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Ok, in reality, there's the outline of a good fit here. Jon Heyman had the news of the Brewers landing Gary Sánchez, though the terms of that deal aren't yet known.
It's surprising primarily in that, after losing Victor Caratini to Houston via free agency earlier this winter, the Brewers had already brought in Eric Haase (on a big-league deal) and Austin Nola (on a minor-league one) as depth at the position, behind presumed starter and long-term answer William Contreras. One of the team's top prospects, Jeferson Quero, is also a catcher, and could be ready to contribute in the big leagues by the end of this season.
Sánchez does have some traits to recommend him, though.
UPDATE: We have terms on the deal. It's a one-year, $7-million guarantee, with a mutual option for 2025. In short, Sánchez certainly isn't going to be in competition with Haase for a job. If anything, Haase will be scrambling to stay on the roster.
Gary Sanchez with Brewers: $7M. 1 year plus option.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 7, 2024
Though long maligned for his defensive skills behind the plate (especially his blocking of errant pitches) going all the way back to his time as a Yankees phenom, Sánchez has occasionally graded out well as a pitch framer and does a credible (though not exactly rave-drawing) job handling a pitching staff.
His real calling card, though, is power. For his career, he's swatted 173 home runs, fueling a 110 career wRC+. It's easy to envision a scenario in which he gets more playing time as the right-handed designated hitter and occasional first baseman than as an actual backstop. In that capacity, he could be plenty valuable. His greatest contributions, in a vacuum, would come as a catcher with all that slugging ability, but a DH masher against lefties who can also fill in behind the plate is a tactical weapon for new skipper Pat Murphy.
On a couple of levels, though, this raises some big questions. By now, it's clear that there has been at least one (and perhaps as many as three) internal veers in direction for the Crew this winter. If there hadn't been, we wouldn't be seeing them spend $7 million for a backup catcher, two months after watching their incumbent walk away for $1 million less per year and then trading two role players to the Mets to clear about $7 million more in salary.
We know, thanks to the interviews Corbin Burnes has given with the streaming talk show Foul Territory since the trade that sent him to the Baltimore Orioles, that that deal came as a surprise (and seemingly an unwelcome one) to Scott Boras and Rhys Hoskins, who agreed to a deal with the Brewers just a few days before Burnes was dealt. Could this be an olive branch? Does it demonstrate a sufficient commitment to winning in 2024 to mollify Hoskins, or any other members of the team who felt jilted by the sudden change in apparent tack?
That's possible, but it feels more like this is another move in a series of them that will start to feel like an avalanche--a downhill roll in which the team gathers freely available talent but also moves on abruptly from some players to whom the fan base was pretty attached. This is unlikely to signal a Contreras trade, but it sure creates an interesting semi-congestion at the catcher spot on the depth chart. It could presage a Willy Adames deal, with Sánchez's all-or-nothing right-handed stick taking over that role from Adames as new acquisition Joey Ortiz steps into the shortstop job.
Any way you slice it, spending $14 million on Jakob Junis and Sánchez in the few days following trading a franchise cornerstone like Burnes is strange. Something bigger is afoot. Either the Brewers are making a late move to be very competitive in 2024 and beyond (perhaps by unexpectedly signing a top-flight starter to a long-term deal?), or this is another lateral move in a complicated maneuver designed to keep them relevant in 2024 while focusing most of their energy on 2025-27. Sometime in the next few days, we're going to get answers to these questions, and see some of this wide swath of possibility eliminated. In the meantime, this one is a puzzler.
What comes next for the Brewers? What do you think of Sánchez, and what will his role be? Let's break it down together.
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