SANCHEZ TO THE SHELF & THAT'S NOT THE WORST PART!

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Bad News Sunday....that's what I call it. Seriously, it sucks getting swept by the Rays, watching Domingo German tank in his start and then to make matters worse Gary Sanchez is down and out. This isn't the way I wanted to end my weekend but that really may not be the worst part of it.

If you missed it, Sanchez pulled his groin running to first yesterday. An MRI is scheduled for today sometime and we are all crossing our fingers hoping for the best but preparing for the worst (just in case). I'm sure Brian Cashman has a game plan in the works but either way this is pretty bad.

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Hopefully some of the swelling goes down over night and tomorrow when they do the MRI it's not a bad as it looked. Groin strains are no joke, and the last thing the Yankees need is a bad Grade 2 strain which could mean he's out for more than eight weeks. I don't want to even imagine that right now.

Sanchez may be having a rough season so far, but he is still leading all catchers with 14 home runs and slump or not he has the ability to change a game with one swing. Too bad that didn't happen yesterday, but he's still a powerful bat that can do damage in the lineup, slump or not.

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So now what do the Yankees do? Now that we will have Austin Romine as an every day catcher the Yankees need a backup. Kyle Higashioka is the third catcher on the Yankees 40-man roster so he is the obvious choice for a call-up. Higashioka knows the pitching staff well and he's been with the Yankees since 2008 but he's never been able to land a long term job in the Bronx. He made his major league debut as a defensive replacement in 2017 after Sanchez suffered an injury. He didn't stay up long after he batted 0-for-18 in nine games for the Yankees and was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in May when Sanchez returned. Nothing against Higashioka but even a slumping, healthy Sanchez is a stronger option for the Yankees.

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Could the Yankees go out and get another catcher if Sanchez has a worst case scenario injury? Maybe. I've seen a couple names floating around on Twitter including J.T. Realmuto again. I mean, Derek Jeter is still holding onto him even after selling off everyone else. We've been waiting for him to get traded for a long time now. Or maybe, the Yankees go for a reunion with John Ryan Murphy? He's been nothing short of a revelation this season for the Diamondbacks.  They do have a ton of catching depth with Jeff Mathis and Alex Avila all sharing time so they have the ability to move him but considering how good he has been for them it would take some serious magic for Cashman to steal him from the Diamondbacks.

I don't want to think about other replacements right now. I'm hoping for the best case scenario here and instead of chasing after a catcher we continue to look for that starter we need and we see Sanchez sooner rather than later.

We need some good news here.....please. Stay tuned.

-- Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj