Mets sign Gary Sánchez to minor-league deal as former Yankees All-Star tries to revive MLB career, per report

The former Yankees All-Star opted out of his deal with the Giants last week

The New York Mets are signing veteran catcher Gary Sánchez to a minor-league deal, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. He's expected to report to New York's Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse.

Sánchez, 30, had recently opted out of his contract with the San Francisco Giants. In 16 minor-league games this season, he's hit .164/.319/.182 with one extra-base hit and eight more strikeouts than walks. To be fair, Sánchez had only joined the Giants in April, after the season had already started. Though he did participate in the World Baseball Classic, it's fair to assume the lack of a spring training hurt his play.

Of course, Sánchez is far removed from the days when he looked like an emergent superstar with the New York Yankees. From 2016-19, he made a pair of All-Star Game appearances and compiled a 122 OPS+ and 105 home runs in 370 games. He's since struggled to stay relevant, having posted an OPS+ of 89 the last three-plus seasons.

The Yankees parted with Sánchez in March 2022 as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Bronx and Sánchez and Gio Urshela to Minnesota. Obviously the change of scenery did not revive his career. 

The Mets will now try their hand at getting Sánchez back to his old form. New York is currently employing a catcher tandem of rookie Francisco Álvarez and veteran Tomás Nido. Neither has performed particularly well at the plate this year: Álvarez is sporting a 62 OPS+ while Nido is at -24. (And yes, you can have a negative OPS+.) 

The Mets are without free-agent signing Omar Narváez, who strained his calf early in the season. Narváez was expected to miss about two months, leaving him still weeks away from returning to the active roster. Should Sánchez show life in Syracuse, he could, in theory, see big-league action in the interim.