Yankees: Did NYY make a mistake letting Austin Romine go?

Given the horrendous start by Gary Sanchez in the 2020 season, one has to wonder whether the Yankees made a mistake letting Austin Romine sign with the Detroit Tigers.

Austin Romine was rated highly by the Yankees when he was drafted by the club in the second round of the 2007 MLB draft. However, he found himself riding an up and down elevator between the team and the minor leagues during much of his time in New York.

He played for the Yanks off and on between 2011 and 2019. He competed to become the backup catcher against Francisco Cervelli and John Ryan Murphy during Spring Training in 2014, but Cervelli won the job.

During Spring Training in 2016, Romine won the backup catcher competition over top prospect Gary Sanchez. During that year, he played in 62 games backing up for veteran Brian McCann, hitting .242 with four home runs and 26 RBI.

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Ironically, Romine became the backup catcher for the much-improved Sanchez in 2017. His best year was in 2019 when he played 72 games, had 240 plate appearances, and hit a solid .281 with eight home runs and 35 RBI. Always possessing an excellent glove, he had an impressive .997 fielding percentage that year. He did post six passed balls in 2019, the most he ever had with the Bombers.

Sanchez was injured often during the time Romine subbed for him, allowing Romine to show his well-developed skills behind the plate for significant periods as the starting catcher. Believing that he should be a starting catcher somewhere if not with the Bombers, he signed a one-year, $4.15 million contract with the Tigers in December 2019.

Understandably, the Yanks did not think it was prudent to spend that much money on a backup catcher. However, Romine strongly felt that he should be a starter, and possibly would have left the Yanks anyway even if the club had matched the outside offer Romine received.

During the young 2020 season thus far, with 28 at bats, Romine has a respectable .286 batting average with one home run and five RBI for the Tigers, and he has played his usual steady defense behind the plate. Needless to say, the Tigers are quite pleased with their new starting catcher — after all, rock solidity is all you really need from a catcher, anyway.

In sharp contrast, Sanchez has played extremely poorly thus far. With 33 at bats, he only has a .091 batting average with one home run and three RBI. Most alarmingly, he has struck out a whopping 19 times, more than half the time he has appeared at the plate. On the plus side, his catching appears to have improved, and he has gone from a poor fielder to an average performer behind home plate.

I realize that we are at the very beginning of the season. However, this is a very short season and the Yanks have already proportionately played a significant number of games.

Also, I am concerned that Sanchez only had a .186 and .232 batting average in 2018 and 2019, respectively. His strikeout totals were high these last full seasons as well. Further, he has spent a lot of time on the IL, seemingly arriving on the pine the very second his hot streaks begin. Backup catcher Kyle Higashioka has done an acceptable job filling in behind the plate when Sanchez has needed a breather — though he’s hurt, too, giving way to Erik Kratz.

When Sanchez is hitting well and fielding well, he is the best catcher in baseball, hands down. He is a monster. However, when he is hitting poorly and fielding poorly, he is one of the worst players behind the plate in MLB. His performance swings are extreme and dizzying, and his poor play has hurt the Bombers on numerous occasions.

So, let’s give him some more time and see what happens during this season. If he doesn’t perform well this season, the Yanks should trade him for a key player (maybe for a starting pitcher) and try to get a great catcher via free agency (like J.T. Realmuto, who is a free agent after this season) or via trade. Say, wouldn’t it be nice to have Romine to fall back on now?