Rich Dubroff

Orioles claim second baseman Yolmer Sanchez on waivers

The Orioles made an interesting addition on Friday, claiming 2019 Gold Glove-winning second baseman Yolmer Sanchez on waivers from the Chicago White Sox.

Even though he won the Gold Glove, Sanchez wasn’t offered a contract by the White Sox last December and signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants in January.

Sanchez, 28, injured his back and didn’t make the Giants’ Opening Day roster. When he was ready to play, San Francisco didn’t have a spot for him. He was released on August 21st and signed by the White Sox on August 28th.

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He hit .333 with a home run in 11 games with Chicago. Sanchez was a pinch-runner in Game 2 of Chicago’s wild-card series with Oakland.

In seven seasons, all with Chicago, Sanchez hit .245. His best season was 2017 when he hit .267 with 12 home runs and 59 RBIs. Sanchez tied for the American League lead in triples with 10 in 2018.

Sanchez played third base for the White Sox in 2018 before moving back to second in 2019. It’s worth noting that Orioles second baseman Hanser Alberto is eligible for arbitration in a tight baseball economy.

The addition of Sanchez gives the Orioles 33 players on their 40-man roster.

No Winter Meetings: Major League Baseball announced that the Winter Meetings, scheduled for December 7-10 in Dallas, have been canceled because of the pandemic.

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

View Comments

    • Too funny bra ! Now with a little of that special player development applied, we may have an all star!

    • If his recent track record holds, you are correct about that--

      December 2, 2019: Granted Free Agency from White Sox.

      January 31, 2020: Signed as a Free Agent with the San Francisco Giants.

      August 21, 2020: Released by the San Francisco Giants.

      August 28, 2020: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago White Sox.

      October 2020: Waived by White Sox.

      According to BaseballReference.com, his salary last year with the White Sox was $4,625,000. Are the O's on the hook for this amount, or do we renegotiate?

    • BRR, I am definitely not as culturally-gifted as you are! All I have collecting dust in my storage are extra clay pottery pieces from the set of the 1990 blockbuster movie, “Ghost”.

      I'll see your 3 Grecian Urns and raise you 5 Molly Jensen Clay Pots that Yolmer Sanchez is on the team when they head north :-)

      • I call. Let's check back somewhere around April on this one. (Molly Jensen?)

        Whatever you do, don't cross the streams.

        • Hey BRR, April 2021 it is :-)

          “Don’t cross the streams”...one of many classic quotes from “Ghostbusters”.

          However, I was referring to the movie “Ghost” with Demi Moore (Molly) and Patrick Swayze (Sam), specifically to the famous pottery wheel scene.

    • Reference to Sanchez contract. He isn’t under contract for 2021, but he’s under team control. The Orioles can negotiate with him up until early December when they can either tender him a contract or not. If they tender him a contract, then he would go through the arbitration process. If not, he becomes a free agent and the Orioles can sign him for less. Of course so could everybody else.
      Tend to agree with Boog, don’t run out and buy his jersey

  • In the past two season, Sanchez has a combined total of 30 extra base hits, 3 HR, and 44 RBI ... Alberto has 53 extra base hits, 15 HR, and 73 RBI ... If the plan is to replace Alberto at 2B, Sanchez sure doesn't look like an upgrade.

  • Sorry fellers don't quite feel your cynicism,humor with this signing. Though he's 28 I like it. So long Alberto,gonna miss your smile but not your indecisiveness at 2B. Now re-sign Iglesias,hope he stays healthy and you'll have God's gift to a young pitching staff--2 Gold Glovers in the middle of your IF along with a young brilliant defensive OF. Like it,do Mr. Elias. Bring him north.

    • Iglesias is our best SS, but as we went over waayyy long ago, he never won a gold glove...go O’s...

      • Sorry I stand corrected. How about Gold Glove caliber? Martin is definitely a solid pick in the near future but until he hits better than .210 Iglesias gets the nod with Martin the "super" backup.

    • Can’t argue gold glove caliber, hope he stays healthy for at least 150 games...lol, if they have that many...go O’s...

  • Sure hope you're right that they re-sign Iglesias - it should be a no-brainer ... but I fear that that ownership is either unwilling, or unable, to spend the money to retain Iglesias, which is pretty depressing either way.

  • We've talked a lot, Rich about the bottom of the roster, what about the top? Who would you pick as the top twelve O's, regardless of position? Speaking of dozens, will "Dean's Dozens" ever return to BB?

    • I’ll try to answer the first part in the upcoming mailbag.

      For the second part, sadly no. Before the pandemic, Dean Jones told us that he was unable to continue.

      We were planning minor league coverage each Monday, but because of no minor leagues, those plans were put on hold. When the minor leagues return, we’ll again cover them.

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Rich Dubroff

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