Gary Sanchez (Plaintiff) charges Aaron Boone (Defendant) with Failure To Communicate. We are here today to hear the merits of the case.
Gary Sanchez, in an interview on ESPN, conducted in Spanish and published Monday, you have charged that while you were told why you weren’t behind the plate at times during the shortened regular season, that was not the case in the playoffs.
You further charge you were never given an explanation by the team, or the defendant in this case Aaron Boone, manager of the New York Yankees, for why you were benched during the playoffs at the time the incident occurred.
We are here today to discuss the merits of your case. First, these are stipulations established as facts in the case.
You, Gary Sanchez, caught Game 2 against Cleveland and homered, but only started one more game the rest of the way when you struck out three times in a Game 2 ALDS loss to the Rays in the bubble in San Diego.
Be it further stipulated that Aaron Boone refused to comment on the matter when contacted by the New York Post and ESPN. He is, however, represented in court today by his attorney, Steve Contursi, and has agreed to respond with the following statement.
Gary Sanchez vs. Aaron Boone – The Defendant’s Statement
“Presumably, Gary Sanchez is aware of Mr. Boone’s right and responsibility to post a daily lineup in the clubhouse before all Yankees games, and further that the lineup he chooses is the one he feels gives the team the best opportunity to win that day’s game.
Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees established the policy that the door to the manager’s office is left open to any player who wishes to speak privately and directly to the manager.
Let it be stipulated that Mr. Sanchez did not voice an objection at the time and has chosen instead to speak out publicly months later on the subject.
Therefore, Aaron Boone, as the representative of the New York Yankees, considers the matter dealt with and closed.
If Gary Sanchez is not satisfied with his employment status with the Yankees and the $5 million we propose to pay him this year, we will try to accommodate his wishes by offering him in a trade to any team willing to take him”.
The Verdict: Gary Sanchez vs. Aaron Boone
Gary Sanchez, the court recognizes your inability to appear today as you are playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
However, the court has read in its entirety and will take as the testimony of your statements in the above referenced ESPN interview.
You indicate that “I struck out three times, but I felt like I was taking good cuts, good swings,’’
You also state that you and Mr. Boone had a “respectful and very positive conversation” and “cleared things up” in the days following the playoffs.
First, the court has difficulty seeing the parallel between taking good swings and striking out three times as a way of – as you say later in the interview – “helping your team” as it battled for their lives in the 2020 playoffs.
Secondly, the court finds a contradiction and some sense of anger or resentment you still harbor towards Mr. Boone and the Yankees well after a time when you say things were “cleared up.”
Gary Sanchez, the court dismisses your claim outright, as having no merit beyond the facts of the case – which are that you were (at the time) considered to be a liability to the chances of your team advancing into the next phase of the playoffs, and further that:
Your performance and lack of productivity over the course of the 2020 season, and three strikeouts in the second game you did play in the playoffs, constitute more than enough reason you were having a seat on the bench otherwise.
Henceforth, the court recommends that you let your bat and your catcher’s mitt do the talking for you.
The Aftermath And A Way Out Of This Mess
Gary Sanches is either not thinking straight, or he is being misled by people surrounding him. Coming out of nowhere months after the incident occurred, his outburst has zero sensibility or credibility.
For reasons known only to them, the Yankees have an undying allegiance to their beleaguered catcher, going even as far as hiring a personal tutor to improve his performance behind the plate.
The Yankees had an opportunity to “dump” Gary Sanchez at no cost earlier in the offseason but chose instead to offer him a contract yet to be determined, but considered to be in the range of what he earned last season. Now, this.
Is Gary Sanchez worth still another Yankees investment?
Gary Sanchez And Yadier Molina: A Duo Made In Heaven
As a last gasp attempt to save their wayward son’s career, the Yankees should sign free-agent and All-Everything Yadier Molina to a one-year, or if he absolutely insists, a two-year deal.
For Molina, the move raises possibilities as a way to close out what is sure to be a first-ballot vote into the Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Looking for an opportunity to win a World Series ring, where would you go – the Yankees or the Cardinals.
But beyond that, what if the opportunity with the Yankees allowed you to put your stamp as a manager or coach after you retire as THE person who turned around the career of Gary Sanchez?
A bit dramatic, yes, but when you consider an interview conducted in Spanish as this one was, with six years having passed in the major leagues, you have to wonder if Gary Sanchez, whether via an inability or rebellion, will ever master the means to communicate with “America.”
And if he doesn’t, how can he be a full-fledged catcher in the major leagues?
Think this is racist? Think again. Luis Severino and Gary Sanchez can work in language stride but think again about a stroll to Sanchez’s mound to meet with Jordan Montgomery.
Or, for that matter Gerrit Cole, who now says, after first saying he prefers Kyle Hidashioka, he is fine with Sanchez catching his starts. What are the facts in this case? te
Is Cole lining up with the Yankees, or is he smoking a peace-pipe? We’ll never know, but it’s surely a case of yet another person bending over backward to accommodate Gary Sanchez.
The Final Verdict Rests In The Hands Of Gary Sanchez
I’ve put forth a verdict that states Gary Sanchez continues to be a child in a man’s body because no reasonable person can conclude otherwise from the outside looking in.
But, is that real, and is Gary Sanchez, a victim who has “to listen to all the negative comments, everything that everyone has to say about me.” Most likely, the truth lurks elsewhere somewhere in between as an impediment to his progress? But who has time to deal with that?
I don’t have a clue, and I suspect neither do the Yankees at this point,
Again, though, the facts as stipulated are that Gary Sanchez has digressed over the last two seasons, and neither Sanchez nor the team has a definitive answer to turn the tide.
Is anyone not tired of this same discussion, and can the Yankees afford not to consider Yadier Molina as a last-gasp attempt to resurrect the career of their favorite son, Gary Sanchez?
If I had the answer, I’d tell you.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
