Gary Sánchez’s agent blames Yankees for 2022 struggles in dark twist

Former New York Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez didn’t benefit from a change of scenery in 2022 in Minnesota, hitting .205 with 16 homers and a below-average 89 OPS+ after being freed up to play DH part-time. Apparently, that was also the Yankees’ fault.

Sánchez enters free agency after a walk year that can only be described as “The Opposite of What Aaron Judge Just Did.” He’s likely not going to be anyone’s full-time catcher. The tantalizing power is still there. He can knock down a light tower with a line drive, but he doesn’t do it nearly often enough. So who’s in the market?

Maybe, if the salaries he’s offered don’t match his expectations, his agent can get the Yankees to back pay some damages?

According to Sánchez’s agent Francisco Marquez, the catcher’s struggles with the Twins had everything to do with the time he spent from 2020-21 with the Yankees, rotating catching coaches and being scapegoated by the fans for the team’s offensive (and defensive) struggles:

"“The most important aspect of the 2022 season was that at the end of the season Gary was able to finally and completely shake off the emotional baggage he had acquired during his previous two seasons with the Yankees,” Marquez said. “Whoever gets Gary this offseason will benefit from the rebirth of the Kraken.”"

Watching Jose Trevino step in from obscurity and immediately make the All-Star team couldn’t have helped, either.

Yankees apparently responsible for Gary Sánchez struggling with Twins, too

Those damned Yankees fans! They boo their own players so ruthlessly! Ruthlessly enough that … well, that Aaron Judge pledges he’d like to be a Yankee for Life and returns, following Anthony Rizzo, who also returned. Huh. Seems like … seems like some of the team’s most prominent players didn’t really care.

Someone’s going to bet on Sánchez. That someone will probably offer the slugger a multi-year offer — after all, he was worth 0.9 WAR last season, which is more impressive than $17.5 million man Cody Bellinger’s -1.0 WAR from back in 2021.

The Yankees, though, will not be among the bidders. Maybe the Orioles or Rays want to take a chance? After all, the moment Sánchez shined brightest in 2022 was when he got the chance to return to Yankee Stadium and smash his longest home run in eons over the heads of all his doubters.