Insider links Red Sox to former Yankees slugging catcher in free agency

The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees engaged in a rare trade this offseason, and Alex Verdugo got the privilege of seeing it from all angles.

MLB Insider Mark Feinsand can foresee another player trading places, but this time in the form of an ex-Yankee looking for a new home.

Feinsand has named the Red Sox and Angels as potential fits for slugging catcher Gary Sánchez. Boston certainly would be an intriguing match.

The veteran backstop played with the Mets and Padres in 2023. San Diego saw Sánchez get closer to his Yankee form than he's been since leaving the club three years ago. He only played three games with the Mets. But with San Diego, Sánchez's fortunes changed. He appeared in 72 games — a relatively small sample size — and batted .218 with 51 hits, 19 homers and 46 RBI.

Gary Sánchez could be a good fit for the Red Sox on both sides of the ball

Sánchez is still a quality defensive catcher, too. He ended up as National League Cy Young award winner Blake Snell's personal catcher and the two clearly jived. Snell logged a 1.29 ERA during the 18 starts he logged with Sánchez behind the plate.

There are potential barriers between Sánchez and a contract with the Red Sox, though. The first is simple: Boston already has two catchers on its roster, and while Sánchez is better than Reese McGuire and Connor Wong on both sides of the ball, he'll likely cost more because of it. One Red Sox insider has already denied the link.

The Red Sox organization is also holding out hope that the next round of prospects to make it to the big leagues will carry the team to salvation. Kyle Teel, a 21-year-old catching prospect out of the University of Virginia, is the headliner. Signing Sánchez could present issues with Teel getting as much playing time as the Sox are banking on giving him, especially if he rockets up the system in 2024.

If McGuire and Wong aren't getting the job done for Boston offensively midseason and the Sox are in a position to fight for a wild card spot, passing on Sánchez might turn out to be regrettable. At the very least, he remains cheap enough to be on the Sox's radar. And there's always the "agitating the Yankees" factor with former players if the front office is feeling frisky.

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