NEW YORK — The Mets want to see how strong Gary Sánchez’s bat remains.

Sánchez was added to the active squad ahead of Friday’s opener against the Guardians. Eight-year veteran Sánchez will share the roles of catcher with rookie Francisco Álvarez and designated hitter with a host of others, as he hopes to rediscover some of the clout that has made him one of the best power-hitting catchers in the game, most recently with the Yankees Game has made decade.

“It feels good to be back here in New York after all these years,” Sánchez said through an interpreter. “It’s a different team but it’s still the same city so it’s exciting to be here.”

As a corresponding change, the club chose catcher Michael Pérez to Triple-A Syracuse. To make room for Sánchez in the 40-man squad, the club put Tim Locastro on the 60-day injury list. The Mets also announced that Tomás Nido will begin a rehab stint with Single-A St. Lucie.

For a team that’s been struggling with their energy production over the past few weeks, it’s a low-risk, potentially high-reward gamble. When Sánchez became a free agent earlier this month, the Mets locked him up on a minor league deal on the condition that he could resign from his contract if the team didn’t add him to their roster by May 19. With that deadline approaching, the Mets decided to make the switch on Thursday.

In Sánchez, they’re bringing on a 30-year-old two-time All-Star who has struggled for the past three seasons with .195/.287/.394 slashes for the Yankees and Twins. Sánchez is four years away from his last All-Star season, in which he hit 34 homers with an .841 OPS for the Yankees.

He spent the early part of that season in the Giants’ minor league system, but resigned from that contract in early May to pursue other opportunities.

When he joined Triple-A Syracuse, Sánchez was battling .308 in eight games with a 1.014 OPS.

“As long as you’re healthy and have the opportunity to play baseball, you can do a lot of good,” Sánchez said. “Sometimes you can’t go into the ‘Oh, I want to do what I did in 2017,’ but if you look at it, maybe I’ll do even better if I get the chance.”

The Mets want to see if he can reproduce that type of production at the highest level. In the short term, Sánchez should find a good chance behind the squad, with both Omar Narváez (strained left calf) and Nido (dry eye syndrome) on the injury list. With Narváez and Nido returning in the next two to three weeks, the team should have a better handle on what Sánchez can do.

“We have a lot of respect for what the Yankees, Minnesota and San Francisco tried,” said Mets manager Buck Showalter, referring to Sanchez’s previous teams. “They didn’t have room for him either. So we’ll see. We have made space and we will look at it.”

In addition to his work as a catcher, Sanchez is likely to pull at least some DH bats from Daniel Vogelbach, Tommy Pham, Mark Canha and Mark Vientos. Sánchez, a right-hander, has reverse-platoon splits in his career that could help him in his quest for playing time.

“I’ll be here to do whatever they want,” Sánchez said. “I’ll give 100% when I’m out there on the field. I’m here to help the other players, to help the pitchers and just go out there and win. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is to go out there and win with this team.”

The post Gary Sánchez referred to as as much as Mets appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

We can officially stop worrying about Gary Sanchez: the two-time all-star catcher has signed a minor league contract with the Giants. Ken Rosenthal broke the news on Friday, reporting that Sanchez will be heading to the team’s spring training facility in Scottsdale before being assigned to a partner (believed to be Triple-A Sacramento). The deal is $4 million, prorated for the time Sanchez spends with the big club, and includes an opt-out if he doesn’t call up by May 1.

Among free agents who earned at least a 1.0 WAR last year, Sanchez is the latest to find a home. He received interest from few teams over the winter and failed to improve his stock when he played for the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic, where he had just six plate appearances and went 0-on-5 with a walk and two strikeouts. It looked like he would remain in limbo, waiting to sign with the team that needed a catcher due to injury. Instead, Sanchez goes to a San Francisco team that could certainly use some help behind the court — one that ranks 27th as a catcher in our Positional Power Rankings — but already has a very clear Plan A in mind: Joey Bart.

That hope was only lightly dashed when Team Bart relied on the IL on Sunday with a minor back strain. He is not expected to miss much time and the team recalled pitcher Sean Hjelle to take his place, leaving Roberto Pérez and Blake Sabol the only catchers on the active roster. Pérez, 34 and known for his glove, signed a minor-league contact with the club after spending 2022 in Pittsburgh. Sabol, whom Cincinnati picked up from Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft before selling to San Francisco, started in left field on Opening Day; His defense is worrying enough that the catcher is unlikely to be his main position.

Despite Bart’s presence, the Giants entered spring training with an open contest for the berth. “There’s a mindset where you give the guy the job and you get away with it,” Farhan Zaidi told reporters. “This is maybe the other school where we have other good opportunities and we want someone to take the reins and be the guy. We definitely hope Joey makes it and he’ll certainly get the opportunities.” The former No. 2 pick and one-time heir of Buster Posey seemingly just let the reins dangle (or whatever reins do when nobody’s taking them). ); Pérez served as the starting catcher on opening day.

With Sanchez in the mix, the team’s ground got a little higher at the catcher. His game features light tower power and enough swing-and-miss to air-condition a small island nation. He’s always run hot and cold as a hitter, but even if you throw away his 69 wRC+ in the short 2020 season, the hots are a lot tepid than they used to be:

According to Baseball Savant, Sanchez was worth -8.1 runs against sliders in 2022, a weakness that pitchers exploited mercilessly, throwing them 30.6% of the time; only Javier Báez and Nick Castellanos saw sliders more often. Midway through the 2022 season, Sanchez’s groundball rate skyrocketed, which isn’t ideal for a catcher who runs like a catcher. Fittingly, he faced a defensive shift 70.5% of the time last year (although his wOBA against the shift was 44 points better than against a traditional defense).

Still, Sanchez just pulled off a 49.3% hard hit rate and an average exit speed of 90.5 mph, so it’s not like he’s lost his power, and he can still hit fastballs with ease evade. It’s entirely possible that a few more of those hard-hit balls will find places this year, or that his walk or strikeout rates will get a little closer to his career norms. Additionally, with 89 wRC+ in 2022, Sanchez was right on league average among catchers. Any setback from the worst batting line of his career (except 2020) makes him an above-average batsman by the standards of the position; Steamer and ZiPS project it to a wRC+ of 95 and 112, respectively.

Sanchez makes an interesting case study for Nichols’ Law of Catcher Defense. Emerging as a thug, his defense was much maligned; Depending on where you got your catch stats from, that reputation was probably a bit unfair. But once his hitting eased, the reputation didn’t seem to improve as much as it should have. Over the past three seasons, Sanchez has caught 1,915 innings, the eighth-most in baseball, and he was worth -1.4 framing runs. In terms of defense, we’ve got him level with Will Smith on 16 defensive runs in that period. However, DRS docks him due to his rCERA – that’s Catcher ERA Runs – 10 runs and he’s last in that stat over the period. Looking at Sanchez’s slow free-agent market in February, Jay Jaffe noted that 2022 was the first season Baseball Prospectus had rated him as a net positive at framing, blocking and throwing.

In short, Sanchez is a relatively durable option that should be an average catcher, whether crouched behind the plate or off it. He has some advantages on offense and some disadvantages on defense. No one expects him to be the phenomenon who posted a 143 wRC+ in his first two seasons with the Yankees, but as a right-handed power hitter whose HR/FB just hit a career-low 13.3%, he might be a little of it benefit from the move from Target Field to Oracle Park. He is 30 years old and could certainly help a ball club.

All in all, this is a low-risk move for the Giants. The bigger question, which Grant Brisbee has researched in depth at The Athletic, is why they are in this position in the first place. Bart is only 25 years old and has 133 league games under his belt. It’s a developmentally sensitive issue, and its success is by no means certain. Pérez is largely a career backup, having appeared in just 97 games over the past three years. Sabol isn’t really playable as a regular catcher, but his Rule 5 status means he needs to stay on the list. During the offseason, the team took a beating on Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, but San Francisco seemed perfectly content to roll into the 2023 season with no real plan at the catcher position other than hoping someone during of spring training shone.

It’s entirely possible that the Giants will end up starting Sanchez. It’s also possible that they prefer his racquet to Pérez’s gauntlet in a backup role, a compromise between offense and defense they’ve made elsewhere on the lozenge. In the meantime, everything points to Bart’s injury being minor, but Sanchez is a pretty nifty insurance plan.

The post Gary Sanchez Lastly Finds a Residence as He Heads to San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

PIX NowHere’s the latest from the KPIX newsroom. (1-28-22)

3 hours ago

SF Supervisors Approve Casa Sanchez Bldg. in Mission District for Landmark StatusThe former Mission District site of the Casa Sanchez business — known for its salsa, chips and tortillas — is closer to becoming a historic landmark. Shawn Chitnis reports. (1-28-22)

4 hours ago

North Bay Man’s Beloved Cat Allegedly Taken by AirBnB RentersA couple who rented an AirBnB house in Sonoma reportedly left with a neighbor’s cat. The cat’s owner has been fighting for months to get her back. Da Lin reports. (1-28-22)

4 hours ago

Valley Fair Mall Plan to Charge for Parking Draws Employees’ IrishValley Fair Mall in San Jose is one of the most popular in the Bay Area and now there’s a heated fight over parking. Kiet Do reports. (1-28-22)

4 hours ago

Street Closure, Parklets Hit Some Menlo Park Businesses’ Bottom LinesMenlo Park will keep a section of Santa Cruz Avenue closed to traffic to accommodate outdoor dining. Restaurant owners are thrilled, other merchants are not. Max Darrow reports. (1-28-22)

4 hours ago

First Alert Weather: Friday Night ForecastChief meteorologist Paul Heggen has the weekend weather forecast. (1-28-22)

4 hours ago

Bay Area Projects to Benefit From US Infrastructure FundingSFO will soon receive nearly $50 million in infrastructure funds. Wilson Walker reports. (1-28-22)

5 hours ago

49ers Fans Stream Toward SoCal for NFC ChampionshipThe exodus has begun with excited Niners Faithful making their way to LA for the 49ers-Rams NFC Championship. Len Ramirez reports. (1-28-22)

5 hours ago

Latest Unemployment NumbersFormer State EDD Director Michael Bernick explains how recent temporary business and school closures due to the Omicron surge didn’t have a significant impact on the number of initial jobless claims filed in California

9 hours ago

PIX NowFriday noon news update from KPIX 5

10 hours ago

49ers Fans Head to Airports, Hit the Road for NFC Championship GameJocelyn Moran reports on Niners fans heading to Los Angeles for the team’s showdown against the Rams (1-28-2022)

10 hours ago

Brother Of Justice Stephen Breyer Responds To RetirementSan Francisco native, Justice Stephen Breyer has announced his retirement from the US Supreme Court. KPIX 5’s Anne Makovec sat down with his brother, Judge Charles Breyer, a former US District Court Judge in San Francisco. He responds to the big announcement.

11 hours ago

COVID Mandates: San Francisco Easing Some Indoor COVID Masking Requirements Feb 1San Francisco health officials announced they will once again allow office workers, gym members and other “stable cohorts” of people remove their COVID masks indoors as of February 1st.

14 hours ago

First Alert Weather 7-Day ForecastWarm, partly cloudy weekend weather

16 hours ago

BEAT LA: KPIX Morning team makes wager with KCBS Morning team on Sunday’s NFC Championship GameThere’s more than pride on the line for Sunday’s showdown between the 49ers and the Rams

16 hours ago

Oldest Living Aquarium Fish Swims at California Academy of SciencesMethuselah is a 4-foot-long, 40-pound Australian lungfish and she (he?) is likely the oldest aquarium fish in the world. Andria Borba reports. (1-27-22)

23 hours ago

Health Experts Warn COVID Rapid Tests Are Less Reliable Than PCRHealth experts are warning that rapid antigen tests may not be detecting the omicron variant as well as past variants and are giving false negatives in people who are infected with COVID-19. Maria Cid Medina reports. (1-27-22)

23 hours ago

San Francisco Easing Some Indoor COVID Mask Requirements Feb 1San Francisco health officials announced Thursday they will again allow office workers, gym members and other ‘stable cohorts’ of people remove their COVID masks indoors next Tuesday. Andria Borba reports. (1-27-22)

23 hours ago

San Francisco Bayview District Native Unites Faith-Based Community to Help OthersJefferson Awards Silver Medalist – Veronica Shepard uses her connections to rally the faith-based community to make sure underserved African Americans live healthier lives.

1 day ago

Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Teaches Others to Give With GratitudeJefferson Awards Silver Medalist – Venture capitalist Randy Haykin set a goal of making a difference in the lives of 50 million children around the world, and he is close to reaching it.

1 day ago

Helping Children, Families Survive Tough Times Is Mission Of Oakland Man’s Non-ProfitNever giving up on any child or family has been the mission of Ken Berrick’s non-profit organization for the last 36 years.

1 day ago

San Francisco’s ‘Mayor of The Mission’ Helps Feed People Struggling To Survive During PandemicThe San Francisco man dubbed the Mayor of Mission District is known for protesting evictions and being a driving force behind the Carnaval parade and festival, which KPIX 5 sponsors. But that is not the only reason why he is this week’s Jefferson Award winner.

1 day ago

The post S.F. Supervisors Approve Casa Sanchez Bldg. in Mission District for Landmark Standing – CBS San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.