Yankees and White Sox Discussed Gary Sanchez Trade

The Chicago White Sox are interested in acquiring New York Yankees catching prospect Gary Sanchez reports George King of The New York Post.

With starting catcher Alex Avila hitting the 15-day-disabled list with a hamstring injury and backup Dioner Navarro struggling at the plate, the Chicago White Sox are looking to upgrade at catcher before the trade deadline. Avila has already missed significant time this season with the same injury, and it seems unwise for a contender to depend on him going forward.

The White Sox enter Thursday at 44-41 and 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. Their offense has started to come alive at late, but the catcher stands out as a glaring weak spot. George King reported Wednesday that Chicago checked in with the Yankees about Triple-A catcher Gary Sanchez as a possible starting option for the team.

Sanchez is currently hitting .281/.319/.491 (132 wRC+) in 238 International League plate appearances this season. This is his second consecutive strong showing with Triple-A Scranton. The 23-year-old slashed .295/.349/.500 (145 wRC+) in 146 PAs with the Railriders last year.

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With Yankees starting catcher under contract through 2018 at $18 million annually, it makes some sense to at least entertain offers for Sanchez. The team does have Luis Torrens climbing the MiLB ladder behind Sanchez. Torrens missed the 2015 season following shoulder surgery, but still ranked 11th on MLB Pipeline’s list of top Yankees prospects entering the year.

According to King’s source, talks between the Yankees and White Sox didn’t progress very far because the Yankees’ asking price was “far too high.” It makes sense that New York would demand a lot for Sanchez, as he’s one of the premier young talents in their ongoing rebuilding effort.

Given the Yankees current position, it probably makes more sense for them to explore trading McCann then Sanchez anyway. A four-time top 100 prospect on MLB.com’s list, Sanchez was rated the 59th best prospect in baseball before this season. Baseball America liked him even more, ranking him 36th overall.

Next: Yankees Midseason Report Card: Catchers

There’s not much more Gary Sanchez can do to show he’s major league ready at this point. The Yankees just need to give him his shot.