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Yankees Sign Gary Sanchez

Posted Jul. 2, 2009 11:09 am by Ben Badler
Filed under: International

Two sources confirmed the Yankees have signed Dominican catcher Gary Sanchez this morning for $3 million, the largest bonus the club has ever given to an amateur international player. It is also the largest signing bonus the Yankees have ever given to a position player.

The organization is expected to officially announce the signing later today. Sanchez’s signing bonus ranks as the fourth-highest in Yankees history behind Japenese righthander Hideki Irabu ($8.5 million in 1997), Cuban righty Jose Contreras ($6 million in 2002) and righthander Andrew Brackman ($3.35 million in the 2007 draft).

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 11:09 am by Ben Badler and is filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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8 Comments

Why are the Yankees signing so many catchers? They have montero, they just drafted murphy in the 2nd round and insted of going after Wagner mateo they sign another catcher in Gary sanchez. Thanks for your time.

Posted by Manny ramos | July 2, 2009 at 12:52 pm | Shortcut

Manny, I asked the same question during our draft coverage. You left out Austin Romine, Kyle Higashioka, Chase Weems . . . sometimes, you CAN have too many catchers, such as when it’s difficult to get them all playing time. The Yankees seem to be nearing that threshold.

Posted by John Manuel | July 2, 2009 at 1:05 pm | Shortcut

After this, what are the chances of the Yankees signing Sano? It seems to me that, like Manny had said we already have plenty of catchers to replace Posada with. Wouldn’t it be better to start grooming an heir to Jeter at SS?

Posted by Ian Jamison | July 2, 2009 at 3:11 pm | Shortcut

I don’t think the Yankees will sign Sano. Gary Sanchez was their No. 1 target.

Posted by Ben Badler | July 2, 2009 at 3:14 pm | Shortcut

Ok, that makes sense. Do they have any other players on their radar? And is it too early to tell about possible landing places for Chapman?

Posted by Ian Jamison | July 2, 2009 at 3:21 pm | Shortcut

Scouts tell me Yankees also like Dominican shortstop Damian Arredondo. Plus-plus runner, 60 hands, 60 arm, power’s below-average now but he sounds like a heck of a defensive shortstop. Haven’t confirmed where or if Arredondo has signed yet, though.

Too early to tell on Chapman, but lefties who have the ability to make the radar gun use a third digit are pricey.

Posted by Ben Badler | July 2, 2009 at 3:31 pm | Shortcut

In terms of the catching situation for the Yankees, how far away from the bigs do you think Montero and Romine are? Montero in particular has really torn it up this year.

Posted by Ian Jamison | July 2, 2009 at 5:39 pm | Shortcut

On Catching front; What will Yanks do with all of the catchers in terms of playing time and does loading up on 1 position other then Piching make any sense???

Posted by Mark | July 3, 2009 at 9:29 am | Shortcut

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