BREAKING- Yankees to Sign Sanchez

Written by Greg Fertel | 20 June 2009

Coming via George King of the NY Post, the Yankees have reached an agreement with Gary Sanchez for 2.5 million. We covered Sanchez before when we looked at the international free agent market and here is what we said:

Gary Sanchez, C, Dominican Republic

DOB: 12/2/92

Height/Weight: 6-2/190

Bats/Throws: R/R

Sanchez has created a lot of interest among teams but there's a good deal of controversy over projection. The catching prospect has a good frame that projects to play well behind the plate and puts on incredibly impressive batting practice displays. Scouts say his hitting ability, power, arm and defense are plus to plus-plus and are particularly high on his power. He's got no real speed but his raw power and catching ability have many excited that he could stick behind the plate.

The controversy with him begins with his agent-Sanchez has rarely hit in game situations in front of scouts and his representation has dangled him in front of multiple teams throwing around a wide variety of numbers in terms of a bonus. Most have only seen him hit in batting practice and throw to second without any catching gear on- his agent pulled him off the field when one scout requested him to throw in a game situation. This has obviously scared a lot of teams away but suitors remain interested despite the questions and high price tag. The Yankees are seen as the front runner for Sanchez at this point. It seems like other teams have backed off and the Yankees sit comfortably at the top of the pack. His bonus is rumored to be anywhere from 2-3 million.

The Yankees won't be able to formally sign him until July 2nd and things can obviously still happen to break up the deal. Someone could still try to tempt him with more money but it seems likely he'll end up a Yankee.

As you can see from the scouting report above, Sanchez has a lot of questions surrounding him. Personally I'm weary of committing to him based on the inconsistent reports and myriad questions about his hitting ability.

King also confirmed the Yankees interest in Miguel Sano, lefty Noel Arguelles and shortstop Jose Iglesias. Arguelles and Iglesias are Cuban defectors that we discussed earlier.

You can get the fully story from the Post here.