some pressure off of them? Any interest in Derek Law? Hometown guy, veteran?
Henry should be fine behind the plate. Hes got everything he needs to be near average defensively. If he is hitting there should be no major issues using him. With Endy down Henry can get some real experience with MLB at the MLB level.
That said, Team does need a real insurance policy. Gary could be that guy. Generally good defense and has had some success at the plate
Gary Sanchez was a huge part of Blake Snell’s success in San Diego last season….I predict he’ll sign shortly after Snell, and with the same team.
Sign him maybe he can DH or play first