Latest Gary Sanchez coincidence seems to hint at Yankees future

Does a new update about Gary Sanchez’s delayed reporting to Dominican Winter Ball have anything to do with his Yankees future?

Yankees fans have spent the better part of 2020 (OK, more realistically 2018-2020) scheming ways to get Gary Sanchez to either improve and return to his 2017 form or move on to another city.

While the former seems as unlikely as ever, the latter may be unfolding as we speak. Unfortunately, the return won’t be terribly impressive — and may not exist at all.

According to “industry sources,” Sanchez is a non-tender candidate, as his current arbitration trajectory places him in line for a significant raise on the $5.5 million he made last year.

Our former All-Star could be out of a job entirely once the Dec. 2 deadline for decision-making rolls around, and if you read the tea leaves on his recent behavior, it seems he might just believe it, too.

Sanchez was initially supposed to spend the next few months playing in the Dominican Winter League with other Yankees luminaries like Domingo German and Miguel Andujar, but he now isn’t expected to report until “early December,” several weeks into the season. Hmm.

That definitely feels like suspicious timing.

So what is it? Does Sanchez know a rough stint in the Dominican will further tarnish his reputation heading into a pivotal offseason? Is he already aware that the Yankees will be cutting ties with him, and therefore wants to make absolutely sure he stays fresh and avoids injury before entering free agency?

Or would he just rather not show his face with so much uncertainty floating through the air?

At this point, the list of what’s gone wrong in Sanchez’s development outshines the far shorter list of benchmarks met, and no winter league tenure will forgive his deficiencies or mask his inconsistencies.

It is more than a little curious, though, that days after we were told not to consider his 2021 status in the Bronx a sure thing, the catcher has disappeared from a previous public engagement.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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