Former despised Yankee opts out with new team not wanting him

Former New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez is no longer a member of the San Francisco Giants after he wasn’t added to their 40-man roster.

Gary Sanchez was supposed to be the New York Yankees‘ long-term answer at catcher. He had a promising first couple of years, including finishing second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2016 and making it to the All-Star Game in 2017.

But since then, he struggled to garner hits, batting below .250 in his final four years with the organization, and was a defensive liability behind home plate. He had a one-year stint with the Minnesota Twins as part of the Josh Donaldson-Isiah Kiner-Falefa trade with the Yankees, but wasn’t brought back for 2023.

Now, Sanchez is looking for a new team. After joining the San Francisco Giants this season on a minor league deal, he wasn’t placed on the 40-man active roster in the majors. Due to that, Sanchez exercised his opt-out clause in his contract, once again making him a free agent.

Ex-Yankee Gary Sanchez exercises opt-out after failing to make Giants’ active roster

At the very start of the 2023 season, the Giants signed Sanchez to a minor league deal, which would have paid him $4 million if he had made it to the major league roster.

Sanchez began the year with Triple-A Sacramento, but he didn’t exactly light things up in the batter’s box. In 16 games played, Sanchez recorded a .164 batting average, a .319 on-base percentage, a .182 slugging percentage, six runs scored, eight RBI, nine hits and 19 strikeouts. As for his defense, he posted a .989 fielding percentage (84 putouts, seven assists and one error in 92 chances) as their backstop.

The Giants had opted against calling up Sanchez, even though they lost Roberto Perez for the season due to shoulder surgery. So, they are running things with Joey Bart and Blake Sabol behind home plate.

As for Sanchez, he will now try to catch on with a new team.