Yankees: Stop whining about Gary Sanchez not starting in ALDS

Yankees fans are upset that Gary Sanchez isn’t starting, but New York would be in big trouble if he was.

Has anybody learned by now? The New York Yankees do not need anymore home run hitters in their lineup. They need those who will put the ball in play and provide reliable defensive efforts.

And it’s sad to say Gary Sanchez can’t come through in either of those departments. This year? He’s been especially bad. Blame it on the shortened season, but the Yankees need to win right now, and he was benched for the third time in the ALDS in favor of Kyle Higashioka.

And yet we have fans complaining that he’s not in the lineup. The man is batting .147 on the year, has struck out 64 times in 156 at-bats, and arguably plays the worst defense at his position in the entire league.

Yup, that’s great, but this lineup doesn’t need a sub-.200 hitter who happens to largely hit untimely home runs.

While you were all shedding tears because the Yankees decided against putting another unneeded power bat in their already overwhelmingly powerful lineup, Higashioka saved two runs by stopping balls in the dirt on pitches from Jordan Montgomery that Sanchez undoubtedly would have let by to the backstop.

Not convinced? Let’s look at Gary’s postseason stats, shall we? He’s batting .179 with a -1.12 WPA (wins probability added for offensive player) in 29 games. So that’s what you want?

Offensive catchers don’t matter if they’re costing the team runs on defense and not putting the ball in play beyond their home run hitting abilities. Higgy isn’t blowing us away with his offense, but he’s only struck out twice in four games thus far, compared to Sanchez’s four in two games. Higgy is actually catching up to fastballs. Sanchez is not.

For the 1,000th time: no Yankees fan wants to see Gary Sanchez fail. When he’s on his game, everybody loves it. But when he’s not, he’s a detriment to the team’s success. Something had to be done, and manager Aaron Boone decided to put matters into his own hands and make the unpopular move. It’s working out thus far. Complaining about it is a waste of energy and nothing but proof you’re ignoring the stats as well as the eye test.

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