Accolades and gushing faith in Gary Sanchez continue to pour in from everywhere among the Yankees brass. He’s going nowhere, might as well get used to it.
It would be hard to find a player who had a worse year than Gary Sanchez. Among catchers, Sanchez has no competition – he was the most horrible player both offensively and defensively.
In his brief career with Yankees organization, Gary Sanchez has been suspended for exhibiting low energy on the field, publicly chastised by his manager (Joe Girardi) for not blocking balls in the dirt, and cajoled by fans who want to see him gone, gone, gone. And yet, the Yankee’s power triangle, which includes COO Hal Steinbrenner, continue to fall over themselves in heaping praise on Sanchez.
Here’s General Manager, Brian Cashman:
Or, here’s the view of Yankee’s manager, Aaron Boone, on Gary Sanchez:
“At some point”….mmm. What stands out, of course, is those words are not used when the Yankees talk about some of the other players on their roster who have noticeably struggled. Miguel Andujar, deserving of the Rookie of the Year award, unless Hollywood steals it from him, still gets luke-warm endorsements because of his defensive skills at third base. This, despite the fact that Andujar had the same number of errors as Sanchez had in passed balls (14).
The same is true of the Yankees former Golden Boy, Greg Bird, who has been the up and coming star for as long as Gary Sanchez, with similar very pedestrian production. Unlike Sanchez whose job remains intact though, Bird will be fighting for his baseball life in Spring Training with the Yankees already having determined that Luke Voit is their man at first base.
Likewise, Sonny Gray is on the cusp of being run out of town, despite the fact that, at one time, he was the best thing since sliced bread and the Yankees just had to have him. I’m not arguing the Yankees shouldn’t trade Gray. It just seems odd that a player with the same All-Star potential as Sanchez gets pushed aside with virtually no support from the Yankees to make him a better pitcher, while Sanchez continues to get the full attention of the Yankees coaching staff.
Whatever, the Yankees are stuck like glue to Gary Sanchez. As a fan, I see too many things about Sanchez I don’t like, including his unwillingness to learn English because “it’s too hard,” and his one-dimensional hitting (power only).
But as they say, you can’t fight City Hall. The Yankees make very few mistakes when it comes to evaluating talent. They are smitten with Gary Sanchez. So be it. And I would love nothing more than to be on the wrong side of the arguments about Sanchez in 2019…
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.
