New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020
nypost.com
W
ITH this tender drama resolved,
with Gary Sanchez more likely
than not to be the 2021 Yankees’
Opening Day catcher (whenever Open-
ing Day winds up being), let’s plan
ahead for outcomes and the associated
analyses:
If this works? Credit Sanchez and the
Yankees.
If it fails? Blame only the Yankees.
The Yankees tendered Sanchez a con-
tract on his 28th birthday Wednesday
(hours after saluting that life milestone
on the team Twitter account), a com-
mitment that would make Sanchez the
club’s de facto starting receiver. While
it’s true the Yankees can cut Sanchez in
spring training and pay him a termina-
tion fee of considerably less than half of
his 2021 salary (a figure to be deter-
mined, but probably not much more
than last season’s $5 million), the nature
of the catching position, not to
mention the Yankees’
desire to cut payroll,
will prevent the team
from stockpiling
there.
While I disagree
with this decision, I un-
derstand it. San-
chez’s natural
tools
could beseen even through the fog of awfulness
that constituted his 2020 season. The
high ceiling remains, although it often
feels like you’d need a Paul Bunyan-
sized stepladder to
reach it.
Man, oh man,
though, if ever a player
offered warnings to
stay away, that he was
trouble like a teenaged
ne’er-do-well, it’s San-
chez.
In Sanchez’s six years on the Yankees,
the Yankees have employed two manag-
ers, two pitching coaches, three hitting
coaches and three catching instructors.
Naturally those changes didn’t all occur
solely because of Sanchez (and the in-
clusion of 2015 Yankees hitting coach
Jeff Pentland, who witnessed two San-
chez at-bats that season before getting
let go for other reasons, is downright
dishonest). Yet Sanchez’s erratic per-
formances on both sides of the ball and
the Yankees’ inability to
fully harness his poten-
tial stands as a through
line of this Baby Bomb-
ers era.
This seems like a good time to defend
Sanchez’s character and work ethic,
the former of which never was
as bad as perceived, the lat-
ter of which has improved
significantly, according to
many people around him.
It’s important that we sepa-
rate the person from the
player. Because the player, no
question, is maddening. He is a
human Whac-A-
Mole game. In2019, he improved at blocking pitches ...
and got worse at framing them. He
wound up bad at both this year, in addi-
tion to his epic struggles hitting the ball.
A scout from an-
other club watched a
sizable sample of
Sanchez this year and
opined, on the condi-
tion of anonymity,
“It’s a potential
bounce-back.” If I
knew what the Yan-
kees must do to produce that bounce-
back, I’d charge them a healthy fee for
such insight, yet here’s what I do know:
If they want this definitely high-risk,
sort-of high-reward decision to pay off,
they must somehow create a more con-
sistent version of Sanchez. His streaki-
ness can be exhausting — he has a career
.486 OPS in the month of July — and his
steady postseason struggles (he has a
.608 OPS in October action) create con-
stant turmoil, with the club ultimately
turning to Kyle Higashioka for most of
the 2020 Yankees’ brief playoff run.
Higashioka showed real promise, and
the Yankees can attain their goals with
the former Post diarist starting 100
games behind the plate, serving as a
strong battery mate and popping a few
homers. You want depth at every posi-
tion, though, so you’d rather have two
good options on your big-league roster
rather than one asset and one regret.
If the Yankees solve Sanchez, that’ll be
a big win for them, doubling down on
someone whom they could have jetti-
soned at no cost, and for Sanchez, put-
ting it all together. If Sanchez provides
more anguish than delight, though, if
Sanchez fools them twice, then that’s
shame on the employers, not the em-
ployee.
Hey, kudos to the Yankees being bold
with Sanchez. Now they just have to be
right.
[email protected]Ken Davidoff
Holder sent
packing
While the Yankees chose to
make a pricey commitment to
Gary Sanchez, one veteran
didn’t survive the cut on tender
day. The Yankees announced
Wednesday night that they
didn’t offer reliever Jonathan
Holder a contract, making him a
free agent.
Holder, 27, posted a 4.98 ERA
in 18 regular-season games for
the 2020 Yankees and threw one
shutout inning in the playoffs. In
his first year of arbitration eligi-
bility, he probably wouldn’t have
made more than $1 million, as
per the projections of MLB
Trade Rumors. Yet with Yankees
owner Hal Steinbrenner clearly
looking to cut the team’s payroll,
every dollar will count.
The Yankees can re-sign
Holder at a lower salary if they
so desire.
The team also announced it
signed pitchers Luis Cessa and
Ben Heller to one-year contracts,
avoiding arbitration with both.
The rest of their players who
have fewer than six years’ service
and aren’t signed to contracts —
a group including Aaron Judge,
Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit as
well as Sanchez — were tendered
contracts and will either agree
with the Yankees on 2021 con-
tract terms or have them deter-
mined through the arbitration
process. — Ken Davidoff