With two weeks until workouts begin at Scottsdale Stadium, the Giants reportedly have added another player to the mix at second base.
Yolmer Sanchez, who won a Gold Glove at second base for the White Sox last season, will be in camp as a non-roster invitee, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. According to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, Sanchez turned down two major league jobs in order to compete for the starting job in San Francisco.
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The Giants ended 2019 with Mauricio Dubon providing excitement at second base, but the plan is for Dubon to move around this season, getting starts at shortstop as well and possibly filling the hole in center field. Sanchez, a switch-hitter, will enter the spring competing with Dubon and Donovan Solano for playing time at second base.
The 27-year-old was a surprise Gold Glove winner last season, beating out Jose Altuve and D.J. LeMahieu to become the first White Sox position player to win a Gold Glove since 1998. Sanchez grew up idolizing Omar Vizquel, and he led AL second basemen last season with 11 Defensive Runs Saved.
That was not enough, however, to keep him on the roster of an up-and-coming White Sox team. The defense had Sanchez due for a raise in arbitration and the White Sox waived him in early December.
While Sanchez is elite with the glove, he has been a light hitter in the big leagues. Sanchez had a .252/.318/.321 slash line last year with two homers in 555 plate appearances. By OPS+, he has been below league average as a hitter in all six of his big league seasons, but he did do a decent job against lefties last season -- posting a .738 OPS -- and that could put him in the lineup with Dubon or Solano at times.
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Sanchez also has experience at third base and the Giants do not currently have a backup for Evan Longoria.
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The Giants jettisoned a player with a similar profile -- Joe Panik -- last summer and turned the job over to Dubon, who had a .754 OPS down the stretch. A starting group of Sanchez, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford and Longoria would give the Giants one of the strongest defensive infields in the NL, although they'll have to find offense somewhere.
The lineup still has not been notably upgraded this offseason, though.
