Scorned Ex-Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez makes Red Sox rumors irrelevant with new home

Former New York Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez's tenure in the Bronx did not end well. He tends to take that fact out on the baseballs whenever he sees his old team across the diamond.

Luckily, after a rejuvenating second half in San Diego, Sánchez has once again chosen one of the least relevant teams (in the Yankees' orbit) to join for 2024.

Odds are extremely low he'll remain a personal catcher for Blake Snell when he's playing in ... Milwaukee! The Brewers reportedly outbid the Pirates for Sánchez's services, just a few weeks after the reverse happened in the Aroldis Chapman chase.

That means the two former Yankees will be facing off far away from their old, familiar spotlight. It also means that neither player will be suiting up for the Boston Red Sox, a harrowing connection that was made in recent weeks as Sánchez's market stagnated. It'll be one year and $7 million for Sánchez, along with a 2025 option.

Former Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez chooses Brewers (not Red Sox) in MLB free agency

If you ignored Sánchez's tenure in San Diego because he spent it largely out of the Yankees' hair, he was actually ... quite good! He drilled 19 homers (typical) and generated 2.4 bWAR (huh, little high) alongside his 113 OPS+ (116 in San Diego, -15 in exceedingly limited duty with the Mets). The former Yankee received plaudits for his defense, especially from the Cy Young winner he escorted to the finish line. That ... did not sound familiar to type.

Those numbers came in stark contrast to his final two seasons in the Bronx (70, 99 OPS+ marks) followed by a tough tenure in Minnesota (88 in 2022, but with a 473-foot bomb against the Yankees included).

After bouncing from San Francisco's system to Flushing last summer, he finally found a home in sunny San Diego. Hopefully, for Sánchez's sake, he's equally comfortable sharing Milwaukee's catching reps with the equally bat-forward William Contreras. Man ... is ... is Sánchez the defense-first backup in that scenario?

We'll take it. Anything but drilling light-tower shots over the Green Monster against the Yankees eight times next season would've been acceptable by contrast, but this works best for all parties.