The Twins signed hated former Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez to a three-year contract, effectively ending Gary Sánchez’s brief tenure in Minnesota.
Signing with the Twins, Christian Vazquez emphasizes the Yankees’ failure to acquire Gary Sánchez
The Yankees sent Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Twins shortly after the lockout ended in exchange for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Brian Cashman, the general manager, made an unnecessary transaction.
Instead of non-tendering Sanchez, clearing his $8 million salary for 2022, and keeping an extremely cost-effective and above-average player in Urshela, Cashman twisted himself into a pretzel and inherited a total of $60 million in commitments between Donaldson and IKF, further limiting the team’s spending power when more appealing options were available in free agency.
Even the Twins had had enough after just one bad year in Minnesota (89 OPS+,.659 OPS, 16 HR, and 136 strikeouts in 128 games). The identical twins! Despite being somewhat short on talent, that Yankees team knew it was time to move on!
Had the Yankees simply released Sanchez a year early — which was an unavoidable outcome! — instead of demanding some sort of compensation for the struggling catcher, they could have kept Urshela, saved money on almost every front, and made an impact addition in free agency.
It could have also aided their 2023 plans. If they had an extra $30 million to spend this offseason, perhaps Justin Verlander would have been more realistic, and we wouldn’t have had to wait this long for Carlos Rodon.
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It’s cliche to say, “the possibilities are endless,” but if we could go back in time and prevent Cashman from acquiring an aging player who openly began a feud with Yankees star Gerrit Cole the year before, the seasons 2022 and 2023 could’ve been completely rewritten.
Nobody predicted Donaldson would fall off a cliff and become one of the worst offensive players (for a player of his caliber) in the game, but paying a $25 million AAV for someone’s age-36 and age-37 seasons — someone known to be a clubhouse issue — is a certifiably insane investment. Putting a lifetime utility player in IKF as your starting shortstop only made matters worse.
The Yankees paid the price in the end, as their 2022 season ended in the ALCS, thanks in large part to both of those players. And they’ll be paying for it until 2023.
